Hilarious and frightened: shaken, not stirred. Great movie, one of the best in this "genre" for quite a while.
Finally got around to The Cabin in the Woods. 8/10, great fun. A Joss Whedon-(co)written (also co-written and directed by Drew Goddard, who wrote Cloverfield) take on an old horror staple in which 5 stereotypical teenagers (an academic, a jock, a stoner, a slut and a "nice" girl) venture out into the woods for a dirty weekend. It's no spoiler to say that these unfortunate young naïfs appear to have been cherry-picked and are being heavily monitored all the way into the woods by some very (very) high-tech manner of... what? Government agency? It's with these fellows that we visit first, before we ever meet our protagonists; two middle-aged, white collar I.T. types, a little brow-beaten by what appears to be a fairly monotonous job (although it really ****ing isn't) but full of typical office cameraderie and essentially confident in their own competence and that of the numerous other departments that make up this rather large-scale operation. Whoever is watching our heroes/heroines, they're big-time. So, what's happening? To say more would be to start giving things away, but those kids are very deliberate archetypes, placed in a very deliberately typical horror scenario. Because it's an American film set in America, it's called The Cabin in the Woods as is befitting the conventions of God-knows-how-many American horror flicks. Were it a J-Horror set in Tokyo, it would be called The Freaky Long-Haired Schoolgirl Ghost, an assertion ably illustrated in the film itself to great and rather humourous effect. Decent performances all-round, even the deliberately irritating characters are kind-of likeable. A pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth is particularly good as is Richard Jenkins (Nathaniel "The Dead Patriarch" Fisher from Six Feet Under). It threw me a bit, this film, because in purposely not looking too deeply at what it was about prior to seeing it, I mistakenly thought I was about to watch a seriously scary and effective horror, and this isn't the case at all. It's a slick product with what looks like a decent budget as you'd expect from a Joss Whedon project (in case you've been under a rock somewhere, he of Buffy/Angel and latterly of The Avengers fame) and it's loaded with nods to other horror literary and cinematic classics (The Evil Dead, Hellraiser, The Strangers and HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos are all fairly explicitly referenced), but it's not especially gory, it's intentionally funny more often than it's intentionally scary and it's a real thrill-ride, a slice of fun. It's not quite there, but it's a damn site closer to "Horror-Comedy" than it is to balls-out "Horror". It's not perfect by a long way - it instills bags of concerned curiosity in the viewer, but provokes almost zero real tension whatsoever. And late-on a special effects extravaganza treads clumsily into Night at the Museum-for-grown-ups territory. But it remains a great way to spend a couple of hours.
This is another one of those movies where I cannot understand why so many people give it so high scores. Sure it’s not a really bad movie but, personally, I found it only moderately good. I’m not sure whether the movie was intended to be scary or funny or both. It wasn’t very funny though and only moderately scary. It has been presented as a not-your-usual-teenage-slasher-horror movie. Well, it sure has an interesting twist but…it is still a teenage slasher horror movie. The twist could really have lifted the movie but unfortunately this good idea is pretty much wasted in a poor implementation. Instead of holding on to the surprise it’s spoiled right away with that eagle flying in to the force field (since when did we learn to build force fields by the way?). Another thing that really drags down the film are these utter morons in the control room. If this was really a matter of survival of mankind then you would have thought that it would have been left to professional people and not these jerks. The movie isn’t all bad though. With the exception of these major flaws it does pass as a decent slasher/horror movie and makes for a reasonably entertaining hour and a half of not too intelligent movie watching. The part nearing the end where all the monsters goes on a rampage is rather fun to watch. I was not very impressed by the end itself though. That was rather uninspired I would say.
**The following is a long-form review that I originally wrote in 2012.** Jesus Christ. What just happened to my brain? I was worried that _Cabin in the Woods_ was gonna be a letdown, ‘cause I had built it up so much in my head, and it seemed such a ridiculous concept that it would have been nearly impossible to pull off flawlessly. And maybe it won’t go to join the ranks of my favourite films in existence, but it was… So. Fucking. Good. Drew Goddard (who wrote _Cloverfield_) is no stranger to working with Joss Whedon (_Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Avengers_) and my God do they ever make a team. Joss Whedon is my unopposed all-time favourite person involved in the film industry in any way, shape, or form. Which is quite the claim, given my interests. He’s had a couple of fuck ups, and been fucked around a few times too, but all in all, nobody captures me quite the way he does. I’ll try and aim for not-spoilers, if you watch the trailer you’ll get that this isn’t a typical horror movie. You’ll also pick up on that if you watch the first 5 minutes of the damn thing. I won’t go into the finer details, but let me just reiterate, it is NOT a slasher film. There’s a fair amount of horror, some action, some sci-fi, a bit of fantasy, some short but sweet comedy, a bunch of thriller, a little monster-movie, a bit of homage and a healthy (but not overdone) dose of parody. Joss Whedon tends to do that, his work is usually less in the horror genre and more in the… Genre genre. If that makes sense. I seem to recall it performing kind of averagely at the box office, but critical reception was fantastic. And rightfully so. And fan-aimed movies as good as this always manage to fall into their cult, so there’s a pretty avid group of people who are super keen on it, too. Again, rightly so. I think the best (as well as most important) thing about _Cabin in the Woods_, is that it pumps some new blood into horror. Sure, it wasn’t 100% original, but then it never claimed to be. At least it wasn’t a sequel or another bloody remake. Seriously, I hate on remakes much, much less than most, but come on people! This is all rather ridiculous. Imagine if the Wachowskis had said “Hey, we’ve got this great idea for a dystopian, industrial sci-fi type thing called _The Matrix_… Actually, you know what? That sounds like an awful lot of effort. Let’s do an over the top American remake of _The Castle_ instead!” Yeah, sounds like a great world to live in. Fuckin’… Lazy ‘n shit… Lost track there, anyway! _Cabin in the Woods_! Fuck! Good! Watch that shit! Make up your own mind of course, but I really dig it. There’s something to be said for being fucked up and going with it. I’m sure some people will dismiss _Cabin_ entirely, because it’s so out there. And I’m sure even more people will get pissy about the ending. But if you have no expectations, and just try enjoy the ride, then I think you damn well might. 87% -_Gimly_
In what appears to be a cross between Critters and The Towering Inferno, the residents of a shoddy L.A. apartment block are chased up to the roof by hoards of the eponymous hairy horrors.
Movie Star Rating : 5.1 Read More
Naive Midwestern prep student Jonathan bonds with his more worldly roommate, Skip, who takes the small-town boy under his wing. At Skip's urging, the inexperienced Jonathan is emboldened to seek out older women in the cocktail lounges of nearby Chicago, where he meets and beds the alluring Ellen, who unfortunately turns out to be Skip's mother. The division between the friends is further deepened when a cheating scandal engulfs the school.
Movie Star Rating : 5.9 Read More
A cemetery man has the unusual problem of the dead rising from the grave. Himself and his assistant must end these creatures' lives again after they are reborn. Everything is going well until "She" comes along and stirs things up a bit.
Movie Star Rating : 6.9 Read More
Forks, Washington resident Bella Swan is reeling from the departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen, and finds comfort in her friendship with Jacob Black, a werewolf. But before she knows it, she's thrust into a centuries-old conflict, and her desire to be with Edward at any cost leads her to take greater and greater risks.
Movie Star Rating : 6 Read More
Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin, where they get more than they bargained for, discovering the truth behind the cabin in the woods.
Movie Star Rating : 6.6 Read More
A psychic participates in a séance where she sees a vision of a Dunwich priest hanging himself in a church cemetery, causing her to die of fright. New York City reporter Peter Bell investigates the séance and learns that the priest's suicide has somehow opened a portal to Hell and must be sealed by All Saints Day, or else the dead will overtake humanity.
Movie Star Rating : 6.3 Read More
A group of kids discover one of the drums containing a rotting corpse and release the 2-4-5 Trioxin gas into the air, causing the dead to once again rise from the grave and seek out brains.
Movie Star Rating : 6.2 Read More
A group of people find themselves trapped in the backwoods of West Virginia, fighting for their lives against a group of vicious and horribly disfigured inbred cannibals.
Movie Star Rating : 5.6 Read More
Two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they've been asleep, or what their mission is. The two soon discover they're actually not alone – and the reality of their situation is more horrifying than they could have imagined.
Movie Star Rating : 6.5 Read More
Columbus has made a habit of running from what scares him. Tallahassee doesn't have fears. If he did, he'd kick their ever-living ass. In a world overrun by zombies, these two are perfectly evolved survivors. But now, they're about to stare down the most terrifying prospect of all: each other.
Movie Star Rating : 7.3 Read More
Two teenage girls try to buy marijuana in the city - where they get kidnapped and brutalized by a gang of psychotic convicts.
Movie Star Rating : 6 Read More
Remember Me The Mahalia Jackson Story 2022 - Movies (Feb 7th)
Spoiler Alert 2022 - Movies (Feb 7th)
The Last Manhunt 2022 - Movies (Feb 7th)
Empire of Light 2022 - Movies (Feb 7th)
Whitney Houston I Wanna Dance with Somebody 2022 - Movies (Feb 7th)
Curious Caterer Grilling Season 2023 - Movies (Feb 7th)
Grotesque 2022 - Movies (Feb 7th)
Legion of Super-Heroes 2023 - Movies (Feb 6th)
Ditto 2022 - Movies (Feb 6th)
Make People Better 2022 - Movies (Feb 6th)
R.I.P.D. 2 Rise of the Damned 2022 - Movies (Feb 6th)
Stowaway 2022 - Movies (Feb 6th)
For All Humankind 2023 - Movies (Feb 5th)
Knock at the Cabin 2023 - Movies (Feb 5th)
Gwen Shamblin Starving for Salvation 2023 - Movies (Feb 5th)
Signs of Love 2022 - Movies (Feb 5th)
Norman Lear 100 Years of Music and Laughter 2022 - Movies (Feb 5th)
Rob Beckett Wallop 2022 - Movies (Feb 5th)
Strange World 2022 - Movies (Feb 5th)
Little Dixie 2023 - Movies (Feb 5th)
Alan Partridge - Stratagem 2023 - Movies (Feb 4th)
Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly - (Feb 8th)
Kavos Weekender - (Feb 8th)
The Winchesters - (Feb 8th)
The Price Is Right - (Feb 8th)
24 Hours in A and E - (Feb 8th)
Dickinsons Real Deal - (Feb 8th)
The Chase - (Feb 8th)
Tipping Point - (Feb 8th)
Australias Wild Odyssey - (Feb 8th)
Ambulance - (Feb 8th)
Bradley Walsh and Son- Breaking Dad - (Feb 8th)
Sort Your Life Out With Stacey Solomon - (Feb 8th)
American Auto - (Feb 8th)
Night Court - (Feb 8th)
9-1-1- Lone Star - (Feb 8th)
Independent Lens - (Feb 8th)
Know Your S**t- Inside Our Guts - (Feb 8th)
The Young and the Restless - (Feb 8th)
The Talk - (Feb 8th)
The Bold and the Beautiful - (Feb 8th)