As we’ve covered previously, I don’t do well with Horror, but as an ardent film fan I find it very difficult to ignore a film that gets described as a “game changer”, especially when it gets rave reviews from several people whose opinions I trust.
Reassured I wouldn’t have to deal with cinematic induced insomnia, off I trotted (along with a volunteer whose arm I could hide behind if things got a bit scary) to see my second Joss Whedon creation in the space of a week, ‘The Cabin in the Woods’.
So, this is the part of my post where I usually try and give as brief as possible description of the film. In the case of ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ this is going to be ridiculously tricky. All I can say (and all a lot of people have said) is the less you know about it the better. The only facts I will impart are; there are 5 people and they go to a Cabin in the Woods, however things are not always as they seem…
And now to praise it without giving away any of the details… Oh Mr Whedon, Mr Goddard, you have not made my task and easy one!
It’s no great mystery that what you see in the trailer is only a fraction of what the film is about. This becomes apparent from the off, with a highly amusing opening sequence that totally catches the viewer off guard. Take that as a warning shot for things to come. The beauty of ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ is that after those few opening scenes you’ll run a few scenarios through your head and think you have the measure of the film… believe me when I say, you’re not even close to having a handle on it.
This isn’t an actor’s film but the cast have been well chosen and a couple of them are really good. Kristen Connolly puts in a good performance as Dana and Fran Kranz is brilliant as Marty the comic relief (in the same vein as Randy Meeks from Scream albeit not quite as ‘meta’). And Chris Hemsworth takes his top off… (What’s that? Shallow? Who me?!?!)
I’m in love with Bradley Whitford from his days on ‘The West Wing’ but he is great in this. I’m not saying anything else about his character lest I spoil it for you!
As much as I’m sure it was a joint venture between Whedon and Goddard it had Joss’s name stamped through it in like a stick of Blackpool rock. It’s got his dark humour all over it which is really refreshing. It’s not as scary as it could have been for which I was quite thankful, but if you’re a hard core Horror fan you might be slightly under-whelmed by the scares.
‘The Cabin in the Woods’ is an exercise in precision, in every sense. The gags are timed to perfection, the dialogue is snappy, the plot points are delivered bang on time; it really feels like someone took a great deal of care to craft it.
As an admitted Horror-phobe you’d think going to see a film that parodies common horror tropes would leave me nonplussed. Wrong! If you’re a horror nut that’s seen every slasher flick under the sun or (like me) you covered the absolute basics of the Horror genre for your Media Studies A-Level, either way, you’ll know exactly what they’re sending up. I imagine that if I’d have seen more Horror films I may have found it even funnier but I’ve still seen enough to get the references and I was giggling throughout.
I loved ‘The Cabin in the Woods’. If you’re planning on seeing it, leave your preconceptions at the door because you won’t be needing them.
Oh, and, this won’t make sense until you see the film but, we must now all refer to erections as ‘Husband Bulges’.
Now, let’s have some…
Reasons to be Cheerful
1. Read this, the story of a Five year old Avenger! Is it not the sweetest thing you've ever seen in your life?!?! It made my day, it really did :-)
2. "NEWS TEAM... ASSEMBLE!" Oh yes. This is happening!
3. Robert Pattinson will not be playing Finnick Odair in the upcoming sequel to ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Catching Fire’. Thank FUCK for that! There were rumours, rumours that chilled me to the bone but thankfully it’s not happening :-) Finnick is one of the key characters in ‘Catching Fire’ and Pattinson would have been awful and I would have cried.
That’s all I’ve got for today!
Goodbye till next time :-)
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