Iconic movie that created an entire sub-genre of horror, best remembered instead for the social commentary on racism and migration in the United States — a topic persistent today.
When writing these reviews I love going back through past posts to correct myself. I thought Alien (1979) was the first “Cabin in the Woods” scenario. Nope, it was Night of the Living Dead.
This was produced on a shoestring budget, but still appears more held together than mid-budget films released in the 2020’s. Sad really. Goes to show how much a director’s vision keeps the project together. Additionally, the special effects are pretty damn impressive even compared to something like The Evil Dead (1981).
Story is a simple A-B plot standard for the 60s: A) The dead reanimate after death, and hunt the living B) A specific group of survivors butt heads while planning an escape from a cabin the’ve taken shelter in. Not going to go much further into the plot or the movie in general. It’s so engrained in pop-culture you’ve had to have previous exposure to the movie. That said, the best version of this film is subjectively the Criterion Collection version but it is public domain and available on YouTube, Internet Archive, pretty much anywhere.
Re-screened November 26, 2023 on Plex.
