Review: The Cabin in the Woods

Quite a buzz has built up about this film pre-release in the media devoted to the horror genre and I have to confess to catching some this enthusiasm myself, so when it opened I got myself straight down to local multiplex. This film was made a few years ago by MGM but when they went bust a lot of their projects got frozen. Fortunately Lionsgate took over the distribution of this film so we all finally get to see it. Written by director Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon, it has a lot of the witty dialogue you’d expect if you are familiar with Whedon’s TV shows. This review will be short because I don’t want to give any spoilers. Avoid the trailer if you can but it is probably too late for that

The set-up is so familiar and it is all the story I’m going to mention. A group five college students go for weekend break to a remote cabin in the woods. There are two pretty girls Dana (Kristen Connolly) the red-headed studious girl-next-door and Jules (Anna Hutchison) who is blonde and more in the mood for good time with her boyfriend Curt (Chris Hemsworth who is now Thor but this film was made before he got that role) a big gorgeous muscled athletic type. A second attractive jock Holden (Jesse Williams) has been brought along with the hope that he will hook up with Dana because he is also a quiet studious type. Lastly is Marty (Fran Kranz) the sarcastic stoner with an amazing collapsible bong / travel mug. On the way to the cabin they stop at a very run-down gas station where an obnoxious mad local man Mordecai (Tim De Zarn) insults them and implies that if they carry on it means their certain doom. Of course they ignore his warning and travel on to the remote cabin in the woods where a terrible fate awaits them

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If you have seen the trailer you may know that something more is going than this cliché set-up implies but you are probably not prepared for what this film delivers. I smiled and laughed and wanted to cheer many times when watching it. The acting is great and I really liked the dialogue, especially between the characters Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford). The ending is just total madness and a pure feast of blood and horror. If you like horror and have a dark sense of humour you will probably love this film and I highly recommend people go see it.

Rating 9/10

Related articles

• IMDb
• Rotten Tomatoes
• The Cabin in the Woods Review Sound-Off! (dreadcentral.com)
• Movie Review: ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (philadelphia.cbslocal.com)