Summary

Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard team up for this bloody horror satire that offers an inventive twist on the familiar stranded-in-the-woods sub-genre. As five friends pile into an RV bound for a secluded cabin far from civilization, the operators of a mysterious, high-tech control room monitor their every move while preparing an arcane ritual that dates back to the beginning of time. Shortly after arriving at the rickety cottage, Dana (Kristen Connolly) and her friends Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchison), Marty (Fran Kranz), and Holden (Jesse Willaims) venture into the basement and discover a little girl's diary from the early 1900s -- which recounts a series of horrifying events that unfolded precisely where the vacationing teens how stand. Before long, the nightmare comes knocking at the door -- murder gleaming from its putrid eyes and a rusty saw clenched in rotting hands. In the control room, everything is going exactly according to plan; Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) are taking bets, and their supervisor Lin (Amy Acker) is monitoring every detail. But just when it looks like the show is over, an unexpected glitch threatens to topple the entire system. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi