I see why you like it... I just don't...

Rating: 3/10 (5 March 2013)

Let me begin by saying THIS IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE! Sure, it has clear fundamentals for an average horror flick, but the film completely lacks one thing that is compulsory for such a highly rated "horror": scares.
The film works along the premise of twisting that of which we already know (i.e. it tries to mess up our mind-set that the horror genre is pretty much done-and-dusted) and, looking at it from a pretty basic point of view, one would say it generally succeeds in that effort. However, when we delve deeper into the actual story and ask ourselves (cue Freaky Friday reference) "How do I feel about that?" it becomes clear the film isn't actually all that it's so famously made out to be.
The acting is no more than average, and even though the movie strains to tear apart clichés, the characters are - in essence - predictable (with the exception of Marty, whom I have a soft spot for.)
The lousy special effects don't much help this film either – in fact I'd go so far as to say they let it down in a certain retrospect. In light of that, I did actually enjoy the scene where the monsters were unleashed upon the TV crews/behind the scenes bastards or whatever you may call them.
I'd say definitely give this film a try. I can completely and utterly understand why people adore it so much, yet whilst keeping that in mind, the reasons pro-burning "Cabin in the Woods" exist is fairly clear too. Personally, I didn't expect much from this film ("from the director of Cloverfield" uh no thanks!) and not much is what I received.