The Cabin in the Woods is a very unusual film. D
espite the trailers seeming to promise standard horror fare with the remote cabin, stereotype characters and sinister villains, it is one of the most bizarre films of the genre. The plot resembles something a twelve year old would think of after drinking their first beer with twists and plot points so ridiculous that you aren’t sure of whether it’s a horror or a comedy or something in between. We deal with government conspiracies, invisible walls, Greek Gods and human sacrifice, resembling the sort of subjects you encounter when you’re bored and go on a Wikipedia binge. And all this happens in ninety-five minutes? You have to congratulate the filmmakers.
It does not succeed particularly well, however, in being a horror or a comedy. It seems lost in a convoluted plot with a poor structure combined with some clumsy writing. The film is split into two locations: The people organising what happens to the cabin and the cabin itself. The organisers crack jokes and provide a lot of genuinely funny comedy while the people in the cabin are the ones being scared, naturally. This mix of locations results in a total drain of suspense from the scenes that are supposed to be frightening because even when there is something sinister going on, you know that there are people sitting in a room watching it elsewhere in the film’s reality. Quite often, the audience was still laughing from a joke made by one of the cabin’s observers when a tense zombie chase was happening, which meant the moment was immediately lost.
Apart from these problems, the main flaw is that it is simply too smug. It disguises its own lack of originality behind in-jokes of the horror genre in an attempt to recreate what made Scream so successful in 1996. It fails and the audience is left with a disjointed bore that isn’t entirely sure of what it’s trying to achieve.
I feel the reviewer is being unnecessarily harsh. I havn’t actually seen this movie but i’m sure that its not as bad as ‘Tom Bonnington’ makes out, by the way is that a pseudonym? It cant be a real name surely. It seems to me that the reviewer is simply trying to make up for his own poor attempts at filmaking by riduculing others. For shame!
‘Ryan Lightbody’,
You are mistaken in your assumption that Tom Bonnington is not a real name. I can assure you that my name is as much of a pseudonym as his. Tom is currently Vision’s deputy film editor, as you can see on our ‘About Vision’ page http://www.yorkvision.co.uk/about/
Thank you,
Helena Kaznowska
Editor.
I apologise for my earlier suggestion. I now realise that I was mistaken and that Tom Bonnington is not a pseudonym;It was a simple misconception based on the sheer ridiculousness of the name and I am ashamed to have been so quick to jump to conclusions. I am an avid reader of the Yorkvision and I feel that it is a credit to your publication that readers like myself can use the comments section to contribute constructively and receive feeback from those in charge. I look forward to Tom’s next article in the hopes that it will be as intellectually engaging as the last. I realise that it is uncommon for readers to suggest review topics but I would particularly enjoy a review of the Hunger Games.
Here’s our review of The Hunger Games from last month. Enjoy!
http://www.yorkvision.co.uk/scene/the-hunger-games/
Dear Tom Bonnington,
I follow on from fellow avid reader of Yorkvision, Ryan Lightbody when I state for all present who has read this article that the reviewer has been overly harsh. I, unlike Ryan, have been able to see the film and I found it fitted very very very firmly into the genre I suspected it to be. The “Penny-Arcade” genre of film is one rarely found in such esteemed circles as mainstream cinema, normally reserved for more artisan films. It essential involves a confusing,intimate and at times orgasmic plot, filled with explosions of pace and ruth-less scenes of violent imagery and vague sexual propaganda.
All that aside, I found the article to be rewarding, in both content and style and definitely well worth my time.
Roger E. Smith
Bloody good effort Bonnington.