Carnage Inc.

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2012)

In the cliché of horror clichés a group of five friends decide to take a vacation in a forest hideout supposedly belonging to the cousin of sociology major / burly athlete Curt (Chris Hemsworth). The foursome features a newly blond Jules (Anna Hutchison), her single 'reborn virgin' friend Dana (Kristen Connolly), the setup boyfriend Holden (Jesse Williams) and the bong-smoking jester Marty (Fran Kranz). On path to the isolated cabin they meet the awkwardly crazed hill-billy, but still embark to their fate: one full of flinging cellar doors, blood-hungry zombies and all that is dark / dreadful. Meanwhile a group of technicians follow our group en route to their demise, supplying them with hypnotic drugs and pheromones in order for the murderous mayhem complete an ancient ritual aimed at keeping the Ancient Ones at bay...
Flung into the crossroads of horror scripts comes a truly original movie-joke, albeit one not as cerebrally engaging as many want to believe. Taking "Scream" a step beyond from laughing at horror movies oversimplifications to re-imagining a limbo for horror scripts. Many viewers will be engaged enough by the sheer glee of playing the 'name-that-horror' game, started off from the obvious "Evil Dead" nudge to some less apparent homages like "Hellraiser" to those absolutely marginal like the "Angel"-inspired tentacle scene. Throughout a vast array at knocks towards horror idiosyncrasies, including inspirationally over-the-top famous last-lines, a character changing his sane opinion into an insane one via technician-induced stupidity or the intelligent Jules going blond and dumb just to fit the 'tech script'. Insanely funny with a nudging smartness, whilst not receding on gore, "Cabin in the Woods" offers a true relapse from the typical horror fanfare. The main loss is in regards to atmosphere, as there is none - whenever the tension starts building we are always swept away into 'horror technician' land, where a couple of goofy lines and comments eat away the suspense.
Featuring a very self-aware script and great performances across the board (especially from the duo technobabble of Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford), is a vastly improved metaspoof (when compared to the "Scream" franchise) aimed directly at true aficionados of the horror genre.