Spring 2012
HORROR-Comedy SPOOF
Starring: Chris HEMSWORTH, BRADLEY Whitford, Richard Jenkins and SIGOURNEY
WEAVER.
Certificate: 15.
Running Time: 95 mins.
Seen at: Didsbury
On: Saturday, 14th APRIL 2012.
Over the last fifteen years or so, with the cracking,
clever but bloody subversion of Wes Craven’s Scream in 1996, it was made clear that the horror genre of the
nineties, with it’s teenage students, lavish fraternity houses and usurping of
convention, was never again going to consist of
the realistic collection of Carpenter-lead, slow burning shockers it
once was. Instead, we had glossy, creeping cinematographic photography, knowing
dialogue, an instantly iconic figure in Ghostface, and enough ingeniously
enveloped filmic references to keep both a new generational demographic, and
even the most revered movie fans astutely happy.
Now, Buffy creator Joss Weadon produces this highly
intelligent spin on the much tried-and-tested scenario of: ‘teenagers holiday
in a secluded location and become viciously murdered by utilizing increasingly
gruesome methods’.
Intriguingly
however, it doesn’t start that way at all. Rather, it appears initially as quite a different film
altogether. Two disgruntled, ageing television controllers talk of technical
glitches and declining ratings, before being freeze-framed by the screech of a
crescendo. It’s a highly unique, mis-directional technique, purposely designed
to catch the audience on absolutely the wrong foot, thus hooking us in and
piquing our interest every perilous, as well as often oddly funny trudge of its
subversive way. Four intentionally artificial, once again
glossily attractive teenagers, lead by Chris Hemsworth’s charming athlete
(before he was Thor, turning in a brilliantly likeable performance as always),
along with a fifth friend, load up a camper-van on their way to that most
archetypal of horror-movie clichés, the deserted log-cabin retreat for the
weekend, on the edge of a cliff. But not before running into another Eli
Roth-inspired sterotype, the unsettlingly sinister redneck who, spitting blood
– warns ominously in ambiguous, Southern-American tones: ‘I’ll get you there, getting back – that’s your concern’…
Of course,
it isn’t long before mysterious events begin to occur: double-sided mirrors,
peculiarly life-like taxidermy and a family of roaming, relentless zombies,
keen to reclaim an ancient diary…
This though,
is just a tiny part of the artifice designed by those same television
controllers. The axel upon which the film’s entire premise is constructed. The
‘cabin’ of the title is, in actuality, an elaborate set for a reality-based
television series watched by the whole world, with its four inhabitants as
their unsuspecting and unaware contestants, as the order of: ‘lets begin’ is enthusiastically trilled,
and a joystick locked into place…
The brilliant
and rare conceit, is actually revealed relatively earlier on, with a vulture
perishing while flying into the honeycombed electric dome that protects the
entire complex. Before its release it was widely reported to avoid the trailer,
which did really give away too much.
Bradley
Whitford, along with the always-brilliant Richard Jenkins, are the executives
who happily take bets on who’ll die next, as they gradually meet their maker
one by one at the entertaining hands of a disguised mix of smoke-and mirrors machinery, numerously
hidden homage-reference and environmentally manipulated aesthetic – which
includes deliberately controlled gasses that increase our protagonist’s romances,
only to lure them out, into shocking deaths…
The film
really gains momentum halfway through, once those remaining cotton-on to the
fact that they’ve fallen victim to superficiality, and attempt to escape off
the cliff-face, only to again meet violent consequence.
The final
segment, where the last two delve deep into the actual inner-workings of the
studio’s trade secrets, is where the monsters, ghosts and stock characters kick
in, thanks to an ebullient indulgence in an emphasis on impressive,
computer-generated visuals, travelling through the many lift-shafts, each
containing a new relic character of the genre.
The best of
these however has to be a knowing nod to that genres first, most pioneering
heroine, due to the actress who plays her, making a gleefully memorable cameo
as the show’s unnamed director, who’s previously only hinted at through the
fateful ring of an infamous red telephone. Without giving too much away, it’s a
wonderful characterization and an
excitedly unexpected performance, as well as another prime example that
both Weadon, and director Drew Goddard both know their genre and every
meticulous detail of it, inside out. Horror fans will delight in countless
references.
Thankfully, it’s not actually scary, trading true
horror for tongue-in-cheek, not so serious humour and occasional jumpy shock.
As I’ve repeated, I judge comedy-horror to be the most difficult genre, and like the Screams before it, it succeeds in such a cleverly cinematic,
triumphant way. It’s been dubbed as: ‘a
groundbreaking game-changer’ on the poster – and it truly is. An impossibly
clever concept, with endlessly exciting, stylishly shot surprises around every
impeccably constructed turn. In years to come, it’ll be a
niche-turned-mainstream classic.
With a sharply
written screenplay adrenaline-pumping blockbuster thrills and funny dialogue,
this is the most surprising hit of the year, with it’s appeal rooted in the
very foundations of the staple conventions of the horror genre, its many
subsequent incarnations, and the medium of cinema itself!
Rating: * * * *
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