The Cabin in the Woods - Movie Review

The Cabin in the Woods

Year of release : 2012

Cast : Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly and Fran Kranz

Director: Drew Goddard

Music : David Julyan

Cinematography : Peter Deming

                                      The movie begins with a scene at  a sophisticated lab, where we are shown two men having a general discussion, and then an assistant intervenes, and delivers a  message about some other facility of their organization. Elsewhere, we are shown five students heading off to a lonely cabin in the woods. There are no means of communication present at the cabin and they are totally cut off with the rest of the world. Chris Hemsworth a.k.a "The Thor" was the only one whom I was able to identify among the cast. The plot about the students are very much cliched, complete with a nerd, an athlete and a dumb guy. Embarking on their trip, they stop at a station for petrol, and to ask for directions, and the old guy present there, is very unfriendly and tells them that they would have troubles coming back from the cabin. They ignore him and then head for the cabin, passing through a long tunnel. Meanwhile, the old guy at the petrol station calls up the people at the lab and informs them that the youngsters are on their way to the cabin.

                    After arriving at the cabin, they go into their respective rooms, and we are shown that every room has a hidden camera, and the people at the lab are continuously monitoring them.The gang of five start partying, and start playing truth or dare, some in the gang start behaving unusually, when suddenly the basement door opens, and then, they are shown bringing back the dead. All this, while all the employees at lab are watching them through cameras, and betting on which type of the dead, they would awaken. The rest of the movie deals with what happens to the gang - whether they make it alive out of the woods or not, and only during the climax, the entire plot is revealed, as to how they brought back the dead, why were they being treated as scapegoats by the people at the lab.

All I can say is that, I felt that IMDb has got it all wrong about this movie. This movie has a rating of over seven - grossly overrated. Make no mistake, this movie is absolute trash. The so-called last act, where the suspense is revealed, makes you feel like an Idiot (with a capital I), and I seriously wanted to bang my head against something. I was wondering what the director wanted to make - horror, or comedy or a spoof movie. The movie has this TV reality meets Horror meets Greek mythology - sort of story line. This movie does not belong in any of these genres. I read that they had wanted to make a Satirical movie as a tribute to the cliched and trash horror movies of the past , but nor is this movie entertaining, nor is it funny nor does it pay any tributes. Did the movie wanted itself to be taken seriously, or was trying to be Satirical - anyways it fails big time. I wonder whether they paid people to write reviews ! They wanted to make something special, but instead produced garbage.

What I feel

My rating - 3/10

Recommended movies of the same genre - One thing, I don't recommend anyone watching this movie !

One Liners - Over hyped trash, IMDb - We lost our faith on you, The Americans have lost it, Don't waste your time (as I wasted mine by watching this movie, and then by reviewing it as well)

What the Internet says 

IMDb rating : 7.1/10

Tomatometer:  92%  Average rating - 7.2/10

Hand Picked Trivia (Source : The IMDb)

Won five 2012 Fright Meter Awards, including Best Horror Movie, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.