THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (2011)

Let’s cut to the chase: was the hype and expectation justified? On the whole, I would have to answer in the affirmative. This is a hugely delicious piece of entertainment which takes the staple conventions of the horror film as its starting point and arrives 105 minutes later in an all together different place.

Writing a detailed review of this film without dropping major spoiler bombs is as tricky as stepping though a minefield blindfolded at midnight. I can however confirm that five archetypal teenagers set out to spend a weekend in a spooky cabin in the woods. Events unfold which culminate in the experience being significantly less than pleasant (surprise surprise). So far so cliché I hear you mutter under your breath. However, (and this however cannot be stressed enough), all is most certainly not as it seems. If you’ve seen the trailer, (and I’d urge you NOT TO if you’ve managed to avoid it till now as it reveals far too much – although by no means all), then you’ll have a basic idea of the initial premise. If not, then you are in for even more of a treat...

Co-written by Joss (Buffy) Whedon and Drew (Cloverfield) Goddard, this film is arguably worth recommending to non-horror fans that purposely avoid the genre due to its tired repetitive clichéd plotting and often groan inducing idiotic protagonists. Don’t get me wrong, all these elements are present and correct – but they are merely the blueprints from which the real pleasure is derived. The film contains a generous sprinkling of laugh-out-loud nuggets of dialogue, with stoner’ teen Marty, played superbly by Fran Kranz, raking up a fair few on his own. However, the teens don’t have all the fun, and both seasoned pros Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford provide plenty of gallows humour themselves.

Director Drew Goddard gives the audience several ‘stinger’ jump moments - to be expected in any half-decent horror flick - however I’ve never jumped at the opening title credit before! This signals almost straight away that this is not going to be your average teens in woods in skimpy clothes in peril formulaic romp. The gore quotient is very high in key scenes, with a mixture of physical and CGI, the latter of which isn’t too impressive at times, but the sheer level of invention on the screen carries them along.

The term ‘ground-breaking’ is used far too lightly these days, but in this case I feel it’s justified. If ‘Scream’ changed the way we view slasher films , then ‘The Cabin In The Woods’ changes the way all horror films are viewed.

****(out of 5*)

Paul Worts

This review was originally published by Contains Moderate Peril on 11th March 2012.