Didn't read the script first.

Wildly uneven.  Pretty solid as a comedy, significantly lame as a horror film, barely satisfactory as a meta-horror/satire, contains occasional flashes of brilliance.

Overall, this was good clean fun for a theatre viewing, with lots of pretty people, somewhat fresh jokes, and a nice light tone.  Passable gore, absolutely no suspense or genuine scares, and uninspired creature design bring this up pretty short in the horror department.  Richard Jenkins was a great choice for his role, adding a little bit of talent to a largely uninteresting cast (even Hemsworth isn't as much fun when he's not doing his Thor voice).  

The meta-horror premise is nice but not fully capitalized on.  The end is fun but a little excessive, totally removing any last hopes of legitimate horror.  The overuse of CGI is extremely unpleasant and further takes away from any weight the film might have had.  

As a satire, there are two moments of absolute brilliance, one a good-natured send-up of J-horror and the other...well, I dunno.  It's good, though.  Also, the movie title in the opening credits is one of the film's best moments.

All in all, highly unlikely to fully satisfy anyone, but probably unlikely to highly dissatisfy too many people, either.  It's not good, but it's a little different, and that's nice in itself.

As a big horror fan, this movie actually blew me away. The first half was great and the second made made drop my jaw in just how nuts it got. I think it did some really different stuff and brought some good horror back in a time where people no longer have the same respect for the genre. I rarely praise a movie to this extent, but it's honestly the best horror movie I've ever seen.

Quoted from Ectoplasm As a big horror fan, this movie actually blew me away.  I rarely praise a movie to this extent, but it's honestly the best horror movie I've ever seen.

Huh?  For reals?  All the reviews I've read, as well as Chris' above, say this isn't horror, and I know from reading the script, it's definitely not horror.

Ecto, you say you're a big fan of horror and this is the best example of horror you've ever seen?  Just how many horror movies have you seen?

I've seen a lot of horror, it's not extremely scary but with the high amount of gore and death count, I'd consider it so. It is more leaning towards parody horror, but it's horror nonetheless. I thought the concept was unique and offered something besides the loads of typical torture porn or mindless slasher flicks that are released now.

Posted this yesterday in the other thread. My initial thoughts:

Caught an afternoon screening of this today. A real mixed bag. There are some fun scenes, but this suffers from believing it's alot cleverer than it actually is.

As a genre geek myself, 'cheeky' nods to Hellraiser and the Evil Dead caused a tired eye roll, and not a fanboy round of applause.

It's hard to criticize the plot holes, cos' the set up is silly from the get go so it's futile trying to dissect it on that level. All the characters are really bland. Stoner, slut, jock, prissy 'virgin' etc (there is a cameo from a certain legendary actress, which I'm not sure actually helped). Prodution values look DTV level for the most part. The CGI monsters are what you would expect. Also -- a common trend in modern mainstream 'horror'  -- an inability to light night scenes in an effective way. Alot of lazy assed 'scares'.  

I can't see myself ever going in for a second viewing. Not the worst thing I've seen, but that's like saying I've had worst kidnappers.

I havent read the script, I will take a look at it though out of interest.

EDIT: I was shocked to read in the other thread (Jeff's post) that this had a budget of $30mill. Really shocked. The CGI monsters for me felt like Scy-Fy channel or the recent movies that Corman puts out like Sharktopus etc.  

I took a quick look at the screenplay today but quickly stopped reading, as I can learn nothing from it.

Ecto -- the best horror film you have ever seen? Really? Wow. I honestly can't respond to that. Eact to their own and all that.  

There's a 'trendyness' to Joss Wheedon's work. I thought that type of thing was cool when 'Scream' came out all those years ago. But i was a 'kid' then. It might be an age thing, but in-jokes and 'LOOK HOW I SUBVERT THIS TIRED GENRE, AINT I COOL!" stuff now generally gets on my nerves. I prefer a solid story with solid direction. And one can find that in either 'indie' or 'world' horror cinema if you look hard enough.

As a side note, my wife (who is a very casual watcher of movies) thought the movie was unwatchable, especially the final act.

  

Mmmmm.

When I first read the script I thought it was hopeless, then I thought to myself that i was reading it wrong and it was supposed to be over the top campy fun. When I read it in that tone, I started to enjoy it.

Regrettably it seems I got the tone right the first time...this is played pretty straight and it's largely a disaster.

I've not been enjoying films recently. Seems I've been bored and disappointed with almost every one I've put on and I really wanted to like this, I did, but it started boring me from the first scene and kept boring me right till the end.

None of the horror scenes worked. They were all completely by the book with completely uninventive kills and the most cliched of villains. Every one was the stereotypical "horror shock"...where you're supposed to jump...but I never batted an eyelid.

There was no attempt at suspense or building tension...

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T READ THE SCRIPT.

...The film essentially sabotages itself in that degree by constantly flicking between the controllers and the victims.

The only clever thing about it is the conceit that this is all a ritual and the way it manages to tie in pretty much every horror film and myth into one. But it's a one trick deal and you're let into the secret from the off which means constantly going back to the controllers just undid any mystery that there might have been, any atmosphere in the cabin and woods and any tension that could have been built.

It also meant there was little screen time for the victims, which means they are as thin as it's possible to be and you couldn't care less about them.

The actors all tried their best, but there just wasn't anything to work with here.

The special effects are poor and mostly cheap, inferior rip offs of designs you've seen done better elsewhere.

It suffers from something I felt in the script..in its attempt to be ironic of other films it merely copies all their tropes and adds nothing at all new and unfortunately loses all the things that make those films tense and enjoyable to watch.

It's basically a very crap zombie film with a 40 minute office party cut into it. The office party scenes all worked in their own way, they just destroyed the story.

The teenage boys behind me seemed to find it a lot more enjoyable than me, so it probably has an audience with them.

All in all it reminded me most of a fan fic youtube vid. Like a kid had cut together scenes from some of favourite films and tried and failed to make a proper story.

The film is only saved from total disaster by the performance and lines of the "stoner" character who is excellent and by a relatively interesting ending.

Not recommended.

I don't watch horror that much, but even I can tell that the main characters were cookie cutter personas of past horror films. However, I think this was by design as this movie was more parody than horror.

SPOILER ---
When the stoner found that door to the elevator, I thought of "Lost" when they first found the door on the ground. However, at this point, the suspense is gone because you know the whole thing is setup by the guys underground.

If they kept the controllers out of the first and second acts, then that scene when they first discover all the trapped monsters would have been epic.

I liked the elevator scenes when the monsters come out. Lots of blood and gore there, but I found it rather amusing and funny.

For me, it was worth paying the matinee price. At least the girls were hot.

Having looked at what other people thought of it on IMDb...I'm gobsmacked at how people see films.

So many people are praising the "twist" at the end...what did I miss?

They kept making it clear throughout the film what they were doing.

Mordecai says it on the speaker phone. They keep pulling levers to fill ritual symbols with blood. One of the Office guys even talks about those downstairs and says "remember the days we used to throw them in the Volcano?"...and twenty other things besides.

Agreed.  There is absolutely no twist.  If you haven't figured it out by then, the volcano line is a dead give-away.  

Yeah, I have no idea how people think there was a twist.

I've largely forgotten most of this after two days -- but how far in was that bit with the eagle hitting the computer wall thingy? Within the first ten minutes?

Quoted from B.C. Yeah, I have no idea how people think there was a twist. I've largely forgotten most of this after two days -- but how far in was that bit with the eagle hitting the computer wall thingy? Within the first ten minutes?

About that.

It was as they first turned up to the cabin, just after they'd got gass from the weird ginger guy.

Just to throw in my two cents here, I really loved this film, but I'm also a big fan of Whedon's and Goddard's.  Although I can't relate to not enjoying the hell out of this film, I'm always of a 'to each his own' mind.  That said, I loved the nihilism and anti-corporate suggestions of the film, as well as the insanity of the third act as a whole.  Jenkins and Whitford were a great comedy team, and I look forward to watching it again on Blu-ray just for the basement scene.

Guys...

Maybe you can help me out here...
What is the big deal over this movie?!?!

Went to see it in theaters this week.
And I can't see what the big deal was about.
They telegraphed the groan inducing CG drenched ending for a while.

There was no personal horror to speak of...
Anyone familiar with horror tropes will be just along for the ride.

Not enough comedy to keep me entertained for 90 minutes.
And certainly not nearly enough gore for genre fans.

SPOILERS

Seems they took ending lessons from Mission Impossible III...
That one ends with the protag punching a fat guy in a hospital.

Here the protag punches a women old enough to draw SS benefits to win the day?!?
And then spliff our way to oblivion while we wait for the CG to tell us how it ends.

Meh.

SPOILERS END

The ride was decent, but can anyone explain to me what they got out of it?
I didn't feel the epic buzz that was going around.

E.D.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Maybe you can help me out here... What is the big deal over this movie?!?!

It's a fresh take on a very, very tired genre for the critics. Last I looked the critics rated it much higher than the average audience did.

Just looked again, 90% for critics, 81% for viewers. Thats pretty impressive on rotten tomaters.

It's the dual story that makes this work. Not just a group of kids heading off to a weekend bender only to be slashed to bits.

I saw things in the movie I didn't pick up in the script. When the people in the control room were finalizing their bets, you could see that some understood how sick this whole situation was. But, they blow off steam.

Quoted from Don't fuck with Sigourney Here the protag punches a women old enough to draw SS benefits to win the day?!?

If you two were in a cage, my money would be on her.

The ending is the sketchy part. They let the world go to hell to save a stoner. She could've killed him and saved all of us but didn't. Then, they die anyway.

Sounds like human thinking to me. It's why I liked it.

James

Quoted from jwent6688 It's a fresh take on a very, very tired genre for the critics. Last I looked the critics rated it much higher than the average audience did.

Yeah, and I think the CinemaScore for opening weekend was a C-.
I likely would've enjoyed it more if I wasn't primed for a big twist by the internets.

E.D.