A mixed bag.

Rating: 6/10 (5 October 2012)

So, here we have it, the other big Whedon film released in 2012.
This one could've fared a bit better in the sense that it packed more surprises for the viewer. Problem is, before those surprises come along, we're subjected to a rather conventional horror structure. A group of unsympathetic youngsters venture out to a cabin in the deep, isolated woods, and weird stuff happens that changes their entire day for the worse. Throughout the story, the film cuts back and forth between the youngsters and a mysterious facility later revealed to be underneath the cabin, which we quickly realize is filled with folks who are not only aware of the youngsters' location, but are watching their every move and collecting their blood when they die for a sacrifice detailed at the end of the film. Creepy and interesting, but like with the youngsters, Whedon's dialogue is more corny than it is funny, a far-cry from some of his other work. Drew Goddard's direction was iffy at best. He doesn't seem capable of keeping up with the action and filming it in a way that is both coherent and sustains your interest. His direction improves at the end, where the entire film gets better, but too often are there moments where I got the sense that he didn't know where to place his camera.
The actual scenes involving the youngsters, for the most part, are as standard as they come. Whedon tried his best to mix things up a little, specifically in a scene involving "Truth or Dare", but by the end, you realize all that nonsense was nothing but build-up to the main event, and quite a main even it is. Without giving anything away for those who haven't seen it, I'll just say that it raises the quality of an otherwise dull film drastically, not only because it is unexpected, but because it keeps going long after one would expect the film to come to a close. Whedon could've easily had the film end right after the two survivors are revealed to be in the middle of several different creatures in the facility we see throughout the film, but that would've been lazy and not satisfying enough. Instead, he kept the excitement building from there to reach one of the most memorable finales in any film this year.
It's just a shame that the rest of the film wasn't as strong. Instead of giving us characters to care for, we're given caricatures with little to no personality, so when all of them are killed of, it's really hard to give a care. Our two survivors' final moment is needlessly contrived and without meaning because of this and the fact that the characterizations simply were not there. Thus, we're given Terminator 3.5 instead of an affecting and powerful closer. Whedon should know better.