A slasher flick with a creative twist and over-the-top climax

Rating: 7/10 (13 August 2016)

Released in 2012 and directed by Drew Goddard, "The Cabin in the Woods" is a slasher flick with satirical elements about five youths who take a getaway to a, you guessed it, cabin in the woods. Everything's not as it appears, however, and total havoc ensues.
Right off the bat, the movie gives away the fact that something is going on behind the scenes with the cabin, as if the kids are being set-up for some diabolical purpose. I liked the cast and the movie was decent, but I was a little turned-off by the set-up angle, which I'll leave for you to discover. I just prefer more straight-forward storytelling. But the ridiculously over-the-top climax won my respect because there's no way I would've predicted what was really going on and the motive thereof. So the movie gets points for creativity.
While "Cabin in the Woods" is somewhat satirical, it's not a horror comedy. It comes across as one of the Friday the 13th sequels with some Scooby-Doo elements thrown in. Chris Hemsworth plays the alpha male, Anna Hutchison the (too thin) blond hottie, Jesse Williams the studious dude, Fran Kranz the burnout and Kristen Connolly the virginal main protagonist (the true hottie). Amy Acker and Sigourney Weaver have peripheral roles. The filmmakers should've taken advantage of Amy's magnificent presence, but they failed.
The movie runs 95 minutes and was shot in British Columbia.
GRADE: B