Film Review: The Cabin in the Woods

When it comes to reviewing films, the trickiest thing sometimes is swerving around plot points that would ruin the enjoyment of the movie for the reader. These 'spoilers' are normally easily avoided, because with most films you can can run through the synopsis, and describe what makes the film great without revealing any twists and turns.

Sticking to a spoiler-free review makes writing about The Cabin in the Woods a bit tricky. It's not so much that the film has a massive twist, in fact the opening scenes kind of lay out what is going on pretty quickly, but it's not something you want to ruin. But I shall endeavour to talk about what I can, and strongly urge you go and see it for yourself, before it gets ruined for you.

Back in 1981, the horror film Pieces was released and was saddled with the slightly insulting tagline 'Pieces...it's exactly what you think it is!'. I think the exact opposite can be applied for The Cabin in the Woods. It's not what you think it is, not at all.

Pretty much the only photo I can use!

Originally filmed back in 2009, Cabin has run into all kinds of problems which delayed its release significantly. MGM's financial woes played a part, as did Lionsgate wanting the film to be released in 3D. Thankfully, the filmmakers put their feet down, and this was avoided. There would have been no point in releasing this movie in 3D, but of course, the same can be said about most films.

Directed by Drew Goddard, and co-written by Goddard and Joss Whedon, The Cabin in the Woods is possibly the best written and most amusing horror film since the days of the Evil Dead movies. It's an incredibly smart and hilarious script, and the direction is also top-notch, especially when it comes to the (numerous) set pieces in the film.

The plot that I can tell you about is your usual horror fare. A group of friends go for a break to a deserted cabin in the woods, but once they arrive things start to go awry. It's essentially the same plot from about 100 horror films, but there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. And to say any more than that is most definitely creeping into spoiler territory. Even the trailer (that I saw) doesn't give away too much more than that, and that is almost miraculous considering how much movie studios like to reveal way too much in trailers.

The cast are all great in their roles but there's even some cast members that I can't talk about, so shall just focus on the teens on the cabin, who all do a great job with their purposefully cliched characters - the jock (a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth), the intelligent one (Jesse Williams), the blonde bimbo (Anna Hutchison), the stoner (Whedon alumni Fran Kranz, who is excellent throughout) and the obvious virgin (Kristen Connolly). The way the story takes these characters and their cliches is, like the rest of the film, inspired.

Before The Cabin in the Woods was released, some pre-awareness posters adorned buses in my area, with a quote from a review that called it a "Game changer". Normally when I hear this, or something like "reinventing the genre" I want to run a mile from any cinema showing it. But this time, believe the hype. The Cabin in the Woods will undoubtedly change the way I watch a lot of horror movies, and the same can't be said for other horror films that have proclaimed to be revolutionary, like the Saw films.

Not only that, but Cabin... is one of those rare films that manage to transcend its genre. Horror fans will get a lot more out of this than the casual cinema-goer, there's no two ways about that, but those with not much horror experience will get loads out of it as well. I went to see it with someone who didn't really watch many horror films (although admittedly, she is a Whedon fan), and she absolutely loved it. And it's a rare film OR horror film indeed that can make that much of an impact.


*****
A totally original, hilarious and just generally excellent film, whether you like horror or not. The best film of 2012 so far...