Cabin Girl review.
Tubi original Cabin Girl is another fun watch from the ad supported streaming service. A fatal flaw keeps it from being more than that.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Cabin Girl
Directed by Jon D. Wagner
Written by Leslie Beaumont and Rory James Wood
Starring Rose Lane Sanfilippo, Austin Scott, Lee Tergesen, Jess Weixler and Michael Rispoli
Cabin Girl Review
It’s time to stop sleeping on Tubi originals. Sure, the pair of Terror Train movies set a low bar…there’s no argument there. But there has been a steady stream of quality horror movies airing for free (with ads) on their service. Trap House, Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism and Bury the Bride all proved to be good movies. Cabin Girl, despite one major flaw, joins the latter group.
Ava (Rose Lane Sanfilippo) is a social media personality. Unlike the many recent horror movies that deal with internet celebrities…Cabin Girl doesn’t take the “everyone online is phony” trope. In fact, Ava comes across as incredibly authentic. She lost her parents a few years before the events of the film. As a result, she genuinely cares about sharing her life with the people who follow her. Happy to have people in her life that care…even if they are behind a screen.
Ava has gained fame by broadcasting her life spent living out of her van. Dubbing herself Van Girl, followers grow concerned when she suddenly stops broadcasting one day. Turns out, Van Girl got into a major car accident and had to leave the van life behind. At least for a while. Her doctor says she should stay off the road for several months as her physical and mental trauma heels. The constant flashes to the face of the deer in her mind confirm that Ava needs to settle down. And settle down she does.
Putting her life savings into a cabin in the woods, Van Girl restarts her live streams and becomes…Cabin Girl. A hint of romance with the man who helped her the night of the accident, a hint of danger with a stalker who follows her as closely in real life as he does online…Cabin Girl has all the makings of a great live stream. It also makes for a good movie.
The bulk of the story is an Investigative Horror film. Ava happens across a memorial to a woman named Hannah Granger. Legend has it that Hannah was a witch who jumped from what is now called “Suicide bridge”. Turns out…Hannah was living in Ava’s Cabin before she took her own life. Or was she pushed? Ava becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth. Especially after visions of a dead girl start invading Ava’s serene life.
The investigation in Cabin Girl is a lot of fun. Given the supernatural stakes…Ava gathers information through Ouija boards and Tarot cards. Busting up floorboards, trips to the cemetery and combing through old newspapers make up a good chunk of the story. It’s a fun way to combine spooky ideas with the need for answers. There’s even a trip to a mental institution to talk with Hannah’s brother. He’s in a vegetative state after his own failed suicide attempt. Of course, that doesn’t stop a movie like Cabin Girl from letting them communicate.
If it all sounds good or interesting…it is. Cabin Girl has a lot of good ideas and has fun with them. As mentioned, however, it also has one major flaw. You’ll figure out where it is going long before the story catches up. There’s nothing wrong with being a little ahead of a movie…but you will find yourself so far ahead of Cabin Girl that it becomes a bit of a slog waiting for the inevitable to happen. That said, once the movie catches up…it becomes a lot of fun again. Cabin Girl is loaded with intrigue and has a fun payoff in store. It’s the half hour between the two that keeps it from reaching its full potential.
The cast is strong, and the story is interesting. The setting feels lived in and it’s a find looking picture. That pesky half hour of waiting does it no favors. If you can accept that you’ll be waiting for things you’ve already figured out…Cabin Girl has a lot to offer. Spooky imagery and the right amount of intrigue make for a great first half. While it can’t hide the endgame well enough to sustain the fun…it does pick right back up when we’re all on the same page again.
Scare Value
Cabin Girl is an interesting movie until it isn’t. You just see where it is going way too early in the story. That said…it does ramp up the fun factor in the end. The problem is the amount of time you spend knowing what’s going to happen and waiting for it to happen. Once it does, Cabin Girl gets back on track. Overall, if you can put up with a movie that thinks it’s smarter than it is…there is a lot to enjoy here. Some bolder choices and it could have been something great.
3/5
Cabin Girl Link
Streaming on Tubi
