The Last Cabin

This is my first online review so I'll keep it short and sweet. I'm a big horror fan but this movie had no real tension, no sense of dread and no real chemistry between the actors. Basically, it's "TheStrangers" in the woods. It feels very amateurish, like a film school project. Only thing it has going for it is that it is short.

The Last Cabin sees three movie location scouts renting a cabin in the woods where they are attacked by a group of strangers wearing creepy masks. The whole thing is shot documentary style on the trio's cameras.

It amazes me how people can make something so derivative, so poorly written, so uninspired and so amateurish as The Last Cabin: there is nothing original about the whole sorry mess, the acting is atrocious, and the gore is pathetic.

The masked killers do that 'standing still and tilting their heads' schtick that has long been a horror movie cliché; despite being fairly evenly matched to their assailants, the protagonists act like total pussies; and despite plenty of people having been killed by the maniacs prior to this film's events, no-one appears to have investigated the disappearances.

The Last Cabin is shoddy, cheap and totally devoid of fresh ideas - fully deserving of my 1/10 rating.

So, after a particularly intense viewing experience, I decided I was going to kick back and try to relax with a little bit of that ol' found-footage nonsense, apparently featuring killers in clown masks waving chainsaws around.

Well, I guess I have no one to blame for this miserable waste of 70 minutes but myself, so I'll just make this short n' sweet.

There's absolutely no reason for this movie to be found-footage, other then the obvious, which is to keep the budget low.

The story is basically nonexistent, it's as if someone saw "The Strangers" and thought "let make something like that, with the change I found in my couch".

The movie also features, what can only be described in the most generous of terms, as something resembling a score, because off course it does!

Lastly, it's simply bereft of tension, scares or any elements that would justified it having been made in the first place.

I'm all for people picking up a camera and attempt their hand at moviemaking, but try striving toward expressing an original thought or at the very least have a semblance of an idea, before calling Action.

First off, the reviewers that give this a 10 and say it's a great movie ruin everything about movie review sites.

There's no way this a great movie.

This movie would need to climb a ladder to get up to bad.

All reviews that rate this a 10 are most likely family or high school friends that can't tell the people involved in this project just how bad it is.

It sucks. In so many ways.

The acting id horrible. But given the writing material I guess they did what they could, This website is telling me they a require a minimum character count.

Can I write this movie sucks over and over and over again.

This was a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Shirly from Entertainment Squad who sent over the screener. This movie was picked up by the Horror Collective. Both of these groups tend to put out things that I enjoy so I was intrigued to check this out. What I figured coming in was that this was going to be a low budget horror film to help my end of year 2025 list. What I didn't realize until this started was that I've heard members of the production crew, DBS films, on my friend's podcast - The Night Club. Also, I recognized one of our stars' names in a Discord chat group.

Synopsis: trapped in a remote cabin, a film crew finds themselves stalked by three masked people who know the isolated woods and their every move.

We start with seeing a couple in the middle of the woods at night. This is filmed in the style of found footage. There is a third with them holding the camera. We see Amanda (Kyree Cook) and Dale (Austin J. Rhodes). They are looking for their campsite and when they can't find it, they're trying to find the road. Instead, they're attacked by a trio of people in creepy clown masks.

It then shifts over to the group we're following. They are behind the scenes crew members. Hope (Isabella Bobadilla) is a location scout. She works with Ben (Brendan Goshay) and they're with Shawn (Tanner Kongdara) who is filming. Hope is stressed as she can't seem to find a cabin that fits what they're looking for. She lashes out at Shawn, telling him that she doesn't think the production team wants him filming this and he's following what he was told to the letter. They continue searching as the stress mounts.

This leads them to a cabin that is in the woods. It seems like the exact fit. They go to check the door and find a padlock. It is here that they hear screaming so they go inside to make sure no one is hurt. It turns out to be a movie. They also upset the property manager, played by John Fantasia. He wants them gone. Hope sways him by telling him what they're looking for and offering him the budget she's been allotted to rent the place. He declines at first, but they do come to an agreement.

With the location secured, Hope reaches out to the producer. He is a guy named Kevin (Benjamin L. Newmark). He is heading out there to check the place. In the meantime, our team starts to run cables to prepare lighting. It is by doing this in the surrounding woods, they find a masked man watching them. This is terrifying so they lock themselves inside the cabin. Kevin arrives, mocking their fears. That is until he's attacked. It then becomes a fight for survival as they try to get away before it is too late.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is by commending this movie. It knew what it had to work with and didn't waste any time setting the stage, then getting us over to the group that we're following. There are issues that I have with things the later we go, but on the whole, this was a solid, low budget effort.

Now that I have that set up, let's delve more into what we're getting here. This is a combination of slasher and home invasion. Our trio that goes out to this cabin doesn't know it as well as the people that are stalking them. What makes it even scarier is that they don't know who they can trust either. This has the vibes of The Strangers with them being trapped inside and our killers surround them. Building on that idea as well, Hope discovers something in one of the rooms where this cabin isn't as secured as she thought. That plays with this idea of they've created this safe place, but there are holes where the killers can still get in. This keeps the tension rising and prevents slipping into a lull.

There is a slight negative that I need to discuss. I think it's great that this film keeps building from the opening shot to our group being stalked. My problem is that even though this runs for about 70 minutes, my interest wanes when they flee into the woods to survive. It is the next logical step, especially since there isn't safety inside the house. My problem is that it is so dark in the woods, we're filming this with handheld cameras that it was difficult to follow what was happening. I'm a big fan of found footage. If you can make it believable when they continue to film, I don't nitpick. This does that, but I just got lost at times while in their woods. It doesn't ruin it, but it didn't fully work for me.

I'm going to then shift gears to talk about the acting performances. I've seen similar films where the acting wasn't as solid as what we get here. I like our main trio. Bobadilla seems like this woman who so badly wants to work in the industry. She doesn't want to ruin this chance and it puts stress on her. It is from there that she takes blame as they're attacked. Where her character ends up makes sense. Goshay and Kongdara were solid as the two guys who are trapped with her. I like Newmark and Cashmere Moniqué as others who end up here. That helps provide more bodies. Dylan DeVane, Tagen Crossley and Kellan Rudnicki all work as the people under the masks. The acting brings the characters to life for a movie like this for sure.

All that is left then should fall into filmmaking aspects. I've already said that I have my issues with this being found footage. It doesn't ruin it though. I actually like making a slasher/home invasion film as it feels like we're with them. It just didn't work for me as well when they went into the woods. The framing and the shakiness of the camera made it difficult to follow. What impressed me though were the effects. I loved the clown masks, those are terrifying. They don't show a lot of blood and gore, but what we do looks good. This is where the cinematography comes back as a positive for me. They hid the seams well. Other than that, they are solid things done with the sound design to add tension and build the needed atmosphere.

In conclusion, this is one where most of what they did worked. This team has a limited budget, but they used it well. I like filming a slasher/home invasion film in the style of found footage. That puts us right there with our characters as they try to survive the night. The acting is solid in bringing the characters to life. They're also distinct enough. I also thought that the practical effects were also good. My only issue is when they flee into the woods. It was just hard to follow and to see things. Other than that, I'd recommend it if you like lower budget films like this.

My Rating: 6 out of 10.