[pullquote3 quotes=”true” align=”center”]Movie Review[/pullquote3]
Editor-in-Chief
Finally: a new idea.
This multi-layered, provocative gore-fest leaves a philosophical taste in my mouth.
Listed as a “horror-comedy” by such reputable sources as boxofficemojo.com, I was excited for Cabin without even having seen a trailer. Then again, I have been excited for such clunkers as The Unborn and The Uninvited and Orphan and, well, you get it. My main criterion for seeing a horror movie in theaters is the ultimate question of movie quality: is it probably scary?
Luckily, Cabin not only drew me in by being “probably scary,” but upon experiencing the film it delivered on every other plane as well. Needless to say, as basically every moviegoer, news arena, or Arts & Entertainment anything has been spilling over with praises, this movie is an imperative go-see.
It is with an unfettered mind, free of predilection, that this film will strike you best, as it leads unsuspecting viewers through genre expectations and then veers the fuck away from them.
After a brief unexplained introduction to two older men (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) in a grayscale office complex, we are introduced to five college students going on a lake trip.
Typical, right?
Almost, except all five of them attend a prestigious (unnamed) university and don’t entirelely conform to expected stereotypes. Well, they do a little: Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as beautiful, blond, athletic Curt; Anna Hutchison (Wildboys) as newly-blonde sorority girl Jules; newcomer Kristen Connolly as good girl Dana; Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy) as sweetie Holden; and Fran Kranz (Dollhouse) as the fantastically philosophical stoner Marty.
The audience understands something funky is up when a soaring hawk crashes into an invisible wall that the college kids have just passed through unharmed.
I’ll be straight with you: this movie is pretty meta, which for the pop-culture-uneducated means (in this context) “thought-provokingly ridiculous. And rather hipster.” In all actuality, this is not the scariest offering from mega-hollywood productions, but it is quite gore-riffic (sometimes awkwardly so), something that was specifically calculated by co-directors Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon.
This film plays on similar ideas to the foundation of 2007’s Funny Games: why are we okay with people being ripped to shreds in front of us? Moreover, why do we want to watch it? Cabin adds a few more ponderances to the mix, including the irrationality of stereotyping, the importance of entertainment, and other introspective-yet-sociological cogitations.
It is certainly not without flaws, most notably the outdated CGI effects that make up a great part of the climactic action, but the glee of an audience that realizes a movie is actually unpredictable is nearly unmatched in the world of cinema, and as such makes up for every possible criticism.
Think Funny Games but way less disquieting. Think tongue-in- cheek, a little outdated, and totally wild. Definitely will make you feel a little uncomfortable or alienated at the end, but definitely worth it.
At the end of things, through its comedy, horror, and horrific string of realizations, all I can do is look to the heavens and salute these fine directors for finally coming up with a original idea.