A Pleasant Horror

Most of the horror movies I have seen I abhor.  There are the typical "B" horror movie characters, hunky moronic guys and the empty-brained bimbos, all with hormones oozing from pores.  There is often the token smart person who sometimes ends up with one of the purer of the bimbos, and all the others are mutilated to death by the end of the movie.  Too often the viewer's psyche is mutilated by the poor acting and the poor, heavily clichéd plot.



A recurring theme in most of these movies is, do not go into the basement, or the attic, or the barn, or any other isolated location, alone.  You will die.  Alternately, do not go off with another person to "make whoopee."  One of you will die.



A friend of mine recommended I see The Cabin in the Woods.  This recommendation was made to me a bit over a year ago.  I promised I would watch it.  It was on Netflix, so there would be no tremendous bother or extra cost for me to see it.  Horror is not my favorite genre, so I kept putting it off. 



Finally, this morning, day three of a four-day holiday weekend, the household asleep except for me, I gritted my teeth, tuned to Netflix, and I watched it.  I was going to "get it out of the way."  After all, I had promised my friend I would watch it.  I am over 50% a man of my word when it comes to taking recommendations.  My expectations were low.  Really low.  I was dreading the experience.  My friend and I do not always agree on what makes a movie good, almost as we never agree on how spicy a spicy food should be.



Pleasant surprise.  I enjoyed the movie.  The movie started out with an apparent disconnect that caught my curiosity, then it skirted the edge of the typical "B" horror flick plot, and then it tiptoed gently into new territory.  By the end of the movie, the tip-toeing had become discordant stomping.  The plot twists were interesting and imaginative.  I really liked this movie, and that scared me more than the movie did.  I will not, however, watch a sequel to this movie if one is made.



I do recommend you watch The Cabin in the Woods.  I think you'll like it even if you are not a horror flick fan.