Hemsworth shines in otherwise derivative slasher film (with computer-game concept added as a twist)

Rating: 8/10 (27 February 2013)

CABIN IN THE WOODS (2011) is the (horror) film that Australian beefcake Chris Hemsworth managed to appear in just before rising to stardom, in the same year, with the blockbuster THOR. Easily enough like other slasher films where the young (often goodlooking) leads get killed one by one (a very old premise, used by Dame Agatha Christie in her 1939 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE a.k.a. TEN LITTLE INDIANS), director Drew Goddard and writer Joss Whedon add their own twist by mixing a horror theme with a computer-game concept, where the "test subjects" are led on to a grisly adventure as the technicians control the whole environment, but inevitably things get out of hand. Mix Sean Penn's film THE GAME with SCREAM, or something like that. In a nutshell, Hemsworth and his friends wander around the titular cabin, where they unwittingly unleash a horde of zombies... who simply won't die! CABIN IN THE WOODS suffers from shoddy cinematography (Peter Deming), wide-eyed acting by the two female leads (Anna Hutchison, Kristen Connolly) and a bizarre concept, and as a whole has the feel of a 1970s B movie. Only the presence of Richard Jenkins (as one of the technicians) and the surprise appearance of Sigourney Weaver, and Chris Hemsworth's performance, raise this slasher film notches above others of its ilk. You can easily see star quality in Hemsworth, only 28 when he made this (and when he appeared in THOR immediately after) with this early title in his filmography.