The Cabin In The Woods - Review

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

JOSS Whedon and Drew Goddard’s The Cabin in the Woods is a horror-thriller hybrid that genuinely offers something different and thrilling.

The only trouble is we can’t tell you why because the less you know about it, the better!

Plot-wise it follows a group of teens as they head to a cabin in the woods and get more than they bargained for.

The group seems fairly typical, comprised as it is of a high school jock (Chris Hemsworth), a nerd (Jesse Williams), a blonde bombshell (Anna Hutchison), a shrinking violet intellectual (Kristen Connolly) and a stoner (Fran Kranz), while the scenario seems fairly bog-standard and derivative of everyone from Sam Raimi (and The Evil Dead) to Eli Roth (and Cabin Fever).

But who are the two older men (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) apparently keeping an eye on what unfolds?

Whedon and Goddard claim to have made The Cabin in the Woods as a way of revitalising a horror genre they feel has been derailed by torture porn and stupidity.

Hence, they have fun deliberately poking fun at genre conventions while often flipping them on their head and asking the audience to consider pertinent questions about society’s attitude to violence and the destruction of youth that is so often seen in movies.

But it does so in a way that’s also funny, inventive, gross (in places) and not afraid to take risks.

Horror fans will dig the references and the numerous subversions, which recall the intelligence of Wes Craven’s original Scream and then some, while even the more meek among you can’t fail to be impressed at how this keeps you guessing.

True, the ick factor gets high late on as the film takes a rollercoaster ride into the batshit insane but you’ll probably be laughing as much as shouting out ‘eeew’!

The young cast, meanwhile, acquit themselves well in roles that also allow them to play around with stereotypes (Kranz and Connolly, especially, standout), while elder statesmen Jenkins and Whitford are clearly having a ball as the mystery company men or potential ‘puppet-masters’.

So, we urge you to refrain from finding out too much and go and have a blast. The Cabin in the Woods will undoubtedly be one of the best horror-thrillers you’ll see all year, as well as one of the best films. It will also standout as an all-time horror classic.

Certificate: 15
Running time: 95mins
UK Release Date: April 13, 2012

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