Somewhat disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (23 April 2012)

I wanted so badly to love this movie but just ... didn't. I think part of the problem is that A Cabin in the Woods (ACITW) is seriously mismarketed as a horror film when really, it's never scary and I'm not sure it's even trying to be.
I'm not going to recount the plot because either you know it or you don't, in which case I don't want to ruin it. I'll just talk about what worked and what didn't (for me).
The concept was very clever and I really appreciated that the film was willing to go so far off the reservation. There is a scene of utter Lovecraftian mayhem at the end that almost made the entire film ... you WILL know it when you see it! The performances are uniformly strong and the film looks good and it's well-shot. I admired the film's ambition and attempt to deliver something we haven't seen before.
That said ... I felt that ACITW was more of a gimmick than a movie and for that reason I was never truly engaged in the story. The traditional horror elements failed to deliver what I like about horror: namely suspense and atmosphere. And the "twist" was somewhat predictable, stupid, and full of plot holes. There is a difference between knowingly recycling genre clichés and actually having something credible and new to say about them. ACITW never really seemed to get this distinction, and as a result it came across as a movie made by people who don't particularly understand or like the horror genre.
Part of the problem is that I've reached the saturation point with these meta-exercises and after a while it almost seems like a cop-out. There are plenty of horror deconstructions out there (Scream, Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon, Shaun of the Dead, etc.). ACITW is better than some of them, not as good as others. Overall though it isn't any more insightful or clever than any of these similar films.
I really don't want to dump all over this film because it has it's moments and if it leads some younger viewers to seek out the first Evil Dead or read some H.P. Lovecraft that's a good thing. And it definitely has more to offer than yet another half-baked remake.
But I still can't help but think that the filmmakers should've just made an honest to god legitimately good and original horror movie, instead of taking the easy way out - recycling other movies and painting it all with an ironic gloss. Again, that final segment of the film finally goes balls out and finally delivers something we've never seen before. It's a shame I had to sit through so much of the same old crapola to get there.