Brett Ethos (Matt Thompson) is about to be ordained in his church, but is having second thoughts, not helped by recurring nightmares. His friends convince him to go for a weekend away in a remote cabin that his recently deceased grandfather left him.
His friends, Kevin (Jesse Kristofferson) and Davy (Christopher Frontiero) – along with Kevin’s girlfriend Chelsi (Gina Comparetto) – decide to make his last weekend as a ‘free man’ even more awkward by inviting his ex, Katie (Kimberly Alexander), whom he hasn’t seen for several years. Things begin to go wrong when it turns out Brett is a descendent of one of the original settlers who murdered a Native American tribesman some 250 years earlier. A curse placed by the tribe’s Shaman, evoked when he arrived at the cabin wearing a talisman heirloom puts him and all his friends in danger.
Originally entitled Bloodline, The Cabin is an entertaining, if unmemorable shocker.
There’s jump scares aplenty, and while the situation and characterisation is very two dimensional, it at least doesn’t take the predictable ‘cabin in the woods’ type scenario.
Thompson does well as writer, director and star, but one gets the feeling he should have took a step back or brought someone in to give the story a little more polish.
As such, it does contain some uninspired dialogue, but it’s an engaging and acceptable way to pass the time.
There’s the usual array of obnoxious youths, with adequate if not spectacular acting from the young leads. It’s interesting to see Jesse Kristofferson, son of the legendary actor/songwriter Kris, and he certainly has his father’s looks, and Christopher Frontiero plays the wise-cracking annoying hanger-on of the group well (he essentially is Franklin from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre). However, some viewers may be wishing for more bloodshed and thrills when the story meanders on through the redemption theme, while not delving too deep to derail the story.
It’s certainly worth having a look at, but nothing spectacular unfortunately.
7 out of 10
