B+


The Cottage is the director's Paul Andrew Williams worthy follow-up to his small raw debit London to Brighton. This time he takes on an entirely different genre and delivers a horror comedy that, together with Severance and Shaun of the Dead proves that Great Britain can produce some really good genre fare. Unlike London to Brighton, The Cottage doesn't take itself seriously at any point, mixing the elements of British comedy very well with those of traditional American backwoods horror.

The premise is simple. Two small-time crooks kidnap their boss' annoying daughter to demand ransom. First they bring her to a small house in the countryside where they hide while posting their demands. The daughter, however, turns out to be trickier to control than they have imagined. In the meanwhile, it appears that a deformed hillbilly is living in the house next door, all to eager to slaughter them all.

It is a typical premise and the execution is nothing terribly original. It does, however, have well-written funny character, great situational humor, a swift pace and enough blood and gore to satisfy all horror fans. It is a small fun horror flick that I enjoyed from start to finish. Strongly recommended to all genre fans!