Movie Review: The Cabin In The Woods

Finally, I get to come across this after much anticipation and i have to say the wait was worth it. Created by Joss Whedon known for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse, gives us a new take on the horror genre. Usually in today's horror, it's tired, overused, and the least bit interesting but this movie seeem to change all of our minds. The filmmakers takes the basic horror movie formula and takes it into a completely different level, putting one horror genre after another. But before I put this review into play, I will have to warn you that there are some major spoilers involved to keep this going, so let's begin.
Here's the story: Five ordinary college students become the unwilling pawns to a secret organization who turns them into horror movie sterotypes, ultimately falling into a real horror movie they can't seem to get out of.
Joss Whedon loves to subvert and deconstruct typical horror movie tropes and make of his own. For example: You have the handsome jock, who is very smart and capable of being the leader but is downgraded into being the dumb jock by the scientist's manipualtions. then you have the virginal heroine who turns out not to be so virginal since she had a(though regretable) affair with her college professor but in this played out horror movie plot she is programmed to be so. Next, you have a sassy, witty young woman, who has turned into the dumb blonde sterotype but she is netheir blonde nor dumb. Much afterwards, you have a jock with an average I.Q. but somehow tunred into the smart guy with high intelligence. Last but least, you have the stoner who is immune to the artifical gases that the scientists implanted and is therefore AWARE of what's going on unlike most stoner characters in such films who just sit in the background, waiting to be killed like idiots.
The acting was great, especially from Kristen Connolly, who plays the "Final Girl" role in perfect spades and Frank Kranz, who's character type is usually annoying, is rather funny and charming. The two actors also give great nods to Willow(Buffy the Vampire Slayer Series) and Shaggy(Scobby Doo) to a T. You may see some notable faces in this movie such as Amy Acker, which I was delighted to see since Fred was one of my favorite characters on Angel. Then you have Grey's Anatomy hunk Jesse Williams, his blue eyes are certainly enchanting and that body is to die for. Last but not least we have the very sexy, hot Chris Hemsworth and once again we get to see his perfectly sculpted body but for only one scene.
The Plot is very smart and surprising to say at least, which will lead to the big ol' spoiler so don't say I warned you.
The reason why the secret organization is inventing the whole horror movie scenario is to stop the ancient one(meaning powerful gods) from regaining it's wrath, thus ending the world. So in order to prevent this, they please them by getting a bunch of youngsters and killing them one by one in a ritual order. So this isn't soely for anybody's entertainment anymore, this is for the fate of mankind. Now that's pretty damn jarring! But guess whose the director of all this....Sigourney Weaver. Yes, that's right. Freakin' Ripley is behind all this. Totally unexpected indeed.
But the really big wham is towards the ending, in which a character must choose between sacrifcing himself in order to save humanity or be able to live, even though he'll die along with the rest of earth's population. Guess what he does: He chooses to live, ending the world entirely. And you're stuck between whether to root for him or be pissed off by his otherwise selfish decison.
 It was a blast to watch. Throughout the movie, I just felt something big was going to happen and oh was I in for a surprise....blood, gore and monsters in a heavy, dramatic climax! and don't forget the obvious shot-outs to other horror films.
You can see Josh Whedon put his heart and soul into this project and it payed off with an amazing quality.
My last word: A classic examation of horror films which is a classic itself.

Special Announcement: Manhattan Girls Is Finally Published On Amazon!

This the finished cover if you try and search it anywhere on the website. I"m not exactly getting any readers right because I have to find unique ways to promote or make anybody seek attention to it. It's not going to be easy, even though this is only the first book and there will be many others along the way. I will warn you though, I was in a pretty big rush to publish it, probably too excited for my own good, but besides all that, don't judge me if I have a little errors with certain words on the prolouge of Gwen's Dairy, I made many corrections on that but don't scorn the whole book just because of  a few mistakes, I worked really hard it and hope it will at least be decent. I revisioned this book at least two times in a span of five years, so at least that will give me a some credit, right? So here is Manhattan Girls published and ready to read on Amazon Kindle. Write a review if you have the chance.
Side note: Comment on the Cover if you like it or not.

Movie Review: Buffy The Vampire Slayer

If you thought 80's teen films were cheesy, the teen films from the early 90's would surely hold a candle to it, with it's colorful fashions and over-the-top dance music.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer pretty much glorifies this to the end.
I loved the TV series(only the first three seasons, season five was okay) and when I first watched this, I was only a wee eight-years-old. Yes, people I watched Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series since I was seven years old which lead me to this. Crazy, right? Back then, I actually enjoyed it and didn't see how cheesy was and as a kid I pretty much had fun watching it. Nowadays, I see how incredibly campy it is though still fun in a way. For instance, just compare it to the television series and see how different in tone they are. And you see how the TV series is better in terms of quality.
So you all know the story by now: A vapid valley girl named Buffy soon learns that she is the chosen one, slayer of the vampires, and with the help of a mysterious master is trained in for battle. Meanwhile, the evil lord of vampires and his army is planning on invading the school dance. It is only up to Buffy to stop the awakening of these blood-sucking fiends.
I would say Kristy Swanson was terrific. You can see why she was so memorable in this role, playing the characters in two parallels: The ditzy, valley girl type and the kickass, action girl heroine. She also parallels into the comedy and seriousness of the character, which was also done well by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the TV show.
Luke Perry was also fun to watch. At first, I thought his character showed no purpose other than just being the heroine's love interest but then I saw how much flexibility he put into the character and saw how likeable he was. You would think an acclaimed actor like Donald Sutherland would give off a hammy performance but he was profoundly low-key, providing his character with a dry sense of humor which made his presence all the more enjoyable. Paul Rubens AkA Pee Wee Herman, on the other hand, gives us a top-notch campy performance as the villain's flamboyant right hand man. It was pretty jarring to see him in a role like this and ever since then he's been taking quirky roles like this. Probably it had something to do with that incident that sort of changed his image a bit....okay, moving on. I will totally not end this segment without mentioning Hillary Swanks' performance or even David Arquette's before his Scream heyday. I pretty much have to say that Hilary gave it all even though it was a relatively small role. David Arquette takes a ride down the campy, hammy train as one of the villain's henchmen. This one too is a small role but memorable at best. And without further ado, You can catch a young Ben Affleck in a blink it or miss it role.
Although the movie is mainstream, it still has that b-movie feel, giving the notion it really isn't taking itself too seriously, which in my opinion, kind of works. I would like to point out a particular scene where Buffy steals a biker's motorcycle while chasing a vampire in pursuit. The biker calls her the d-word just for that. Just to let you know it was still fresh for female action heros to take the lead in film, since this was ongoing from the 70s to the 80s, it was still interesting and fresh. But I have to call out on the movie's script though, just because a woman is empowered, doesn't make her lesbian. But this was film in Los Angeles back in the early nineties. So yeah, it holds the message that women Especially valley girls can't hold their own sword on their own. However, Unfortunate Implications aside, it's still an enjoyable(though unsuccessful) 90's gem.
Final word: It may not hold a candle to the TV show but it's a cult classic in it's own right.