Dir: Drew Goddard
Starring: Kristen
Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchinson
Joss Whedon co-writes this
new horror comedy which has a lot more to it than the title might suggest.
A group
of teens go and stay a night in a wooden cabin in the woods where they are
attacked. So far, so cliché but not everything is what it seems.
The Cabin in the Woods is a film which
has obviously been birthed from a great love of horror films and the horror
genre. Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon have a lot of fun playing around in the
bloody pools of the horror genre and they have created a film which is hugely entertaining
and will stand up to repeat viewings. It is a must see for any fans of horror
and will probably be a film written about by film students in courses around
the country. The film it most closely resembles is Scream (1996), but The Cabin
in the Woods takes it further, aiming its subversive sights on the whole of
the horror genre rather than just the slasher movie.
There
are only a couple of criticisms for the film. If you came expecting a stereotypical
horror about teens being killed in the woods then you may be disappointed but
hopefully you will find the film a lot more interesting, imaginative and
entertaining than the film you were originally expecting to see and the film
still has plenty of killing to keep you satisfied. It is also not particularly scary.
It does have a few jump scares but it does firmly have its feet in the comedy
half of the horror/comedy genre. Unfortunately it is pretty much impossible to
have a truly scary horror comedy because as soon as you have a laugh then any
tension is dispelled and so any potential scares are subdued. Luckily the film
has more than enough laughs to keep you entertained and those easily scared
will jump at times, but it is worth losing the scares for the film to be able
to take so many horror genre clichés and features and subvert them so
entertainingly.
Easily
one of the most entertaining films you’re going to see this year. It’s clever,
funny and even manages to throw in some scares. Far more entertaining than many
of the regular horror films which get churned out each year. Horror fans will
love it.
4 out of 5 Buttons
(Note: the review is
shorter than normal as I have tried to stay away from as many spoilers as
possible and as such am not able to go into the finer points of the film
without spoiling its plot and therefore your enjoyment. Hopefully, the review
has given you a good enough sense of my opinion on it without ruining the film
for you.)
No comments:
Post a Comment