Plenty of mind candy not enough action or frights in the first half.

Rating: 6/10 (19 April 2012)

A cabin in the woods is smart, knowing and occasionally funny and can be interpreted in a mind bending number of ways.
If you are prepared to dwell on the films themes of horror clichés, teenager stereotypes and even the relationships between the old and young then this film will keep you entertained long after it has ended.
Though not a perfect film, it is slow in its build up and the zombies are uninspiring and a little boring as the teen stalkers. I was hoping all sorts of beasts were going to be unleashed upon them on purpose or by accident by the two old incompetent underground control technicians but we had to settle for the tried and tested redneck zombies.
Evil Dead 2 it is not.
The 'meta' steps up its game in the films last 40-30 mins and we are treated to a fun slice of crazy as the underground techies get over cocky and underestimate the teens who somewhat outsmart them and make their way down into the inner workings of the machine only to be confronted (and us teased) by what COULD have terrorised the cabin in the woods.
There is no real logic to this film and that is what ultimately lets it down. We are made to believe that these unsuspecting kids are more 'real to life' than the usual bunch of college clichés that are over- abundantly slashed and diced in modern horrors. The players in this game are smarter and don't just go off on their own or willingly take off their clothes in the dark scary woods. Instead they have to be manipulated into doing so by the techies' cunning tricks (both times spraying chemical gasses at them). So how does the girl stay alive and even cracking jokes right up to the climax of the film after being horribly bashed around by a zombie for 5 minutes and mauled by a werewolf for 2? And that also goes for the pot-head, wasn't he stabbed through the chest and dragged through the woods by his feet coughing up blood? These 'real' kids must have super powers or something because they not only survive but they do allot of running about.
Some might say that those minor qualms can be explained by it being a parody but I can't forgive it so easily.
As you would expect from the guys involved in writing or making TV's Lost and the film Cloverfield it has a twist. The twist is fun and bathes the film in a light-hearted afterglow allowing you to forgive it it's foibles slightly.
I have been musing over this film for quite some time now and have realised it touches on much more than you initially realise while you watch it and perhaps it has more ideas shoehorned in than the visuals or logic can keep up with.