Highly enjoyable, though possibly not for everyone

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2012)

Five attractive teenage college students, all fitting the expected(then again, they're not obnoxious) archetypes(the slutty Jules, Curt the jock, Holden the nerd, Marty the stoner(who has some of the best lines out of all the witty dialog) and finally, Dana the virgin... and it's worth noting whether they actually live down to these stereotypes, and why) go for a weekend getaway in the titular cabin. Bad Stuff starts happening, and over the course of this, with its countless(seriously, I can barely believe that all that happened in roughly 90 minutes... this is astonishingly well-paced, it never slows down and yet it doesn't overwhelm) beat changes, plot twists and unexpected situations, right up to the excellent ending, this satirizes(with plenty of meta) modern horror, as in, from the 70's and to today(and thus, it fits in a lot of strong language, bloody, gory, disturbing violence, a little eye-candy, sexuality and topless female nudity), a genre that it's unmistakably clear that Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon despise. Don't get me wrong, it's an awful lot of fun throughout, but you may want to keep that in mind. A portion of the audience I saw this with didn't seem to get into this... perhaps they were expecting an entry into the genre? I don't see how, from the trailer... and yes, that shot of a bird flying out of the Animus simulation and desynchronizing makes sense, and no, you shouldn't know anything about what's really going on in this other than what the previews hint. Anyway, unlike the Scream series, this doesn't go for terrifying its viewers half of the time, or any of it(there are some decent jump-scares, and it can certainly be creepy). It is mainly pointing out the stupid conventions of the medium, and there are those that will find it overly cynical in such. The acting is great by all involved. Characters are well-developed and relatively fleshed out. The FX are fantastic, as is the referencing and creative use of... let's just say, this is a remarkably stimulating experience. I recommend this to any fan of those who made it and of this kind of thing. 8/10