Drew Goddard directs Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth and Fran Kranz in this self-aware horror flick where five co-eds go for a weekend in a creepy forest only for their actions to be observed and controlled for some greater evil.

To my mind the last great meta slasher movie of the cycle. In that it is a horror inspired by The Evil Dead / Friday The 13th where the logic behind the massacre means the tropes have to happen. The cliched become ritual with a live commentary track from the manipulators / production crew. But here’s the pudding… beyond all this smart alec multilayered stuff, there’s still a very strong horror movie to follow. One that goes all out zany, mega kill, freakshow-alooza for the last act. Like a sanitised, multiplex friendly House Of A Thousand Corpses. This is the closest cinema has ever got to a good couple of episodes of Buffy (hey, check out those creatives…). Kristen Connolly has definite sex appeal as our final girl but you can’t wait to get back to the snippets of snark and conspiracy from underground Mission Control. Run by the always welcome working stiffs Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins. They rock in this.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Knock At The Cabin (2023)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin