"The Cabin in the Woods" (2012)

The Cabin in the Woods

Rated R

1 Hour 35 Minutes

Starring

Kristen Connolly

Chris Hemsworth

Fran Kranz

Jesse Williams

Anna Hutchison

Richard Jenkins

Bradley Whitford

Story

Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

Rotten Tomatoes Score

91%

(The Cabin in the Woods is an astonishing meta-feat, capable of being funny, strange, and scary -- frequently all at the same time.)

My Grade

A+

Holy crap! I did not know what to expect with Cabin in the Woods, but this was certainly not it! If you think it looks like another standard horror movie, guess again folks! I'm actually going to attempt to keep this review fairly short, as to not give away any key plot points. Here's what I will tell you, it's about five friends who go out to a cabin in the woods (crazy I know!) for a fun weekend and end up getting more than they bargained for. Sounds pretty typical for a horror movie right? Well there is much, MUCH more to it than that. Yes, there is an underground facility involved, but I really don't want to say to what degree. It's something you just have to go see.

If you are looking for genuine scares every few minutes, you will not get that here. In fact, you may laugh more at the scary stuff than you may have thought you would. But this is not because it's bad, it's because it's intentional. This is a horror movie in the vein of the Scream films. It is well aware that it's a movie, and pokes fun at the horror genre. No...it rips the horror genre apart. And in a brilliant way. It deliberately gives us the standard horror film characters: The jock, the intellect, the "whore", the innocent female virgin, and the jokester. These are the characters that are required to be at this cabin in the woods each year. And when they arrive, they are to unknowingly chose which horrific force of evil will torment and murder them one by one. Someone will meddle with something they aren't supposed to and unleash hell. Happens in every horror movie right? Well now we see why and how it happens in this film. Cabin in the Woods tackles numerous horror movie cliches and we get a first hand look as to how these cliches occur and they are even essential to happen to further the characters adventure. We even have the cliched gas station attendant who creeps out our main cast and gives them wrong directions to their doom. Even he is essential to what happens.

The first two acts focus on these characters and the final act is something you just don't expect out of a movie like this. The whole damn movie is one of the most inventive, original and craziest horror movies I've seen...ever. The whole underground lab thing is the hub of the story and I won't say more than that. But a lot of crazy shit goes down in the last act of the film. What I will say though, is that this is a thrill a minute bad ass of a movie. It's also really funny. Not only are the intentional cliches hilarious, but the characters involved in that lab are a freaking riot! There is a scene involving a speaker phone that was so funny!



Ugh, I really want to go on and on about this movie, but this is not one you should completely spoil for people. It's a movie you just have to see to believe. You have to watch this movie and just sit back, relax and enjoy the living hell out of it. You don't even have to be a fan of horror movies to appreciate it. In fact, if you hate horror movies because of how silly and cliched they are...then this is a movie for you! You more than anyone, will appreciate the sheer originality and cleverness of the movie. There is no better feeling than going into a movie you expect to be a stupid slasher movie than to be completely thrown for a loop with a story like this. Hell, I'm probably over hying it but I don't care! I loved every moment of this movie. I loved how surprising it was. It's easily the best horror movie I've seen in years and years and years, but this is also the best movie I've seen in 2012 so far. No joke folks. I LOVED it.