The Cabining

The Cabining is a dark horror/comedy in the vein of "Knives Out". Two down-on-their-luck screenwriters take a trip to a wilderness retreat that becomes their worst nightmare. Soon people begin turning up dead, and as the night drags on, the mystery of 'whodunnit' intensifies. Acting was decent, with generally good perfs by the two leads, and Angela Relucio and Melissa Mars as their love interests. This is an indie film with varying lighting and sound in some scenes. The tone is inconsistent and I would've preferred it being played more for keeps as far as the terror/humor balance. A punk rock band performance is tacked onto the end, maybe as the final scare? Fun to watch - give it a try.

I caught this movie on a friend's recommendation, and I was not disappointed. It was a really great comedy! "The Cabining" was absolutely hilarious and brilliantly clever -- a perfect, tongue-in-cheek inside joke for any viewer who's seen their share of horror flicks. A very solid spoof, it's a straight-up comedy, which skillfully pokes fun at all of the typical, derivative clichés so common in the vast majority of horror films. The production value was surprisingly high, the acting strong, and the cinematography impressive considering this is an independent film. Keister and Kopera have a great on-screen dynamic, and the fast-paced plot-twists and turns keep the viewer on edge until the very end. The epilogue, by the way, was totally unexpected and awesome. A little more blood, and a little more eye-candy for the ladies would have been nice, but a solid 8/10. I really enjoyed this film and I hope to see more of these guys on screen soon!

Arriving at a secluded artists' retreat, aspiring writers looking to pen a new horror script find the series of strange murders in the woods around the camp as perfect inspiration only to suddenly get caught in the killer's spree and must get away alive.

This one here wasn't all that bad as a horror/comedy and offered a lot to like. What really helps this one out is the rather enjoyable and meta take this gives on the process of doing a movie, with the concept of the guys being chipper yet down-on-their-luck losers that can't catch a break in their work gives this a solid base for the kind of jokes present here once they get to the retreat. Again, basing it off of the guys being quite an obvious group of loners that can't get a break on their careers which makes for a rather funny time as it goes along here with the group being unfazed by the events around them and turning that into the genesis of their story they're writing. Tho reenactments of their story as they begin writing it, from the opening recreation of their slasher film villain stalking the gang in the cabin, the several encounters with the killer inspiring other great action throughout the film and the absolutely great stalking throughout the retreat that occurs at the end which is a rather fun and engaging part utilizing the area for some nice action while having a nice twist that works rather well due to the ploy of it being the recreation of his story which is pretty clever. The real-world realization of the killer comes off even nicer with the comedic set-up clearly painting him as such and then actually going through with it based on his over-the-top characterization that makes for a fun time overall here. Even beyond these positives, though, there's a few flaws at work here. The main issue here comes from the main positive aspect here where it's comedy isn't really all that appealing to everyone. This is mainly based on the idea of them being losers and having to always be corrected for their overblown ideas makes for a one-sided take on the comedy side of things and it may not always score a laugh here relying on this to be it's one singular route. Another problem here is the fact of it being way too slow-going in the first half before anything really happens here where it mostly tends to concern itself on areas outside the stalking and slashing where it's mostly on the writing process and going around the retreat where there's not a whole lot of action to come from these events. The killer doesn't come into view until nearly an hour into the film despite all the set-up, and even then it's the recreation rather than the actual kills. The other flaw here is the fact that there's just so little time here anyway that beyond the slow start up it doesn't get much time to actually do anything and it really shows when there's scores of bloopers and cut scenes still keeping the movie from reaching an eighty-minute running time with the credits. These here are the film's main flaws.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Nudity.

This movie was pure brilliance! 10 out of 10 for sure! I saw "The Cabining" at the 2014 Dances with Films festival in Los Angeles and was blown away by this clever, sharp, and hilarious horror-comedy.

Since that time, I've been anxiously awaiting the DVD release, and just got my own copy from Amazon yesterday. Yay! I can't wait to share this film with my friends, who've heard me yapping enthusiastically about this "amazing indie horror-comedy flick" for several months. It's one great, big, fun-poking jab at the horror genre through the eyes of the bumbling writing team of Todd and Bruce, It riffs on a lot of horror clichés: a cabin in a woods, a who-done-it crime, creepy characters, etc, which are "just so derivative," because as Bruce says, "It's horror, of course it's derivative!" Great fun. Gotta love a film that simultaneously laughs at and celebrates its own wonderful horror genre.

Bo Keister, Mike Kopera, Melissa Mars, and Angela Relucio and the entire cast are great in their roles -- all are very, very talented. The writing is sharp, the production value impressive. I can't wait to see director Steve Kopera's next project, though it will be tough to top this film!

As is expected for films in the horror/comedy genre, this indie gem starts a tad slowly. However, once the premise is set, the screen explodes into a roller coaster of perfectly timed one-liners, nuanced camera work, and effectively gruesome SFX.

I especially enjoyed the writing - the interplay between the two male leads made the film fly, and the rest of the cast was incredibly impressive - especially for an independent film.

An unexpected pleasure was the original music, (especially the closing) great work.

And a plea to Todd and Bruce: More, please!