The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Cabin in the Woods teases you as it begins like the Bruce-Campbell-helmed Evil Dead trilogy. You still move down a singular path of gore and destruction but the path presents different obstacles. Five college kids—the dumb jock, the smart jock, the slut, the good girl (sort of), the stoner nerd. One cabin in the woods.

(Spoiler Alert: Read at Your Own Risk!)

You soon learn that you are watching a reality show. Unknown to the hapless five, they are at the mercy of two producers in a control room who are working the events for maximum effect. To the producers’ chagrin, the kids aren’t succumbing as quickly as hoped to the overreaching plot they have hatched in an effort to save the world from eminent destruction.

Filled with a typhoon of unexpected events, The Cabin in the Woods throws plenty at you: a bevy of frightening and disturbingly armed fast-moving zombies and unexpected roadblocks. With homage to many horror flicks of the past, there’s creativity in the plotting including a visually non-stop sequence where creatures from the depths of your worst nightmares are unleashed. (The ding of an elevator is forever altered.)

The ending is unsatisfying. After the chaotic ride, the theatrics and the resilience of the final two, it left me feeling incomplete.

Co-writer/Director: Drew Goddard

Country: USA

Genre: Horror

Run time: 95

Scale: 4