'Cabin in the Woods' thrills
In this film image released by Lionsgate, Kristen Connolly is shown in a scene from "The Cabin in the Woods." Credit: AP
The less said about "The Cabin in the Woods," the better, but don't cross it off your moviegoing list. By all means, put it right at the top. The best way to enjoy this unpredictable jack-in-the-box of a movie, though, is to go in unprepared.
Everything about "The Cabin in the Woods" is a delicious practical joke, from the generic title (ho-hum, more slaughtered college kids) to its incongruous opening scene (two middle-age guys at a watercooler? Is this the right theater?) to its unthinkable finale (they wouldn't! But they did). Though delayed for years by a financially troubled MGM, "The Cabin in the Woods" feels like a booby trap waiting to explode.
This much won't spoil things: "The Cabin in the Woods" does take place in one, where several collegians have come to chug beer and dip in the lake. You know them: party girl Jules (Anna Hutchison), athletic Curt (Chris Hemsworth, of "Thor"), sensitive Holden (Jesse Williams), spacey stoner Marty (a very funny Fran Kranz, currently on Broadway in "Death of a Salesman" but here channeling Shaggy from "Scooby-Doo") and studious Dana (newcomer Kristen Connolly). Want to bet who'll be the "final girl"?
Don't press your luck. Drew Goddard ("Cloverfield") directs and misdirects with a con man's confidence, and his co-writer is Joss Whedon, a veteran genre-blender since "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Even if you're smart enough to connect the dots from the underground bunker to the Kyoto schoolgirls, the visual jokes and zingy dialogue will keep you laughing aloud. (And don't forget the copious gore.)
Although not flawless, "The Cabin in the Woods" is endlessly inventive and speeds along with a giddy, infectious energy. It's a rare bait and switch where what you get is far better than what you were expecting.
Four more: These campers weren't so happy
Teenage campers, a creepy cabin in the woods and a mad killer on the loose: It's a horror recipe as winning as chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallow. What's more (or is that s'more?), a new scream flick, "The Cabin in the Woods," opens today, hoping the formula again will kill at the box office. Here are four other cabin-and-camper movies that had audiences more petrified than the forests they were set in.
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