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Diyah Pera/Lionsgate �Let�s split up!�: From left, Fran Kranz, Chris Hemsworth and Anna Hutchison. (CP)

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Steve Martin

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Michael Biehn

The Cabin in the Woods

Truly smart horror movies are a rare commodity, which makes this week's release of The Cabin in the Woods a welcome addition for your upcoming Halloween viewing queue.

Directed by Drew Goddard and scripted by Goddard and Joss Whedon (the director of The Avengers, in case you've forgotten), this is the most playful stab at the genre since Scream.

The action bounces mysteriously between a group of fun-loving 20-something victims and a mysterious group of middle-aged, white-coated tech drones (chief among them are Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins)

What's the connection? That's the fun.

Initially, all we know is that the white-coats are monitoring the activities of the young cabin-dwellers as they engage in the activities of the conventional horror-movie first act in the titular weekend-getaway abode.

The smart Dana (Kristen Connelly) engages in some sexually charged flirtation with the studious but studly Holden (Jesse Williams). The designated jock Curt (Chris Hemsworth) is on more of a sure-thing encounter with the libidinous Jules (Anna Hutchison). And the third-wheel lout Marty (Fran Kranz) is content to enjoy some quality time with his bong.

Things go bad, courtesy of some vicious hillbilly zombies.

The film provokes chills of dread even as it hilariously deconstructs the horror movie, sub-genre by sub-genre.

But the movie's voyeuristic setup allows a piquant criticism of the genre, too, especially pertaining to the crazed morality implicit in characters paying for their "sins" in blood. What is the reason virgins always last longer than non-virgins, or stoners get the chop before heroic jocks, etc?

Because, on some level, that's what we expect.

The Blu-ray includes some illuminating interviews and behind-the-scenes material that should only be watched after you've seen the movie. Goddard at one point says adult figures from his childhood in Los Alamos, N.M., (home of the Manhattan Project) provided some of the inspiration for the film's techie characters, mutually engaged as they are in the mechanics of death. 'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö

The Victim

AFTER making The Divide here in Winnipeg, actor Michael Biehn decided to take the reins of his own low-budget thriller, drafting his wife Jennifer Blanc to co-star. (According to Biehn, Blanc's willingness to do nudity was a key factor in getting the film made.)

Biehn also wrote and starred in this clunky thriller, playing a hermit named Kyle (presumably a shout-out to his star-making role of Kyle Reese in The Terminator) whose solitary existence is interrupted when professional stripper Annie (Blanc) comes to his door. She's in an awkward spot. She and her stripper friend Mary (Danielle Harris) were out in the woods, partying with a pair of scummy cops, when Mary was accidentally killed. The pair decide to silence Annie to maintain their shady professional lives.

Whatever your opinion of Biehn as an action-movie icon, his writing-directing debut is pretty sloppy. He was aiming for an exciting B-movie as seen in days gone by (which explains the Tom Selleck moustache on one of the villains).

The best exploitation movies were equal parts sex, violence and inspiration. The Victim has lots of the first two qualities but none of the latter. 'Ö

Steve Martin: The Television Stuff

I DISTINCTLY recall Steve Martin appearing in a TV comedy sketch some decades ago. It was about the world of advertising, in which Martin played the head of an ad firm obliged to sell a foul-tasting, teeth-greening, semi-paralyzing soft drink called "Okra-Cola."

I'm especially thankful this three-disc DVD set arrived with the somewhat cheesy 1980 comedy special All Commercials: A Steve Martin Special. For a while there, I thought I might have dreamed it.

Comedy has changed frequently in the decades covered here, from Martin's first TV appearance in 1966 on a kid show called Dusty's Attic to recent years. But Martin has stayed consistently funny, Pink Panther films notwithstanding. This collection proves it, culled from his standup-comedy cable specials, his network specials, and miscellaneous appearances including Saturday Night Live and his unbilled appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show as "the Great Flydini," a magician who made stuff appear from his pants' zipper.

It is no wonder Carson loved Martin: this is one of the most sublime talk-show comedy bits ever. This alone would be worth the purchase, but there's lots of other funny stuff on the other discs. Also wild and crazy. 'Ö'Ö'Ö1/2 stars

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 20, 2012 E4