A cabin in the woods is a tried and tested formula of many a horror and thriller movie. Itโs a formula that works: the close confines of cabins amidst the vastness of a remote location is just the thing to send chills up your spine.
This formula is used to chilling effect โ both literally and metaphorically โ in your M-Net Sunday night movie, Braven. Jason Momoa plays a logger who heads out to his family cabin in the frozen climes of a remote forest, a cabin which has inadvertently become the hiding place of a huge stash of cocaine โ and the traffickers want it back. And so the cabin is set for action, suspense, and thrills.
Before we feel the chill of cabin fever with Momoa, letโs look at a few more cabins that made our skins crawl.
The Evil Dead (1981)ย
Holidaying in the middle of the woods doesnโt bode well for a group of teenagers in this low-budget, high-quality horror โ especially not when the undead start making their presence felt. This Sam Raimi-directed classic was followed by two sequels โ each funnier and more fantastic than the last โ and a remake in 2013. The trials and terrors of zombie slayer Ash Williams continued a few decades later in a TV series, Ash vs Evil Dead, as frightening and funny as its predecessors.
MORE HERE: 10 best zombie movies.
Stephen King Movies
As the king of horror, adaptations of Stephen Kingโs work were practically guaranteed on this list. And he knows a thing or two about isolated home-in-the-woods horror, often employing this eerie device. The Shining may take place in a hotel, but cabin fever is a prevalent theme in Stanley Kubrickโs renowned adaptation featuring aspiring writer, Jack Torrance. In Misery, the home of renowned writer Paul Sheldon is arguably a bit large to be considered a cabin, but the claustrophobia induced as heโs held captive by a crazy fan will have you clutching your chest in terror. In Secret Window, Johnny Deppโs character retreats to the woods to recover from an encroaching divorce and (you guessed it) write. But of course, courtesy of a cabin, some woods, and a good dose of isolation, creepiness soon ensues.
MORE HERE: 10 things you didnโt know about Stephen King.
Cabin Fever (2002)
There had to be at least one entry that actually had โcabin feverโ in the title, and itโs this early noughties horror comedy. The feature directorial debut of horror whizz Eli Roth, it follows the flesh-eating fright of a bunch of teenagers (who else?) after they accidentally kill a man and inadvertently spread a gruesome disease, all while being the object of vengeance for a bunch of livid locals.
MORE HERE:ย 10 directors who cameo in their own movies.
Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Another title that speaks directly to this formula of fright, is also a horror comedy. Joss Whedon perfectly blended horror, comedy, and teenage angst in Buffyย the Vampire Slayer, and along with Drew Goddard, he brings this concoction to a boil with Cabin in the Woods. Poking fun and having fun with horror tropes, it features Whedon regulars, Chris Hemsworth launching what we hope will be a very long career in comedy, and the craziest, kookiest ending.
MORE HERE: Top 15 Australian actors.
Take a trip to another cabin of with Braven, your #SundayNightMovie on 9 June at 20:05 on M-Net channel 101.