“The Cabin in the Woods” isn’t your everyday horror movie, it takes what you know about horror and slasher flicks and completely flips it on its head. From backwoods zombies to the stereotypical character tropes used in the movie.

Five college friends head out to a remote cabin in the woods for a vacation, little do they know there’s more than meets the eye.

 As they arrive, strange things begin to happen from a creepy man warning them to turn back to a basement full of odd artifacts. Soon, things go from creepy to downright horrifying as one by one, they fall victim to backwoods zombies that will stop at nothing to eliminate them. On the opposite end, a group of scientists are playing puppet masters as they monitor and manipulate the horrors going on in the little cabin in the woods, but as the movie progresses, you begin to realize that there’s more at play than just scientists making what was supposed to be a vacation a horrifying nightmare.

While “The Cabin in the Woods” isn’t necessarily scary and teeters more on the comical side of horror movies, similarly to the “Scream” series, that’s where its strength comes from. The plot of the film is interesting enough to keep your attention, and while the characters are supposed to be cookie cutter character archetypes from every horror movie ever made, they’re charming enough to make you care about them.

The character tropes found in the movie consist of the charismatic hero, the aloof, the scholar, the fool, and finally the heroine. Each of these characters plays a role in the film while the scientists try to make it so they follow their role to the letter by manipulating their every decision by any means necessary. Unlike the archetypes these characters play, they do have a will of their own.

The film doesn’t overstay its welcome and makes sure that each moment has your eyes glued to the screen, the pacing is very well done and while it doesn’t move at breakneck speed, it makes sure to move from scene to scene at a decent pace.

“The Cabin in the Woods” is a great popcorn flick and a spooky film to add to your Halloween movie list, and putting everything into consideration, Spinnaker gives “The Cabin in the Woods” 4 out of 5 sails.

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