**_The creative process of writing a cabin-in-the-woods slasher_**

This is a self-aware horror-comedy and slasher tribute featuring a story-within-a-story angle that hazes the lines between the protagonist’s imagination and reality, well played by Henry Thomas. It combines the movie-long date element of “Before Sunrise” with horror anthology.

Dark brunette Natalia Baron comes to the fore in the second half as Amy and is worth the price of admission. Meanwhile Kelli Garner plays the female protagonist and is winsome as ever, but it looks like she lost a little too much weight in the 2-3 years since “Dreamland” and “Man of the House.”

I like the exploration of the creative process and the idea of actualizing one’s thoughts. But I’m not a fan of imaginary stories, illusions or dream sequences, generally speaking. Why? Because once you know what’s happening isn’t real it removes suspense. To the film’s credit, we see what turns out to be real in the final act. I could also do without the unexpected fruity sequence. Get real.

It runs 1h 27m and was shot in 2007 in Los Angeles with the cabin-in-the-woods sequences done at Sable Ranch, which is north of the city in the hills, east of Santa Clarita.

GRADE: C/C+