The Cabin in the Woods
Director: Drew Goddard
Writer: Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard
Cast: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Brian White, Amy Acker, Tim De Zarn
Part of: /slash Filmfestival’s slashing Europe [The /slash Filmestival needs help! Please support genre movies in Austria, if you can.]

Plot:
While two technicians (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) prepare for a huge day at work, 5 students decide to spend a weekend in a remote cabin: Dana (Kristen Connolly), Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchinson), Marty (Fran Kranz) and Holden (Jesse Williams) just want to have a weekend of fun and drinks. But something more seems to be going on in the cabin in the woods.

Oh my freaking goodness, I fucking loved Cabin in the Woods. I had such high expectations and they were more than fulfilled. And even though it’s not only his film, I’ll just have to say thanks to Joss Whedon for doing that for me twice in one week.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m completely aware that it’s not only Joss Whedon who makes this film great – though it obviously carries his mark and it’s a mark that I just love. But that probably wouldn’t have been enough if the rest of the film hadn’t been up for the job as well. Fortunately, it was.

Plus, the cast is absolutely brilliant. I’ve been halfway in love with Fran Kranz since Dollhouse and I loved seeing him again (let’s make that happen more often), but the real highlights were Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins (also due to their roles).

I tried to go into the film as unspoiled as possible and pretty much succeeded. But the only thing that really surprised me was how straight they played the premise [and – SPOILER – Sigourney Weaver‘s cameo] – there’s not really much of a twist there in the first place.

Instead you can just lean back and watch the whole thing unfold – and that is enjoyable as hell. It’s a smart, funny film with a lot of knowledge of the genre it plays in and with.

Summarising: If you have any love for horror films, you have to see this. But even if you don’t, you should see this anyway.