The Cabin in the Woods (2012) starring Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz directed by Drew Goddard Movie Review

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)   4/54/54/54/54/5


Kristen Connolly in The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

This Cabin is a Scream

Five teenage friends; Jules, Curt, Holden, Marty and Dana decide to take a weekend away and go to an isolated cabin in the woods and isolated it certainly is with no connection to civilization at all. Inside they start to explore and down in its basement they find a strange collection of artefacts as well as books which when one of them starts to read unleashes an attack of the zombies. But is there something else going on which our five friends are completely unaware of.

That synopsis makes "The Cabin in the Woods" seem like just another one of those dumb horror movies where friends go to a remote home and then have to deal with a slasher or strange ancient curse. But there is another layer to the movie which as a reviewer I can't speak about because it makes "The Cabin in the Woods" more than just a stereotypical horror about kids doing dumb things yet ironically you will learn about this other layer right from the word go which does a good job of putting an entertaining spin on the old horror classic.

Chris Hemsworth and Anna Hutchison in The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Now alongside this entertaining variation on the horror classic we have a good cast from Chris Hemsworth to Kristen Connolly are well chosen as our teens in trouble as they manage to play up to the horror without it becoming a spoof or too corny. In a way it reminds me a little of "Scream" with that aspect of horror awareness and the actors have the same appeal. But then without giving too much away you have entertaining performances from Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford who bring a surprising amount of humour to the movie and for me actually make "The Cabin in the Woods" worth the time.

But here is the thing as whilst there is no doubt that "The Cabin in the Woods" is a clever reworking of the family teen horror storyline I am a little perplexed as to why so many people were blown away by it to the point some claimed it was greatest horror movie of all time. It's not that it doesn't telegraph what is going to happen as with the various scenes which focus on Jenkins and Whitford's characters it basically tells us what is going to happen next and of course it is still a horror movie with certain rules to obey.

What this all boils down to is that "The Cabin in the Woods" is certainly an entertaining horror movie which makes an old classic feel fresh again with its amusing and creative embellishment. But whilst it is one of the most enjoyable horror movies in the last decade it failed to blow me away in the same way as it did for others.

Tags: Zombie Movies


LATEST REVIEWS