Movie Review: The Cottage

In a remote part of the countryside, a bungled kidnapping turns into a living nightmare for four central characters when they cross paths with a deformed, psychopathic farmer and all hell breaks loose.

This movie is really 2 movies in one. It starts out a comedy/thriller but towards the last 30 minutes or so it becomes a horror movie. It's funny pretty often though, and even the horror scenes are full of over-the-top, campy gore (reminded me a bit of Hatchet in that sense) so I found myself laughing or cheering more than being grossed out. All in all it's just a fun film.

The acting is all passable but Andy Serkis (Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) is really good I thought. His angry man character had some hilarious moments interacting with the bumbling idiots he's teamed with. All the characters are sort of quirky and it adds to the fun. The kidnapped woman is pretty easy on the eyes and has a barbie doll face and killer body, but is rough around the edges and shows it with her toughness and foul-mouth. One brother is deathly afraid of moths (and his wife) and the other helper is just a dimwit.

So the first part of the film is a bit slow while it's spent developing the characters (moreso than the scant plot, which is frankly just muddy and confusing) and you become a bit emotionally invested in the fools. That's about the time the movie turns into a splatter comedy (as I've seen it described elsewhere, which that fits the last half hour perfectly).

It's a funny independent British comedy blended with some horror elements that's worth a watch if it sounds like your thing. The Brits would probably call it a bloody good time. I'd agree.

7/10