The Cabin in the Woods is not like any teen horror you've seen before

Think The Matrix meets The Evil Dead with this horror hybrid.

Fran Kranz in The Cabin in the Woods.

The Cabin in the Woods
Director: Drew Goddard
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Anna Hutchison
****

One of the freshest scary movies in years, The Cabin in the Woods is almost impossible to review without multiple spoiler alerts ringing like alarm bells. So let's start with the film's impressive pedigree. Co-written by its producer Joss Whedon (the creator of the cult TV shows Buffy, Angel and Firefly) and its director Goddard (who wrote the monster movie Cloverfield), with these two minds mashed together, it's like a match made in genre heaven. No question, Cabin will have gore fans howling with delight, as it turns a hoary old horror convention on its head. What impresses, however, is that there's room for the rest of us, too, as a quintet of American teenagers head to an isolated log cabin for spring break. All the archetypes you'd expect are present: the stoner (Kranz), the jock (Hemsworth), the bookworm (Williams), the virgin (Connolly) and the party animal (Hutchison). They get intoxicated and party and … you've seen it in a hundred horror films before, right? The film's tagline teases: "You think you know the story." Trust me, this time, you don't. Right from the beginning, with a parallel plot featuring Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford, you'll know something is amiss. But what? If you want a clue, think The Matrix meets The Evil Dead, a horror hybrid that beautifully blends sci-fi and scares in equal measure. Full of references for the film buff, and with enough jumps to terrify the casual viewer, this truly has something for everyone.