The Cabin in the Woods

I think the earliest memory I have of seeing a horror movie is Carry On Screaming. If you've seen it, you'll know it's not the most terrifying of films but it left its mark on me and not just because of the lovely Finella Feilding. I vividly remember laying in bed afterwards, paralysed with fear, totally convinced there was something (Odd-job?) at the door of my bedroom.

I was probably about eight or nine then; over the years, the movies have steadily become more sophisticated while my reaction to them has steadily declined. I've watched hundreds of horror films: some have scared me (Blair Witch Project, The Evil Dead, Paranormal Activity, Rec) some have disturbed me (Audition, The Ring, The Haunting) and some have disgusted me but the vast majority have had no impact at all and none have ever had the impact of Carry On Screaming.

Watching horror films is, as I think I've said before, a profoundly masochistic experience. No one actually likes fear - real fear - in the same that no one likes real pain. We like the controlled simulation of those experiences. Real pain, after all, hurts; real fear is, well scary. But there's something about the chemicals released in the brain that makes it appealing and I go on, looking for the scares but more often than not I don't find them. Most modern horror movies are too obvious, too easy to predict.

Which leads me to The Cabin in the Woods, which I saw this afternoon in a cinema that was so air-conditioned as to be arctic. Now I don't intend to give you a review of the film - movie criticism is a skill I don't have. But, if you like horror movies TCITW is worth checking out. I liked it but I didn't love it and I certainly don't see what the fuss is about - to me, the "twist" seemed fairly obvious and certainly didn't come as any shocking revelation. Nor, sadly, was it remotely scary although I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be.

It spoon-feeds the audience a bit towards the end and I think a little less could have been said. Personally, I quite like films where I have to do a bit of the work and, as any true horror movie fan knows, the best films leave your imagination to fill in the gaps because what's in your head is always far scarier than what's on the screen. But it passes the time relatively painlessly and has some amusing things to say about horror films, as a genre, in a "Scream" sort of way.

If you do go to see it in HK, take a jumper because, seriously, the A/C at the cinema in the APM Mall is fierce! And secondly, if you see the dick who took a phone-call (loudly) half way through the film, tell him I say... well, I'll leave that to your imagination.