Cabin In The Woods (2012)
Certified: 16
Duration: 95 minutes
Directed by: Drew Goddard
Starring: Kristen Connolly; Chris Hemsworth; Anna Hutchison; Frans Kranz; Jesse Williams; Richard Jenkins; Bradley Whitford; Brian White; Amy Acker; Sigourney Weaver
KRS release
Cabin In The Woods is a true and real love letter to the horror genre.
The film keeps to the conventions and rules of the genre but still seems fresh by injecting a sense of self-awareness into the proceedings.
Joss Whedon, who has co-produced and co-written his third movie, has his mark all over the film.
He is the brain behind such TV hits as Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and Firefly.
This should be a good year indeed for him, since he has also directed Marvel’s The Avengers, the hit movie of 2012.
Cabin In The Woods starts off in typical horror movie mode: Five youths go off for a relaxing time out in an isolated place.
The stereotypes are all there: Curt (Chris Hemsworth), the jock; his girlfriend Jules (Anna Hutchinson), the babe; her friend Dana (Kristen Connolly), the good girl; the date she has been set up with, Holden (Jesse Williams) the geek; and Marty (Fran Kranz), the stoner.
Before they arrive at the cabin, the group stops at a gas station which creeps them out. What they do not know is that they are being observed in a research laboratory.
The scientific group is led by Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford), assisted by Truman (Brian White) and Lin (Amy Acker).
They observe and record the youths as they see events unfold.
In the cabin, the young friends start experiencing weird things. This includes the finding of a very disturbing diary. As soon as they read out some passages, they get in a very terrible ordeal.
Cabin In The Woods does what Wes Craven’s Scream did but in a much better way.
The genre has been spliced open and turned inside out for a modern, intelligent audience.
What they bring into the equation is a veritable boom of twisted delights. We are kept tightly wound up about the purpose of the cabin and the results the researchers aim to achieve.
The film is a return to the 1980s, however discarding all the over-the-top violence that had been dredged up by the likes of the Saw franchise.
Instead, it’s a Rubik’s Cube of a film that opens up new avenues at each turn.