Cabin Girl

I was pleasantly surprised by this film.

Being a TubiTV Original, and all...I expected it to be far worse than it is.

It's actually quite an engaging little film.

One that's simple, yet effective.

In it, we find ourselves following a young social media influencer, who has taken up the van life.

Only to leave it behind, when she finds an affordable cabin, in a remote, rural town.

However, it turns out that the cabin has a dark past.

Which she's driven to uncover...you know...for the views.

Only to find out she's asking questions, she might not be ready to face the answers to.

To keep things interesting, they add in a bit of a twist, and some misdirection.

Which gives the film an air of mystery.

Although it's more of a supernatural thriller than it is a horror.

It's definitely worth watching.

Especially compared to a lot of the other original films that TubiTV has to offer.

Even if it is a bit basic.

3.5 out of 10.

Cabing Girl follows Van Girl, a vlogger who tracked her travels in her van after her parents die. She switches to a cabin after she has an accident involving a deet and has a resulting head injury. As she settles into life in a fixer-up cabin in an isolated rural small town. Then, weirdness starts happening.

While this film as a slower pace, and lots of sunlight that can be confusing for a typical found footage films, Cabin Girl is a slowburn that explores the main character's experience of supernatural phenomenon and symptoms of her head trauma. This makes for confusing viewing as the watcher isn't certain what is happening. Add in a potential stalker, and Cabin Girl had me guessing on my red herrings.

Easy to watch with decent performances by the actors. Plotting and script are okay but not advanced. Overall, it made for decent viewing.

After a highway accident during a road trip to get over the death of her parents, a travel-vlogger restarts her channel from a cabin she's decided to settle down in. But is the previous resident really gone?

Lively start, ends up a mess. The motivations of the characters are inept, not only at the highest level involving the trauma of the protagonist, but at the mid-level in the way others become involved with her, down to the most basic level of why characters move around in a scene.

What on earth has the death of her parents got to do with the story? Or the death of the previous occupant? Why on earth is there a romance with the mechanic? How on earth does she plot-point-alert bump into the doctor and the bar owner when she's going away from the van that she was just walking toward? It's like things just happen 'for reasons'. To put it another way, the action does not flow from specific motivation; rather, motivation is tacked on to the action so that you feel the director's hand.

The production values are mostly not bad, and I admit that I had a sense that the endless Nancy Drew cliches were a trail of symbols that would lead to a bizarre reveal of the character's psychology. But in the end it feels like a child showing you a colour-by-numbers picture plastered with crazy crayon.

The editing declines in quality, with too much footage of how a character gets from point A to point B, and repetition of shots that don't tell us anything new - particularly of the stalker, and that damn floorboard. The spooky bits ain't all that, with no feel for shadow and the music too obvious. Add in some flabby dialogue, and it's no wonder some of the performances are less than convincing.

I kinda liked the song over the end credits, but ... no - somebody is to blame.

You think it's gonna be a typical boring vlogging social media horror at first, but i actually twigged onto some decent acting from the lead girl early on, perfect for the role and i was impressed at how she took to it.

Although i will say the mechanic could of been better casted.

Plot was good! Background music was spot on during some scenes.

It keeps you guessing as to what's going on which keeps you watching. I won't give any spoilers but i think Cabin Girl 2 should be made, as long as the script can evolve the story and you keep the lead, make it more sinister and disturbing and you'll have a really good franchise on your hands.

I'm thinking prequel sequel to be honest.

Cabin Girl is the kind of psychological thriller that keeps you guessing, even when it stumbles. Packed with a rich story, layered characters, and just a hint of supernatural intrigue, it feels like a lovechild of Gone Girl and The Sixth Sense, with an added sprinkle of The Others for good measure. The film excels in crafting a captivating mystery-within-a-mystery, delivering red herrings like a magician pulling rabbits out of a very stylish hat.

The direction is generally strong, deftly juggling shifting tones and atmospheres, but it's not without hiccups. A few scenes drag on longer than a politician's speech, and some moments feel as heavy-handed as a hammer in a glass shop-padding out the runtime rather than enhancing the narrative.

That said, the performances are refreshingly above average. The cast injects enough gravitas to keep the tension taut, even when the pacing falters. The supernatural elements, meanwhile, are woven in with a light touch, adding an eerie charm without veering into camp.

For fans of brain-teasing mysteries with a side of atmospheric chills, Cabin Girl is well worth a watch. Just don't expect perfection-this girl stumbles occasionally, but she's got plenty of intriguing secrets to share.