WARNING, PLOT SPOILERS!

The more I think about this film, the more torn I am about liking it or not. Here’s a tip though: the less you know before seeing it, the better, and unfortunately for me, the trailer took away a lot of what I think could have been the whole magic of the film.

A group of five friends: a blonde, a macho (Hemsworth), a brain, a pot head and a shy girl (Connolly) – later revealed as the whore, the athlete, the scholar, the fool and the virgin respectively – decide to getaway to a secluded cabin for the weekend and this is where it all kicks off. Whedon, best known for Buffy, plays on a lot of tongue-in-cheek clichés such as the use of the these characters but the execution made me question if this was in genuine homage to the horror, or if whilst using this basic old-school formula (a bunch of silly kids plus a dark isolated place equals not a pretty ending), he kind of messed up, making it come across as a bit trashy.

The trailer tells you that “you think you know the story” and of course you are proven otherwise, but it was true; I was kept guessing as to what this was all about. Was this a big torture labyrinth? Was it a game of survival of the fittest? Or was this just another pointless bloody slasher? I meant that last guess in the literal sense and not out of frustration. Loyal to its claim though, the film did peel back some interesting layers, from the Big Brother-esque beginning, to the bird flying into a force field, and a surprise guest appearance thrown in too.

The film’s saving grace for me was the last 20 minutes. It’s as if Whedon and Goddard (writer of Cloverfield) brought out all their guns for the finale and this was, I must say, mighty impressive; think all your nightmares unleashed in one room and the carnage!

The trailer tells us to “think again”, and this I would in regards to ever watching the clip. The film however is a good mixture of things you’d expect and not, and if this is what you’re after, then you’re in for a screamer.