The fantastic “The Cabin in the Woods” (2012) is a surprise-filled movie that is difficult to review without spoilers, so I can’t say much about it.  Suffice to say, I really, really liked it – I’d give it a 9 out of 10.

This is a smart, inventive film that is probably the most creative thing I’ve seen in a long time – it’s safe to say that I’ve never seen anything like it.   Do yourself a favor and avoid news articles or websites like imdb.com – you’ll enjoy this much more if you know little about it.

It actually takes a while to get going.  I had a lukewarm response to this movie for maybe its entire first half.  The end — which brings together a surprising number of story elements (I really can’t say more) – really redeemed it.  The buildup to that ending is a lot of things that have long been established as horror clichés.  But that’s intentional, as screenwriter Drew Goddard and producer Joss Whedon made it, I think, partly as a parody and partly as an homage to the genre.

A few caveats … if you’ve been looking forward to this movie for a while, as I have, you’re aware that it was very well reviewed.  But I’m pretty sure it got so much praise because it was creative and original – not because it was the best HORROR movie ever made.  The central plot device is too contrived and fantastic to be really frightening, and the movie is too self-aware to allow us to forget it’s just a movie. Parts of it were disturbing, but there’s just too much humor to make this a truly scary movie.  You’re not sitting down to “The Exorcist” or “The Shining.”

Also, various reviews seem to indicate a twist that is impossible to guess.  This isn’t true.  Horror fans – especially fans of a certain subgenre – will know the big reveal before the halfway mark, especially if they listen to the dialogue of the story’s antagonists.  Hell, I was just talking about it with another aspiring horror writer just the other day.  Don’t expect a surprise on the level of “The Sixth Sense” or “Unbreakable.”

Still, this was a hell of a lot of fun.  And what a GREAT Halloween movie it would make!!   It would also be fun to watch back-to-back with “Cabin Fever” or one of the “Evil Dead” movies, given their similar settings.