Horror Movie Review: The Cottage

The Cottage

Starring: Andy Serkis, , Reece Shearsmith, Jennifer Ellison, Steven O'Donnell, and Dave Legeno, with a cameo from Doug "Pinhead" Bradley

Director: Paul Andrew Williams

Writer: Paul Andrew Williams

Production Companies: Steel Mill Pictures and UK Film Council

Release Date: March 14, 2008

The skilled merging of comedy and horror, two disparate genres that might seem too different to combine, can be wonderful entertainment. It's a tricky business, combining horror and comedy. With horror you want the audience tense, nervous, and afraid to open that forbidding door. With comedy, though, you want them relaxed and calm. While laughter can come from unease, it'd usually tight and awkward, but a good laugh is a release. The result is often a comedy with horror elements like Scary Movie and Die and Let Live, or a horror with some comedic elements like the awkward Shaun of the Dead, or a dark comedy, a much more satisfying blend of horror and comedy capitalizing on the awkward humor leaving many amused but uncertain if they should laugh for fear of being labeled insensitive. The Cottage gets us into that wonderfully uncomfortable realm of dark comedy.

Brothers David and Peter have kidnapped Tracey, the daughter of local mob boss, with the help of Tracey's bumbling brother Andrew. But Tracey's not an easy girl to keep abducted and in Andrew's defense, David and Peter are pretty bungling as well. As Peter, David, and Andrew try to get their hands on some money, they learn that real terror lives nearby.

An escape attempt by Tracey leads her and Peter onto a quiet, isolated farm. There they soon discover...body parts...and the mutilated farmer who's been collecting them.

The film is a humorous romp through deadly farmlands. Andy Serkis as David gives us the deadpan seriousness that keeps our comedy meters from getting skewed, while the extremes of the timid Peter, by Reece Shearsmith, the aggressive Tracey (Jennifer Ellison), and the idiotic Andrew (Steven O'Donnell) keep the funny rolling...that is until their body parts start rolling off thanks to the murderous farmer.

Don't expect to laugh out loud, and don't expect to jump out of your seat, but it's a fun movie with humor and horror, tension and release. Be sure to visit The Cottage.

Related Trailers

Deathwatch

Andy Serkis also starred in Deathwatch. In the middle of World War I, nine British soldiers caught behind enemy lines seek refuge in a complex network of German trenches. What they soon discover is that they aren't alone...and it isn't a German soldier that's hunting them down.

Shaun of the Dead

Reece Shearsmith also featured in Shaun of the Dead. A man decides to turn his moribund life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend, reconciling his relationship with his mother, and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living.

Clive Barker's Book of Blood

Doug Bradley is best known for his role as Pinhead, but he's been in several horror films including Clive Barker's Book of Blood. A paranormal expert discovers a house that is at the intersection of so-called "highways" transporting souls in the afterlife.

The Children

Paul Andrew Williams, who wrote and directed The Cottage, also wrote The Children. A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents.