The Cabin In The Woods is a very difficult movie to review, because to discuss its positives or negatives in any real detail would give too much away. Honestly, even that trailer was too much. This movie works best when you know as little as possible about it. All you need to know about the story is this: Five high school pals take a trip to a creepy cabin, where all manner of weird shit happens to them. Now, go see it! Ok, obviously I can't leave it at that so I'll proceed without dropping anything too spoilerific, but if you want to know absolutely nothing about the film probably best to skip this.
Right from the get-go
Cabin plays with our expectations with a very strange and quite funny opening credits scene. From there we meet our protagonists. Think every horror character cliche imaginable - the jock, the slut, the sensitive hero type, the stoner comic relief and the virginal hottie. This is of course absolutely ridiculous, and of course absolutely the point. Producer/co-writer Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard are pulling a
Scream see, toying with genre conventions. So when our heroes go to stay in a run down cabin for the weekend, by way of a toothless old tobacco spitting lunatic, we roll our eyes safe in the knowledge that that's exactly what they want us to do. This works pretty well, for the most part. The characters are all likable enough despite being cardboard cutouts, and the actors do their best to add dimensions to roles that aren't really supposed to have any! I can imagine it was hard to pull off actually so I'll go easier on em than I normally would, but aside from Fran Kranz as Marty, the seemingly paranoid stoner of the group, nobody really shines. Chris Hemsworth is fine, though he's landed with a few of the most awful lines (yes, supposed to be awful is still ..awful!). Kristen Connolly is also ok as Dana , but never really convinces. A stronger female lead would have helped matters a lot I think. But this one isn't about great performances, so here's the part where those who want to remain completely in the dark may want to stop reading..
Still here? Ok, so this movie goes to some absolutely insane places. I mean really, unexpectedly, awesomely, bonkers. It's different and a bit off the wall right the way through - thanks to a side-plot involving the ever brilliant Richard Jenkins which I won't go into - but only towards the end does it really shake things up, and offers up some very smart and shocking revelations and insights into the mythology behind the story. Trust me, although the trailer gives away a bit more than it should, it doesn't even scratch the surface of the gory delights awaiting you. The thing is, as great as this is and as much as horror fans will lap it up, the movie is never really scary as such. It's tense and exciting in places, but truly frightening or unnerving? Nope. Now this is due mainly to the fact that at its heart,
Cabin In The Woods is a comedy. I've read that Whedon and Goddard want us to embrace this is horror first and foremost, with some comedic elements - but take my word for it, it's not. This movie is frackin hilarious, frequently. Which is a good thing, but if you are going to inject so much humor into your movie and still expect people to take it very seriously you're fighting a losing battle. Scenes of explicit gore and brutality are immediately followed by a witty one liner or sight gag, which is great fun but ensures we are never really disturbed by anything that's going on. Whedon and Goddard have packed this film with nods and homages to other horror movies, directors, characters..like I said, fans will have a blast, they probably just won't be grabbing hold of their partners arm.
I wish I could go into more detail, it would be great fun to discuss some of the things that pop up in this one. It's slightly too silly to be scary, and I'm not sure it quite warrants the "game changer" tag it's received from some critics (though I've certainly never seen anything like it before I'll give it that), but a five star premise backed up by a four star movie is still something everyone should go see. Highly recommended.