Cabin In The Woods

I thought it was decent enough, but not groundbreaking. Considering it was apparently supposed to "revitalise the horror genre" I'm not sure that was really accomplished. It was a bit of a different spin to the norm but it wasn't really anything that hadn't been seen before. The whole aspect of everyone being watched/controlled reminded me of the TV series Persons Unknown.

Incidentally, don't buy the Blu-ray, apparently it skips throughout the film according to an internal email that was sent down at work today.
 
have put this on my lovefilm list, seems to have good reviews, usually horrors get 3 stars even if they are decent, looking forward to this 4/5 film (from lovefilm ratings)
 
I really enjoyed it, it's probably my favourite film of the last few years. Quite a few of the plot twists were unexpected for me, with a bit of black humour thrown in :)
 
This thread being bumped has reminded me how awesome I thought this film was. I'm surprised a few people have said they lost interest after the elevator scene, it was like a completely different film then and pretty amazing at the cinema, ace action /jacob billing. I imagine it wouldn't be as entertaining at home.
 
I thought it was ok, maybe a 7/10 at most. I just didn't quite get how this is reinventing a genre. They give away the big "secret" after a few minutes and the rest of it was all paint by numbers. The only part that differentiates this from other films was that they didn't bother trying to hide the surprise.

What was it that made people love it so much? It was cool in places but the only part that surprised me a little was the elevator scene. That was quite cool
 
fez said:
I thought it was ok, maybe a 7/10 at most. I just didn't quite get how this is reinventing a genre. They give away the big "secret" after a few minutes and the rest of it was all paint by numbers. The only part that differentiates this from other films was that they didn't bother trying to hide the surprise.

What was it that made people love it so much? It was cool in places but the only part that surprised me a little was the elevator scene. That was quite cool
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It's basically because of the way it subverts the entire horror genre. The people who control the cabin act very much like film directors, and that causes us to become a lot more critical of what's happening. It's not about surprises as such, because we all know what's coming; Steve and Gary are seen deciding and discussing which unspeakable horror to throw at the cabin next. It puts an extra layer between the characters and the action. By doing that it means that we never really get to identify or empathize with the main characters.

It's supposed to be paint by numbers because its a satire, the fact that Gary and Steve are causing people to die in order to satiate an unknown, bigger evil is basically the ridiculous icing on the cake. Similarly, the characters both seem to play to their stereotypes and also subvert them by fighting against the cliche in some respects.

It's basically a meta-horror, and there's very few films like that which openly mock the genre whilst reveling it all its ridiculousness.

Then there's another layer in the way it references other films and toys with horror conventions. It's like a big puzzle in and of itself, and the promo posters for the film are clearly a reference to its true nature.

And then at the end of the film every single horror film bad guy, convention and theme is thrown right in the audiences face, displaying everything good and bad about the genre. That's the only real surprise for me; that it goes so far as to actually do that.
 
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TheVoice said:
No, it was an email sent down from head office. All Blu-ray copies are being returned this week with new copies arriving next week.
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That's true. I should be receiving my replacement copy sometime in the second week of Oct apparently.

The Blu-ray copy pauses at random intervals throughout the film. They're like old school dvd layer break pauses and there is about a dozen of them.
 
Watched it last night and loved it.
I was put off previously because it looked as though the trailer gave away the big plot twist but after 30 seconds of watching it you realize it wasn't a plot twist at all.
Love the references to other horror film monsters (Pennywise wasn't much good though). Loved the Jap horror/Ringu bit esp the way the kids dealt with the evil spirit.
I also actually liked the ending too!
Surprise top film of quite some time for me.
8/10

Oh, and lol at Murman.

edit - just thinking about this and realised I haven't surprisingly enjoyed a horror film this much since Drag Me To Hell.
 
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This was actually an awesome movie. I never watch horror movies, but I watched this since I was a big fan of Buffy and Angel, and this is has the classic Whedon style of people telling jokes and being casual in extraordinary or macabre situations. So it was funny, and it had the cool meta-thing going on.
 
Pestilence said:
Just got back. Thought it was very good indeed, if somewhat overhyped.

Also:

Did anyone else notice the Boomer from Left 4 Dead standing in one of the glass cages during the pull-back shot revealing the various sliding blocks?

Some of the CGI was pretty dodgy, though.
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Yeah noticed that in one of the cages. Movie went from awesome to epic when I saw that! :D

CGI was oldschool, worked just right for the feel of the movie in my opinion. In fact the whole movie had this 90's / early 00's feel to it, which I that was pretty damn cool.

Definitely 9/10 for me, proper entertaining and a total laugh if not anything else.
 
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