Mini Review
The Cabin In The Woods is the story of 5 friends, Dana (Kristen Connolly), Jules (Anna Hutchison), Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Holden (Jesse Williams) and Marty (Fran Kranz), who go to stay at a remote cabin owned by a family member. Once they get settled in they begin the usual rituals that unsupervised teens do, drinking and playing truth or dare. One of the dares is to go down into the cellar where a whole bunch of weird toys and furniture is found. Dana discovers a diary kept by a young girl who seemingly once lived in the cabin. When she reads it aloud, strange things start to happen.
Allow me to begin by saying that The Cabin In The Woods is not your average horror movie. *spoiler alert* But surprisingly, it does still follow many of the 'rules' concerning certain events that have to happen in horror movies, such as the characters who have sex being the first to die and one of the characters who you thought was dead coming back to save the last remaining girl. Plus all the characters fit the typical horror stereotype such as the jock, the slut, the brain, the virgin etc. But this time all of the stereotypical characters actually have a reason to be there. Now that's something I won't spoil.
From the moment you see 'the facility' you know that this is not going to be your average slash and scream fare. Film critic Roger Ebert apparently said of the film "The Cabin in the Woods has been constructed almost as a puzzle for horror fans to solve." And I think that he's put it perfectly. Horror fans will love the way the film conforms to the horror rules on the one hand, but then bends them with the other.
One of the things I particularly loved about this movie was that it had writer/producer Joss Whedon's stamp all over it. From the actors involved (Fran Kranz was previously in Whedon's TV show Dollhouse and Amy Acker was also in Dollhouse and another Whedon show Angel) to the quips spouted by the characters, and even one the monsters, visible in the scenes at the end of the movie, was previously in his show Firefly.
If you're looking for a film that turns the horror genre on it's head, look no further. 8 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 16th April 2012
UK Release Date - (Friday) 13th April 2012
Cast Overview:
Kristen Connolly ~ Dana
Chris Hemsworth ~ Curt
Anna Hutchison ~ Jules
Fran Kranz ~ Marty
Jesse Williams ~ Holden
Richard Jenkins ~ Sitterson
Bradley Whitford ~ Hadley
Amy Acker ~ Lin
Director ~ Drew Goddard
Writer(s) ~ Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard
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