The Cabin in the Woods is one of those rare horror flicks that received a handful of enthusiastic reviews from some of the nation's leading newspaper critics. But now comes British writer and TV producer David Cox not only to mercilessly deprecate the movie, but also to critique the critics' reviews of it. Cox calls Roger Ebert's review in the Chicago Sun-Times "fanciful." He is particularly steamed about Ebert's comment that the movie offers some "pretty bold stuff." Cox concludes, "It achieves no breakthrough in either scariness, wit or insight. It's a one-off curiosity that promises much but delivers little. It may attract a curious multitude, but it certainly won't reshape the future of horror." As for the device of cobbling together references to scenes in previous horror movies, Cox writes. "Fanboys seem to have found this hilarious; others may find it tiresome. In itself, however, it hardly amounts to a deconstruction of the genre."

16/04/2012