The Cabin

Samantha (Mandi Slade) and Andrew (Derrick Pierce) are a couple struggling to put the pieces of the marriage back together. Hoping a relaxing vacation at a remote cabin will give them the chance to reconnect, the beleaguered couple settles in for four days of honesty and rediscovery. Unfortunately, their presence awakens an ancient power that exists for a single purpose: the destruction of any who dare invade its holy ground.

Horror is the perfect genre for feature porn. People often turn to sex in situations of extreme tension or fear, which makes horror porn instantly relatable. Eli Cross does a good job building suspense through his direction, and Mandi Slade molds that suspense into a living entity for the audience to engage with.

Episode One introduces Sam and Andrew; right away, the audience is made aware that things aren’t copacetic between them. Still, there’s a hopeful note to their situation as they both vow to give their weekend therapy trip a legitimate shot. Their strained yet playful banter during dinner builds sympathy for our heroes with the audience. We want them to succeed because they feel so genuine. When Andrew tells Sam the legend of the witch that supposedly haunts the area, it’s such a good story that it sucks the audience in and sets the stage for proverbial shit to hit the fan. Sure enough, it’s not long before stereotypical creepy voices start emanating from the woods and disturbing everyone’s sleep. Andrew finds himself wandering through said woods in confusion when he stumbles upon Sam and some strange woman fucking passionately. The shaky, blurry camera adds to the horror aesthetic, as does the weird bluish-purple lighting.

Sam seems almost like a woman possessed as she buries her face between Casey Calvert’s thighs. I think the fact that we hardly see her face as she’s eating Calvert’s pussy and hungrily enhances the out-of-body experience feeling. When Calvert wraps her arms around Sam and fingers her from behind, Sam seems to melt even further into Calvert’s presence. There’s a big narrative twist to close the scene that primes the audience for a wild second episode.

Episode Two picks up with the couple making significant progress in their relationship, the strange events of the previous night chalked up to an erotic dream on Andrew’s part. Unfortunately for the couple, things take a hard-left turn towards chaos when an impromptu blowjob is interrupted by strange voices in the woods that only Andrew can hear. Frustrated with what she perceives as typical asshole behavior from her husband, Sam furiously stalks off into the woods. In her rage, Sam gets lost, starts hearing the voices herself, and catches glimpses of a strange woman through the trees. Completely lost and in a panic, Sam collapses and falls asleep. When she wakes up, it’s night time — and Andrew is still nowhere to be found. She manages to locate the cabin, and Sam walks in right behind her.

She’s furious that he left her lost in the woods all night, but he swears she’s been gone less than 20 minutes. After a calming conversation, the couple retreats to the bedroom for some passionate makeup sex — and my goodness, is it wonderful. Slade’s curvy body (gosh, what a great ass) looks stunning next to Pierce’s hard frame, and the way they look at each other the whole time they are fucking creates a strong emotional connection between them. Slade’s horny commentary isn’t dirty; rather, it’s sensual and vulnerable, which fits the state of their relationship perfectly. It’s a very intimate scene. The big horror twist isn’t shocking, but it’s still well-executed. And I’ll leave it to the audience to experience it spoiler-free.

This is a nice film. All the horror elements are done well, the cinematography is impressive, and the story is interesting. I’d never heard of Slade before, and this was a wonderful introduction for me. She nails her role, and Pierce is a perfect companion character to her. This movie should find itself on plenty of award ballots at the end of the year.