The Cabin In The Woods

Drew Goddard’s and Joss Whedon’s The Cabin In The Woods is one of those films that is an amalgamation of numerous others. There’s nothing wrong with that per se (most directors and writers are magpies to some degree), but it can be distracting when you start thinking of what films certain ideas have been pilfered from when you’re meant to be concentrating on the main feature. Having said that the central premise itself is pretty smart. A group of college students go to a plush five star hotel in downtown Manhattan (or is it a cabin in the woods? I can’t remember) and the usual horror staples of weird locals, nudity and odd decision making come to the fore. The catch here being that they are actually in a Truman Show style environment and all their thoughts and actions are actually being manipulated by a team of scientists and technicians via a series of switches, trapdoors, gasses etc. It’s a nice touch and horror veterans will enjoy plenty of knowing references. Whedon has stated the idea behind the film was to move away from the torture porn genre of recent years to have a nostalgic critique of what we love and hate about horror films. It pretty much does the trick for the first part of the film. Things go completely bonkers after that though and you’ll either go along with the ride or find the whole thing completely preposterous. Fanboys should enjoy it though, especially when a collection of varied monsters and beasties appear and the tone of the film suddenly becomes quite nasty. Acting wise there’s nothing to write home about, though you could say that’s almost an unintentional homage to the scene chewing performances of the 1980’s stalk and slashers. The film was actually wrapped in 2009, but due to the financial difficulties at MGM and dithering over whether to release this in 3D (it isn’t, thank God) its only finally seeing the light of day now. Worth the wait? Not really, but this is still fun enough if you’re looking for something a bit different than the usual horror gumph.  

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
A real pick and mix of a film, which entertains as much as it frustrates. Rating: 6/10.