Horror Movie Review: Cabin 28 (2017)

Cabin 28 is based on the real life ‘Keddie murders’ that took place in 1981 & remain unsolved to this day. Occurring in Keddie, California in Cabin 28 on April 11th, 1981. Glenna Sue Sharp, her son John & his friend Dana Wingate were found murdered in their cabin. Shortly afterwards Glenna’s daughter, Tina was reported missing. Her bones were discovered in 1984 buried in Camp Eighteen, California.

This movie attempts to put together the pieces regarding what may have happened on that night & in doing so insults both its audience & those involved.

You might think that’s harsh criticism but once you’ve viewed this trash you’ll see what I mean. This movie implies that the victims, in particular Glenna Sue Sharp was an absolute moron. So stupid that she would leave her children in the same room as a supposed unconscious attacker so she could run to the next cabin & get help.

It implies that in a life or death situation she wouldn’t batter her attacker until he was dead, instead choosing to hit him once then try to sneak past him. As a dramatic/horror reenactment of events that we know very little about, it really is embarrassing just how little imagination is used here.

All we get is your standard home invasion/torture flick with the most frustrating characters & pointless villains. The film doesn’t try to offer any new ways of thinking, instead it draws from the well of horror to create something we’ve seen time & time again.

Erie knocking on the door? Check.
Masked villains? Check.
Villains that toy with their victims? Check.
Zero motivations? Check.
One escapee getting in the car of one of the villains by mistake? Check.
No resolution? Check.

Sure the movie ends with the deputy interviewing some of the more suspect people but it doesn’t even try to shed some light on the events that took place.

It’s so ham-fisted with its attempt to imply certain things that make no sense. The deputy is an idiot as the suspect talks at length about how if he’d been the killer he’d have just ‘offed’ them instead of toying with them. This finale would be the worst part of the movie seeing as it goes on for ages & the acting is extremely suspect. However, that award goes for the outrageous middle portion of the movie.

As mentioned above, the first of three masked attackers breaks into the house & starts stalking the family. Now at this stage, he is completely unarmed & they do not know about the others so running & hiding is already questionable. Fight back, dammit!

They hide in a small bedroom where the killer actually struggles to find them at first. Hint…the three kids are under the bed & she’s in the corner. It’s a tiny room, where the hell did he think they had gone!?

He’s then knocked down by the mother who grabbed a baseball bat that was in the room. Sweet, she can now really fight back. Nope! She turns to the kids under the bed, tells them to wait there while she runs to a neighbour for help! The damn attacker is just lying there in the door! She doesn’t try to hit him again, remove his mask or anything. She just tries to sneak by, gets her foot grabbed & starts panicking.

That is horrible writing & it’s horrible written characters. The actors can’t be blamed here, they do ok considering how they have to act & behave.

I have no problem with people trying to tell a story that has been effectively forgotten about but when what you offer isn’t entertaining or interesting then what is the point? Cabin 28 isn’t a documentary, it’s a horror movie so it has to be judged as a horror movie. On that basis it is a terrible & unoriginal horror movie.