If anyone knows how to have fun with pop culture horror conventions, it's Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Avengers) and he and Director Drew Goddard craft a funhouse of a horror movie by doing just that. And we are happily along for the bloody fun ride. Cabin is a movie where the less you know going in, the better. So, I'll simply say that it starts out with the classic young partiers heading up to an isolated cabin scenario and then turns this horror sub-genre into something quite different and deviously fun. Aside from a really clever script and the fact that Drew Goddard knows how to craft suspense and scares, despite letting us in early on what is going on, we also get a bunch of likable characters (including Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth) to root and care for. This is very important to make a horror flick work and so many films today makes their leads unlikable jerks who we could care less about. We are only scared when we care what happens to the antagonists and here we do. We like this bunch of characters and it adds to the film's effect that we don't want to see them suffer the fate that has befallen them. And what a clever and cruel fate Whedon and Goddard have in store for their victims. And, in turn, providing a clever and inventive blood soaked horror for us. The FX are top notch and the performances from his cast, especially leading heroine Kristen Connolly, are good and help make the scenario work. The script provides plenty of scares and gore but, also gives us some tension-relieving laughs with Whedon's trademark sly humor. Everything is blended together well by director Goddard, who gets us primed and ready for the 'all hell breaks loose' final act. A real horror movie blast!
Review of The Cabin in the Woods
