The Cabin In The Woods
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins, Kristen Connolly
I get a lot of shade whenever I praise a horror film—the genre is disreputable, the violence untenable, the sensibility just too damned unsophisticated, blah, blah, blah. It’s as if once we become more educated moviegoers we turn our backs on the thrills and kicks that drew us to the cinema in the first place—base scares, rollicking comedy, etc. So it’s with great glee that I get to report that The Cabin In The Woods—Drew Goddard’s debut film, produced (and co-written) with TV wunderkind Joss Wheden—will excite both the horror film aficionado and tickle the snobbiest cineastes in the world. Starring Thor’s hunky Chris Hemsworth and a cast of relative newcomers, The Cabin In The Woods takes off from one of the oldest genre tropes—five college students escape for a weekend to a dilapidated old shack in the middle of nowhere where all hell breaks loose. But that’s just a start; to reveal anything else about the movie would be to ruin its vast surprises, the biggest one being that Goddard and Whedon have fashioned a popular film that’s as much a meta-critique on its genre as it is an homage to all things great and gory about horror films. Opens April 13. 4/5 stars —Dan Loughry

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope
Starring Eli Roth, Kevin Smith
Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary (in which he doesn’t appear at all) illuminates the geekgasm that is San Diego’s annual Comic-Con and the 100,000-plus fans who flock there every summer. A celebration of all things pop culture despite its name, the event has swelled into a phenomenon that brings out Hollywood A-List celebrities for preview and panel presentations. Shot during the 2010 edition and breezily placed, Comic-Con builds a narrative by following a handful of dedicated attendees including a young nerd who plans to propose to his girlfriend during a panel; a comic book dealer desperate to break even; and an amateur costume fabricator planning a complicated presentation that she hopes will snag a prize. Spurlock captures the colorful insanity and hundreds of outrageous getups (including overweight versions of iconic characters), plus entertaining and funny interview snippets with hundreds of fans from mom’s basement dwellers to familiar faces like Eli Roth and Kevin Smith. While momentarily critical of Comic-Con’s co-opting by Hollywood and occasionally snarky in tone, Spurlock’s personal love for the institution and geekdom shines through (he rabidly consumed comics, horror movies and MAD magazine as a youth). Opens April 6. 4/5 stars —Lawrence Ferber

Damsels in Distress
Starring Greta Gerwig, Analeigh Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke
With his first film since 1998’s Last Days of Disco, writer/director Whit Stillman is finally back, this time lampooning college preppy life. At Seven Oaks University, where things are so ass-backward the fraternities use Roman letters instead of Greek ones, a trio of female students—Violet (Gerwig), Rose (Echikunwoke) and Heather (Carrie Maclemore)—endeavor to improve campus life, running a suicide center (albeit one that only offers donuts for clinically diagnosed depressives) and dating idiots for the greater good. Stillman’s gift of gab and creating distinctive characters remains intact. He ventures into more cartoonish, over-the-top, 30 Rock-esque alternate universe territory than ever. While most of his regular ensemble is missing this time around, Stillman also returns to some of his preferred character archetypes, notably Violet, a well-meaning underminer, à la Kate Beckinsale in Disco. Several aspects of Damsels bring to mind Woody Allen’s seemingly forgotten, homespun musical Everyone Says I Love You, partly because of a climactic song-and-dance number that is joyous and heartwarming, despite all the asinine behavior and what could be perceived as misanthropy on display. Distress has never been so pleasurable. Opens April 6. 4/5 stars —Lawrence Ferber

Turn Me On, Dammit!
Starring Helene Bergsholm, Matias Myren, Malin Bjørhovde
This perceptive Norwegian comedy gets teenage horniness, sexual repression and peer pressure achingly right. Turn Me On, Dammit! introduces 15-year-old Alma (Bergsholm) as she is masturbating on the kitchen floor having phone sex. She’s obsessed with sex and has lively fantasies about her adorable classmate, Artur (Myren). Then, at a party, Artur unzips his fly and pokes Alma’s thigh with his erection. She mentions this to her girlfriends, and her frankness causes dire consequences: Artur denies it, no one believes Alma and she is ostracized. Was it Alma’s overheated imagination? Turn Me On, Dammit! shows how teens have difficulty articulating their sexual desires, and Alma’s boldness will resonate with queer viewers. How she copes with her hell—acting out by smoking hash and stealing porn magazines, and insulting her mom and her teachers—is credible, and often very amusing. Alma is an incredibly sympathetic heroine, and watching her come to accept herself and her sexual identity is marvelous. The film also features a terrific cast of quirky supporting characters—best of all is Saralou (Bjørhovde), who writes to Texas death row prisoners and finds herself oddly attracted to the school pothead. Turn Me On, Dammit! may be a slight film, but it’s just about perfect. Opens April 13. 5/5 stars —Gary M. Kramer