Not what I was expecting and not really what I wanted. This proves
again that the movies you’re most excited about are the ones that
usually disappoint. It’s a bait-and-switch; you go to see a horror
movie which does, in fact, start out as a teens-in-dangerous-isolation
slasher flick — but then it turns into a strange mashup of THE TRUMAN
SHOW-style social satire (and more than a passing relation to THE
HUNGER GAMES) along with mytho-religio claptrap that reeks of CRYSTAL
SKULL ludicrousness. The reason for all that’s going on — a surprise
revealed early on — belongs in the Hall of Preposterous Premises, and
as it is further explained throughout becomes even more ridiculous.
There’s a laughable moment when a certain actress shows up near the
end to fully reveal the mystery. Maybe the joke’s intentional (there’s
comedy throughout), but by then the movie has long overstayed its
welcome — despite the presence of a cast that includes the reliable
Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford in major parts. There is one
redeeming sequence; it lasts about ten minutes when all the evils and
nightmares of the world are released in one building. If the rest had
been that good, WOODS would have been a winner. Instead, this CABIN is
barely worth a summer rental. — Jeff Schultz