A Great Comedy Horror, While Still Maintaining Originality as a Horror Movie

Rating: 7/10 (4 February 2016)

I was certainly interested in seeing this movie. I loved the idea, and was really hoping that it would be done right. In the end I think that it was done quite well.
Cabin in the Woods takes a somewhat different approach to the horror genre. It takes a lot of clichés and uses them, but its self-aware and pretty much shoves that fact in your face, so the clichés end up coming off as much less than a cliché. While the 'twist' in the movie is relatively obvious early on, I want to avoid giving you as many spoilers as possible. But it's about a group of friends staying in a cabin in the woods and they find out that there's something much different than they expected happening in the cabin. It's a really awesome idea actually, and I was really impressed overall by how it went. It could have benefited from being longer, but it still had good reason for its 95 minute run time.
The characters are all built around clichés, and like I said, the movie is short so the characters don't have much time to be developed. It's clear that that characters aren't the main focus of the movie, but they're still relatively likable, and your not completely sure who you want to root for in the end.
The movie is quite obviously a comedy, despite not being categorized (on IMDb) as one. The movie is filled with outright goofy moments and funny things that you have to look for. Some of the humor is also in how over the top the movie can be, so if you have a dark sense of humor than you'll probably enjoy this movie.
Overall Cabin in the Woods is a solid movie. The plot is great, the characters are good, and the dark comedy is great. While it would have benefited from a longer run time, it was still great and paced relatively well. It still managed to feel unique while embracing clichés. Sometimes these clichés weren't incorporated well unfortunately, as in they ended up actually feeling cliché. In the end I'd certainly recommend that if you love horror, comedy and/or a mix of the two then give this one a look.