THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
Dir: Drew Goddard - Starring: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford

Joss Whedon has had a helluva year. Not only did he write and direct The Avengers – box-office gold and as good a superhero movie as you could hope for – but he and Drew Goddard created this, 2012's smartest horror film, a true original that manages to respectfully reference genre traditions while gleefully upending them.
The set-up goes like this: five young people, well-drawn but obviously genre archetypes, go for a weekend to an isolated, well, cabin in the woods (c.f. Evil Dead et al). But they are being monitored and the environment, and more, is being controlled by what seems to be a group of scientists. Saying more would give away too much but Bad Things Happen, closely followed by absolute mayhem.
And it's blindingly clever. Aficionados of horror tropes from the past few decades will have a ball with the frequent genre references but, for a change, the in-references actually exist in service of the larger story. And, equally important, this will be just as enjoyable for the non-initiated, though the smart reinvention of the teens-in-trouble clichés are one of the many pleasures.
Whedon produced and co-wrote with director Goddard, who also scripted Cloverfield. Together they absolutely nail it – is it greedy to wish the wild climax had gone on even longer? - and create a high-point for commercial mainstream horror movies.

Once again Hollywood has simultaneously delivered two films with the same subject. Snow White and the Huntsman is the 'darker” more 'grown-up” one. The story doesn't bear too much scrutiny but is powered by a superbly commanding and surprisingly layered turn from Charlize Theron as the Wicked Queen; Kristen Stewart's Snow White seems anaemic in comparison. The new plot element is, of course, the Huntsman, hired by the Queen to find the errant princess. He changes sides pretty quickly and is, frankly, a bit of a bore. Visually arresting and over-long, 14-year old Twilight fans should lap it up.

After a disastrous early feature – Boxing Helena, still resident on many Worst Films of All Time lists – Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David, returned last year with the impressively nasty thriller Surveillance, which marked her as definitely One To Watch. With Chained she stays firmly in edgy thriller territory. The focus is on 8-year-old Tim, kidnapped by Vincent D'Onofrio's monstrous killer and forced for years to serve him as he abducts and murders women. It's disturbing stuff, immaculately directed, with the camera keeping an unsettling distance and a creepily atmospheric soundtrack. And D'Onofrio is incredible. Watch with trepidation.

A Few Best Men is an Aussie wedding comedy. Muriel's Wedding without the charm perhaps. Likeable Brit Dave is set to marry an Oz girl after a holiday romance, so heads over to her overbearing senator father's mansion for the big day with three gormless mates. To report that chaos ensues will hardly come as a surprise (this is from the writer of Death at a Funeral). Chaos here involves cocaine, a gun, a prize sheep and general cultural clashing, but little is actually funny. The titular 'best men” are at best irritating and a seen-it-all-before quality abounds.

Intruders is a stylishly spooky Anglo-Spanish production. (About a third is in Spanish). It follows a boy in Spain and a girl in England, both visited by faceless nightmares, a terrifying figure they call 'Hollowface”. In Spain it's off to the priest, in England it's the shrink. But, as worried father Clive Owen soon realises, this is more than mere dreams. Directed by 28 Days Later helmer Joan Carlos Fresnadillo, albeit without that film's blood and gore, it's a reminder that Spain's continuing run of intelligent, atmospheric horror and ghost stories is second to none.