Mick Philpott

The father of six siblings who lost their lives in a suspected arson attack has broken down in tears as he issued a statement thanking fire crews for their efforts to save his children.

Speaking at a press conference just five days after the fatal fire in Allenton, Derby, Mick Philpott said his 13-year-old son Duwayne's organs had been donated to save the life of another child.

Flanked by his wife Mairead, who was also distraught during the five-minute news conference, Mr Philpott also thanked members of the local community for their "overwhelming" support since the tragedy.

During the news conference, the Assistant Chief Constable of Derbyshire Police, Steve Cotterill, confirmed that the seat of the fire was below the letterbox in the front door of the the house. Investigations had also shown petrol was used as an accelerant, the officer said.

Jade Philpott, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, seven, Jessie, six, and Jayden, five, all perished in the blaze, while Duwayne Philpott died of his injuries in Birmingham Children's Hospital at the weekend with his parents at his bedside.

The six children, who all died from the effects of smoke, were asleep in their beds upstairs when the blaze broke out at the semi-detached house in the early hours last Friday.

Mr Philpott, speaking at Derby Conference Centre, frequently dabbed away tears with a tissue as he thanked the emergency services.

Disclosing that Duwayne's organs had been donated to help another child, the devastated father said: "That makes us happy and it takes a bit of the pain away. We grew up in a community that's been through a lot of problems with violence and to see this community come together like it has, it's too overwhelming. Those poor gentlemen from the fire brigade, who saw UNsecured loans what we saw - my heart goes out to them."
Mr Philpott, who is thought to have been alerted to the blaze by a smoke alarm, said: "First of all, I want to thank my three eldest children because they have helped us cope. And then there's a young lad who tried to get in the house the same as myself.

"Then of course there is the four firemen, the police, the ambulances, the doctors and nurses - everybody who tried to help save our children. We can't express bad credit loans our gratitude enough. It's not just us that have suffered, it's them as well - it's everybody."

Jumanji

Games were always make believe. Until now, state the production notes for the movie Jumanji. The same could be said for most computer-generated (CG) animals - until Jumanji.

Tristar Pictures' Jumanji is an action-adventure film, based on a 1981 children's book by Chris Van Allsburg, in book a magical fantasy world. The fantasy world is filled 3D, animated animals you'll swear are alive. It's beautiful. It's also dangerous - as game players Alan (Robin Williams), Sarah (Bonnie Hunt), and two orphaned children (Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce) - quickly discover.

One roll of the dice, for example, sends a tribe of devilish monkeys rampaging through a kitchen and taking joyrides on police motorcycles. A pair of life-size rhinos charge through the walls of a house, sending books and bookcases flying. Right behind them are elephants, zebras, and a pelican that stainpede through the town square. A snarling lion stalks the hallways. Hundreds of bats suddenly, fly out of the fireplace. unsecured loans

Sound like fun? Well, it was for the visual-effects at industrial Light & Magic (San Rafael, CA) who created many of the Jumanji effects and most of the animals.

Remarkably, there are no live animals in Jumanji. The lion, pelican, and bats are CG, with animatronic "cousins." The monkeys and mosquitos are all CG. The rhinos are CG, as are all the other stampeding animals (60 or so). The animals are stunning, making Jumanji a sure bet to be among the finalists for an Academy Award for visual effects. They aren't, however, exactly real.

Director Joe Johnston, himself an Oscar-winning alumnus of ILM (for visual-effects contributions to Raiders of the Lost Ark), decided early on that Jumanji's animals because they were fantasy, animals, would be larger and more menacing than real jungle animals, with a character and intensity bad credit loans that would heighten their, on-screen presence. The believable dinosaurs in Jurassic Park made ILM an obvious choice to create the CG versions.

Are meerkats immune to poison?

The scorpion's venom is a mixture of neurotoxins. Once introduced into the victim's bloodstream, these toxins attack the central nervous system. Victims may convulse and froth at the mouth. unsecured loans  They may lose control of their extremities; their eyes may dart about involuntarily, and their hearts and respiratory systems may become paralyzed, leading to death.

If a scorpion can kill a human, what kind of match would, say, a meerkat be for the deadly arachnid? Let's find out. Here comes a meerkat now, traipsing across Africa's Kalahari Desert.

As the meerkat approaches, the scorpion senses its presence through pectines, tiny structures on the underside of its body. These sensors pick up even the slightest bad credit loans vibrations. The scorpion knows the meerkat is near; its tail raises, ready to strike.

The meerkat sees the scorpion. It stands on its hind legs and sizes up the deadly threat. The meerkat hops a little closer, perhaps dangerously close, to the scorpion. It doesn't look like this is going to pan out well for the meerkat. The scorpion fully raises its tail to sting. Here it comes. Wait!

Without warning, the meerkat suddenly grabs the scorpion with its forepaws, bites off the stinger, drags it through the sand and chomps into the body. After a few nibbles, the scorpion stops squirming. The meerkat finishes its food and hops off.
What just happened? The meerkat should be dead as a doornail. Why isn't it?

Blood Transfusion

A blood transfusion is a relatively simple medical procedure during which a patient receives whole blood or one of its parts through an intravenous line, or IV. This is a tiny tube that is inserted into a vein using a small needle.
While patients are likely to notice a brief pinch of the needle, a blood transfusion is considered to be relatively painless. Still, any procedure that involves a needle is likely to cause some anxiety for a child, so it helps to understand how a transfusion is done. That way you can feel confident about what is happening and help put your child at ease.

About Blood Transfusions

Blood is like the body's transportation system. As blood circulates, it delivers oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. It also collects waste products and carries them to the organs responsible for making sure the wastes leave the body.
Whole blood is a mixture of cells and liquid, and each part has a specific job:

• Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body's tissues and remove carbon dioxide.
• White blood cells help defend the body against infection. They do this by producing antibodies, which help destroy foreign germs in the body.
• Platelets are cell fragments that clot, which helps to prevent and control bleeding.
• Plasma is the liquid part of whole blood and contains a mixture of water, proteins, electrolytes, carbohydrates, cholesterol, hormones, and vitamins.

A blood transfusion can make up for a loss of blood or any part of the blood. Although whole blood can be transfused, it is rarely used. Instead, more specific parts of blood are transfused as needed. Red blood cells are the most commonly transfused part, to increase the blood's ability to carry oxygen and prevent fatigue and other complications.
Transfusions take 1 to 4 hours, depending on how much blood and what type is given, and no special recovery time is needed.
Most transfusions are done in a hospital, but they can be done elsewhere when necessary. In most cases, the blood comes from volunteer donors. The blood of the donor, which is carefully screened to ensure its safety, must match the blood of the person receiving it.

Why Blood Transfusions Are Performed

The three main reasons why a child may need a blood transfusion are:

1. Loss of blood. A child may need a transfusion because of blood loss during surgery or from an injury or an illness.
2. An inability to make enough blood. Blood cells are made in the bone marrow, a spongy substance within the bones in the body. Some illnesses and treatments can impair the marrow's ability to make blood. For example, people with cancer often need blood transfusions because chemotherapy decreases the bone marrow's production of new blood cells.
3. To prevent complications from an existing blood disorder. Children with sickle cell disease, thalassemia, or anemia caused by kidney disease may benefit from regular transfusions to boost their blood's ability to carry oxygen. And those who have bleeding disorders, such as hemophilia or von Willebrand disease, may need to be transfused with a specific type of plasma to help prevent serious bleeding.

Where the Blood Comes From

Since there's no manmade substitute for blood, the blood supply used for transfusion must be donated. The three types of blood donation are:

• Autologous blood donation. Sometimes, when people know in advance that they are going to need a transfusion (for a planned surgery, for example), they may donate their own blood beforehand. In general, kids don't donate their own blood until they are over age 12.
• Directed donation. This is when a family member or friend with a compatible blood type donates blood specifically to be used by a designated patient.
• Volunteer donation. Since there's no medical evidence that blood from directed donors is any safer than blood from volunteer donors, most patients receive blood donated through blood drives, which are often run by independent collection agencies like the American Red Cross.

Some people worry about getting diseases from infected blood, but the United States has one of the safest blood supplies in the world. Many organizations, including community blood banks and the federal government, work hard to ensure that the blood supply is safe.
The risk of contracting a disease like HIV or hepatitis is extremely low in the United States today because of very stringent blood screening. Also, the needles and other equipment used are sterile and they're used only on one person and then thrown away.

Preparing for a Blood Transfusion

Once it's determined that your child needs a blood transfusion, the doctor will speak with you about the procedure. Even if the doctor already has your child's medical history, he or she may review parts of it with you, double-checking items like allergies. The doctor will also ask if your child has ever received blood in the past, and if so, if there were any reactions.
You'll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the procedure. When you feel comfortable with the information and your questions have been fully answered, you'll be asked to sign an informed consent form, stating that you understand the procedure and its risks, and give your permission for your child to have the blood transfusion.
If the situation is not a life-threatening emergency, two tests will be performed:

1. Blood typing. To confirm your child's blood type, a nurse or technician will draw a sample from your child's arm using a sterile needle. (Except for the brief needle stick, this isn't painful and only takes a few minutes.) This blood is immediately labeled with your child's name and medical record number, and an armband with matching information is made for your child to wear. The blood is then sent to the hospital's blood bank lab, where technicians test it for blood type.
2. Cross-matching. Once typing is complete, a compatible donor blood is chosen. As a final check, a blood bank technologist will mix a small sample of your child's blood with a small sample of the donor blood to confirm they are compatible. If they clump together, the blood is not compatible. If the blood mixes smoothly, they are. Blood that is deemed compatible is then labeled with your child's name and medical record number and delivered to where your child will be receiving the transfusion.

During the Procedure

A transfusion can take place anywhere it is necessary. Most transfusions occur in a hospital setting, often at a patient's bedside, in the operating room, in the emergency room, or in the chemotherapy unit. They can also be performed in an ambulatory care clinic or even at home, if necessary.
As long as the transfusion is not being done during surgery, you'll be able to stay with your child, who will be awake. Your child can sit comfortably in a reclining chair or lie down on a bed, watch a movie, listen to music, or play quietly, and may also be able to eat and drink, walk around a bit, and use the bathroom.

Starting an IV Line

A nurse will begin an intravenous line (IV). After the needle is inserted into an arm or hand, a tiny plastic tube is left in the vein and attaches to the IV tubing, which is then used to connect to the bag containing the blood.
Since puncturing the skin involves a small needle, starting an IV can cause a little bit of pain (kind of like a small pinch). To ease any discomfort, a nurse might put some numbing cream on your child's skin a half hour before inserting the needle.
Though the vein is typically in the arm or hand, it can be done in many other places, if necessary, especially if conditions like severe dehydration or blood loss have made the veins harder to find. For example, babies often receive transfusions through veins in their foot or scalp.
Children who need many transfusions may require a central line (a tube inserted into a larger vein in the chest) or a PICC line (a longer tube inserted through a vein near the bend of the elbow). These lines allow easy access, and they also spare the smaller veins the damage that can come from repeated punctures.

Giving Medications

Most kids don't require any special medications before or during a blood transfusion. However, if your child has had a mild reaction during a transfusion before — the doctor may give your child some medication just before the procedure. These may be given by mouth or through the IV. unsecured loans

Cross-Checking the Blood

Just before the transfusion, two nurses will read to each other the names and identification numbers on your child's armband and on the blood that came from the blood bank. The transfusion won't begin unless there is a match.

Transfusing the Blood

The blood bag is hung upside down from an IV pump that controls the speed of the flow. The blood flows out of the bag, into the tubing, through the tiny tube in the skin, and into the bloodstream. The whole process takes about 1 to 4 hours, depending on how much blood is given.
The nurse will take your child's blood pressure, body temperature, and pulse several times throughout the procedure. Your child will also be watched closely for any signs of an allergic or other type of reaction, including rash, fever, headache, or swelling.

After the Procedure

After a transfusion, the tiny plastic tube is removed from the vein and a bandage is placed over the area. The site may be slightly sore or tingly for a little while. Medication may be given for any mild side effects, such as fever or headache.
If the transfusion was not done as part of a surgery or because of an injury causing blood loss, there is no special recovery time needed and your child may leave the hospital shortly after the procedure.

Benefits

In children with anemia or those undergoing chemotherapy, the biggest benefits of transfusions are increased blood flow to nourish the organs and improved oxygen levels in the body. This can keep them from feeling extreme fatigue and help give them enough energy for the activities of daily life. Benefits like this are often felt fairly quickly.
For patients with bleeding problems, transfusions with platelets or plasma can help to control or prevent bleeding complications.

Risks and Complications

Serious reactions to transfusions are rare, but, bad credit loans as for any medical procedure, there are a few potential risks. These may include:

• Fever. Patients may get a fever, sometimes along with chills, a headache, or nausea. These can be caused by a reaction between the recipient's immune system and specific types of proteins in the donor blood. When this happens, doctors will stop the transfusion to make sure there is not a serious problem and give the patient fever-reducing medication. In most cases the transfusion is restarted soon after.
• Allergic reaction. Allergic reactions (like hives or itching) occur when the recipient's immune system reacts with proteins in the donor blood. In rare cases, an allergic reaction can be severe (a condition called anaphylaxis). Stopping the transfusion and giving the patient medications such as antihistamines and steroids can treat a reaction. If the reaction is mild and responds to medication, the transfusion can start again. If it is more serious, the focus will be on treating the reaction.
• Hemolytic reaction. If a patient's blood type and the donor blood type do not match, the result can be a life-threatening condition called a hemolytic reaction. This means the recipient's immune system attacks the red blood cells in the donated blood and destroys them. If a hemolytic reaction appears to be occurring, doctors stop the transfusion right away and treat the symptoms. Reactions like this are very rare because health care professionals take many precautions to confirm that the patient's and donor's blood type are compatible before giving a transfusion.

Alternatives

During surgery, doctors try to reduce the need for transfusions by minimizing blood loss. In some cases, they may even be able to collect blood lost during surgery and return it to the patient. But until science develops a manmade blood source, there is no acceptable alternative to a blood transfusion in many situations.

Certain medications called growth factors are sometimes used to increase the body's ability to make blood. These include erythropoietin and thrombopoetin, which stimulate red blood cell and platelet production. In some patients, particularly newborns with anemia or a child experiencing anemia due to kidney disease, medications like these may have some benefits. But in most cases they don't entirely replace the need for a transfusion.
When your child is having any kind of procedure, it's understandable to be a little uneasy. But it helps to know that in most cases, blood transfusions are common procedures and complications are rare. If you have any questions about transfusions, talk with your doctor.

Mining in the philppines - Paradise Lost

President Aquino plans to issue a historical Executive Order (EO) to regulate the mining industry to protect the environment and the rights of the people. A strict order is needed and hopefully, it will levy at least a 20% tax on mining profits. Hundreds of thousands of justice loving Filipinos live in hope and expectation that it will be so.

Mining in the Philippines has a bad reputation for environmental destruction, bribery, low tax and even extensive “tax holiday” privileges despite soaring commodity prices. It has provoked reaction and a strong people’s power opposition.. The investors in mining don’t need low tax incentives. The high commodity prices of minerals worldwide assure big profits. There should be no mining allowed where there will be serious environmental and community damage.

Without strong taxation on the mining industry, the government and the people will get practically nothing from the vast wealth of the nation’s minerals. In Australia, the profits of mining corporations are recently taxed to 35%. Now that is what we need in the Philippines.

If ever mining is allowed, the minerals must be processed in the Philippines, not shipped abroad as raw materials. Processing gives added value and bigger tax revenue and more jobs for Filipinos. Communities, schools, hospitals and homes must be built in advance to highest standards for the people of the area where mining is allowed, if ever, then only under the strictest regulations and supervision. Mining sites must be open to media and NGO’s for transparency and monitoring of compliance with the law.
Employees must be paid the highest wages and must be from the locality and not foreigners. Today, Chinese workers are brought in to work in some mining operations. Even If we have responsible mining, a hefty bond must be paid in advance for the restoration of the environment in case of any damage.

We see damage everywhere in the mining industry. When opposed by the people protecting the environment, they harass them with baseless legal complaints like in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur where the Columban Missionaries are criminally charged together with the people for defending the environment against the mining company. It is a travesty of unsecured loans justice just like the damage done by mining to the environment.
As I look out my window across Subic bay towards Matain, I can see the remains of the long conveyer belt and the abandoned wharf. There, the ships bound for Japan berthed year after year and greedily swallowed the millions of tons of black chromate with its mixture of precious sparkling gold flakes.

The once great storage warehouses now stand empty, silent witnesses to the plunder of nature and the destruction of the mighty mountain in Pili, San Marcelino, Zambales. There, the once majestic mountain covered in forest solid against a blue sky stood proudly providing a bounteous home to the indigenous people for generations. In the 70′s, I often traveled there to the villages of the indigenous people on my pastoral visits.

Then one day, with a single stroke of pen, a scribbled illegible signature by a distant government official, its fate was sealed and doomed. Then came the killer chain saws and the bulldozers, the backhoes and the dynamite, the crushers and the trucks. They roared and ranted in a frenzy, attacking the serenity of nature, ripping it apart, year after year. Digging, scraping, bad credit loans scarring, killing all living creatures and reducing to powder all the earth and rock in the rollers of the mighty crushers.

The huge trucks transported its dying heart to the waiting ships. Insatiable appetites demanded more and more until it was almost all gone. Then nature reacted. The mighty Mt. Pinatubo belched forth its angry torrent of protest and ended it all. Today, the mountain and valley is abandoned and dead, a gaping gigantic wound in its side, a white shroud of volcanic ash covers its ugliness. Below in the valley, a poisoned lake of toxic chemicals has killed all life.

Here can be seen the evidence that the promises of mining companies and their corporate and government backers are but falsehoods and lies. Here is seen the evidence of empty promises that we hear today from the Chamber of Mines and their members and backers. This is what President Benigno Aquino will surely regulate and it must be strong and for the people.

George Zimmerman’s New Lawyer

Mark O’Mara has practiced law in Florida for nearly 30 years, and at first
blush it seems he’s made few, if any, enemies along the way. He’s Catholic-educated, a graduate of the Florida State University Law School, and unsecured loans currently presides as president of the Seminole County Bar Association. He loves dogs, and local court watchers call him variations of “straightforward, professional, solid, and a real grownup.”

At first glance the tall, lanky lawyer seems to channel To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch in his slow, measured and polite way of speaking. But this sandy-haired lawyer has many layers to his personality
Attorney Mark Nejame, another Orlando legal hotshot and a past courtroom
adversary of O’Mara’s, had nothing but praise for the man who now stands as
the lead lawyer for America’s most notorious murder suspect, George Zimmerman. After quietly turning himself in to police, Zimmerman was officially charged with the max—second-degree murder—in the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, of Sanford, Florida.

“O’Mara is an excellent lawyer, very smart, very measured. very ethical,” Nejame said. “He knows how to deal with the media but not be a media hog.” That can only be a plus in a state where there always seems to be a stream of headline-grabbing court cases in the news.

Indeed, television viewers in Florida are already familiar with O’Mara as
part of the WKMG, Channel 6 news team of legal commentators. Ironically,
O’Mara recently was asked to comment on the Martin/Zimmerman shooting case because he has tried other so-called, Stand Your Ground cases in the past.

Asked by a WKMG reporter (before he signed on to represent Zimmerman) if the controversial law didn’t give Floridians a license to kill, O’Mara conceded in some cases it does. “If you can present evidence, or at least your own testimony, that (you were) in fear that he was going to commit great bodily injury or death, that is what kicks in the statutory protection that you’re allowed to respond with deadly force,” he said, adding, “(Some) people call it the ‘License to Murder’ statute because it doesn’t require actions to avoid the confrontation.”

If the Zimmerman case does go to trial it most certainly will be televised nationwide, and O’Mara will embrace the Stand Your Ground law.



Orlando based attorney Mark O’Mara (left) has just stepped in a blinding public spotlight as the new lead defense attorney for the man sensationally charged with murdering 17 year old Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman (right).,

There have been murmurs that the state may offer Zimmerman a plea agreement of some sort. A shorter sentence than the 25-to-life attached to second-degree murder, in exchange for an admission of guilt. That way, the prosecutor could avoid a messy public confrontation over the state’s controversial self-defense laws, including the oft-mentioned Stand Your Ground law which was  passed in 2005 to give property owners peace of mind during a spate of post-hurricane looting. If the Zimmerman case does go to trial it most certainly will be televised nationwide, and O’Mara will embrace the Stand Your Ground law  as the centerpiece of his defense. He will argue that George Zimmerman felt in fear for his life and under the law had every right to defend himself.

O’Mara’s expertise in working the media was honed last year when he appeared as a commentator during the infamous Casey Anthony murder case in which a young mother was acquitted of murder in the death of her 3-year-old daughter.  (In fact O’Mara counts as one of his good friends, Jeff Ashton, the assistant prosecutor in the Anthony trial.) During his almost daily television exposure, O’Mara displayed a calm and intellectual demeanor that helped explain the sometimes convoluted developments in that case. Local reporters seem to genuinely admire and respect the seasoned attorney.

O’Mara also has seen, first hand, how Florida’s most liberal sunshine laws
allowed the public nearly unfettered access to massive amounts of police and
prosecutor’s evidence and how that can alter the course of both public
opinion and the actual trial. In the Anthony case, for example, the media
was allowed to broadcast all the videotapes taken of Casey Anthony during
prison meetings with her parents before the trial began. Some of the tapes
were quite revealing about the young woman’s volatile personality. During
jury selection all potential jurors were asked whether televised
pre-trial coverage had caused them to make up their mind about the
defendant’s guilt. Many of those questioned admitted they had already
decided Anthony was guilty and were dismissed.

Moving forward, O’Mara is sure to counsel George Zimmerman to be careful of
what he does and says to outsiders so as not to bad credit loans inadvertently add to the
pool of information Florida officials might discover and be compelled to
release to the media.

After the state’s Special Prosecutor Angela Corey and her staff staged a
lengthy news conference to announce the second-degree murder charge
against Zimmerman, cable TV networks switched to another nearby venue to
carry live coverage of Trayvon Martin’s parents speaking to the media with
the Rev. Al Sharpton at their side. Later, O’Mara casually stepped out
of his cozy East Concord Street office, alone, and had a low-key chat
with reporters as the sun set behind him.

His famous client will plead not guilty, O’Mara said. And, yes, Zimmerman is frightened about his future. But O’Mara plans to ask the court to release Zimmerman from jail despite the very real threats to his safety on the outside. (The New Black Panther Party put a $10,000 bounty on his head.) “I want him out because I need him to help in the defense. I need free access to him,” O’Mara explained. Asked about the defendant’s first two attorneys who very publicly resigned from representing Zimmerman and seemed to question his mental state, O’Mara said simply, “He was rational with me. We are communicating very well. He understands how he can best let me be a good lawyer for him.”
Mark O’Mara’s web site carries a simple top headline: “Helping good people
through difficult times.” The message below that declares that he is,
“sensitive to the needs of his clients. When you choose him to represent
you, he will be there for you through thick and thin.”

Sounds like just what George Zimmerman needs.

The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods has had a torturous journey from concept to screen to say the least. That production wrapped in May 2009 only for its release to be shelved until April 2012 suggests an unloved bastard of a film, but the reality is far more complex. Its original release of 2010 was pushed to 2011 so it could be converted to 3D, but then that was dropped altogether when production company MGM filed for bankruptcy, and its only now that after Lionsgate swooped in and rescued it for release that director and co-writer Drew Goddard and producer and co-writer Joss Whedon’s comedy horror has become available for public consumption.
It’s heartening that now it’s out there in the ether, that not only is praise for it near unanimous, but seemingly everyone has gone to great lengths to keep their thoughts as free from spoilers as possible (and all equally understanding the inherent hypocrisy in writing about a film to explain why you shouldn’t read up about it before seeing it). So to add to this symphony of appreciation, here is my brief chorus, for The Cabin in the Woods is the most entertaining horror film since Drag Me To Hell.
And the reason your instant reaction is to gush your guts rather than spill the beans is not because there is some grand central twist. We’re not in Shyamalan rug-pulling final reel territory. Indeed, the very first scene (with the superb Richard Jenkins and Bradley bad credit loans Whitford) should instantly signal that things are not what they seem. Nor is it a film that will necessarily lose its impact through multiple viewings once the surprises are known. Rather, the craft and consideration that has gone into making the plot machinations click so wonderfully should be experienced fresh and untainted.
The clichés Goddard and Whedon stick slavishly to – a group of stereotypical college kids on a weekend trip to some run-down backwoods holiday home – seem so tedious at first, I thought my mind was made up 20 minutes in. So far, so Tucker and Dale Vs Evil. But just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, another layer is revealed with expert timing and execution, unsecured loans and the scope of the story just gets ever wider and more interesting, building and building to an insane climax which will be talked about for years to come, mark my words.
If there are criticisms to be had, they’re minor. There is a murkiness to the night-time scenes where the action is barely comprehensible (it’s just as well the 3D conversion was dropped as it would have made half of the film impenetrably dark a la Fright Night). And having not really gotten into Buffy or Firefly, some of the trademark Whedon zingy dialogue left me a little cold (am I the only one who cringes every time they hear that “We have a Hulk” line in The Avengers trailer?).
But the joy of The Cabin in the Woods is that it’s meta but never ironic or overly cynical. The gags are broad enough in their frame of reference so as not to alienate the casual cinemagoer, but with enough nods to get fanboys and gorehounds all a flutter. It is clever but never tricksy. It breaks the rules, but never breaks its own rules. Even a title as generic as The Cabin in the Woods is as much a commentary on the film as the film’s own commentary on the film itself. I think.
As effective and hilarious a skewering of horror convention as Galaxy Quest was to Star Trek, or Starship Troopers was to macho jingoistic bullshit, the Evil Dead remake is going to have a very hard time seeming in any way relevant in its sizeable genre-busting wake.