Film #151: CABIN IN THE WOODS

The Cabin in the Woods
2 out of 5 stars
Hated this the first time, decided to give it another chance – dumb move. Competently made, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS is a “meta” horror flick which not only strip-mines the clichés of the genre but does its best to rework them into a sort of cinematic quilt for people who’ve never seen a modern horror film. Sadly, the end result comes off as far too calculated and contrived to completely work. Yes, CABIN does have its moments (the elevator door openings particularly), but so much of it feels familiar to the point of plagiarism (the setup is lifted wholesale from EVIL DEAD). The acting is EXACTLY what you’d expect from a film of this ilk (translation: stiff and covers all of the acting ranges from A to B). The blood & gore is a little better than you’d expect. Yes, Joss Whedon (co-writer & producer) and Drew Goddard (co-writer & director) know a thing or two about the genre. It’s just that they fail to exhibit any real understanding of it. Further, it’s pretty obvious that THE CABIN IN THE WOODS is a film made more from a marketing perspective than an altruistic one (let alone done to pay homage to the genre). Clumsy, poorly scripted, and wholly transparent, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS is yet another entry in the assembly-line production of American horror product. In other words, it aims for all the right targets… it just misses them with great regularity. Watchable… but it sputters more than it fires.