Don't believe the low ratings or reviews (I'm glad I didn't)

The low ratings & reviews are inaccurate because this is a cogent cabin-in-the-woods flick. While it may be a low-budget indie with a no-name cast, the acting is convincing and the creepiness & scares are genuine. Moreover, the score is effective (with the soundtrack throwing in some rap s***). The six youths travel to their isolated destination in typical celebration mode, but their frivolity palpably changes by the second half. People complain that they’re an obnoxious bunch, but that’s not true. They’re just young adults out celebrating. So what? We’ve all done it.

The two football guys are great masculine role models, disregarding the customary cussing. They have good camaraderie, treat their women well, and don’t abuse the chubby white guy, their amusing pal. Richard Ryker is particularly a strong masculine protagonist. Speaking of the women, the director has a good eye for depicting feminine beauty without getting too tasteless. Leah Jones is mind-blowingly voluptuous.

The bottom line is: The movie works well for what it is. It contains all the requisite staples of the subgenre and works them expertly into an entertaining brew. I’d watch this any day over the cartoonish (and overrated) “The Evil Dead” (1981), the over-the-top comical “Evil Dead II” (1987), the trashy “Cabin Fever” (2002), the lame “Zombeavers” (2014) or the too-creative-for-its-own-good “Cabin in the Woods” (2012).

One cavil: There’s a curiously overlong epilogue tacked-on after the end credits that’s at least three times as long as it needed to be. I think the director just wanted to give some screen time to the two 12 year-old girls in the back seat, who are probably related to him. In any case, the epilogue shows a fresh group of giddy youths just before they’re humbled big time; humbled or dead, whatever.