Originally published August 10, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
Cub, 2014.
Directed by Jonas Govaerts.
Starring Maurice Luijten, Evelien Bosmans, Titus De Voogdt, Stef Aerts, Gill Eeckelaert and Ricko Otto.
SYNOPSIS:
A 12-year-old boy with a vivid imagination goes off into the woods on a scout camp, only to discover that his imagination may not be that overactive at all.
Evoking the backwoods horrors of The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre with a side-helping of Friday the 13th’s camp fire vibe, Belgium’s only notable entry into the genre, Cub, is a grisly tale consisting of local legends, slasher scares and things that go bump in the woods, all put together by a director who has evidently seen all of the same landmark horror movies that we have and knows that we’re likely to tick off the plot points as we watch it.
Sam (Maurice Luijten) is a 12-year-old boy with a troubled past who has joined his local Cub Scout group to try and help him fit in. However, Sam has something of an overactive imagination and is constantly bullied by the other boys in his troupe and the Scout leaders, particularly Baloo Peter (Stef Aerts), who takes great delight in setting his dog upon the unfortunate boy whenever he can. The Scout group go on a camping trip to some nearby woods that have become notorious for a spate of disappearances, and while there the boys learn about the legend of Kai, a werewolf boy who lives amongst the trees. Sam sees Kai but due to his not being liked by the other kids he is accused of lying, so who is it that is stealing the leaders’ belongings at night? You can bet they’ll find out pretty soon…
In a similar way to Manhunt and No One Lives, Cub is a film that takes a lot of themes and ideas from the classic slashers of the ‘80s but adds a little something extra to stop from being overly formulaic. And despite director Jonas Govaerts’ claims that Cub has more “psychological depth” than the landmark slashers of yesteryear, it really doesn’t.
But that isn’t to say it’s not enjoyable because Cub does have some wonderful gory effects that come from the traps that have been set in the woods, and it is also a beautifully shot film that makes excellent use of the woodland setting and campfire lighting to keep up the atmosphere of terror, and the current trend of including a John Carpenter-esque synth score shows no sign of abating; well, if you’re trying to recreate the 1980s then it’s the obvious thing to do.
A horror film made by a horror fan for horror fans, Cub isn’t anything you haven’t seen before in several different backwoods slasher movies but that probably isn’t the point, although having children being slaughtered instead of annoying teens or smug twenty-somethings gives it a different, and slightly uncomfortable, slant. Overall, however, it is enjoyable and, for once in a modern 15-rated horror, we actually get to see some decent blood and guts without having it toned down for a younger teenage audience. The plot is totally ludicrous but this film and the films it emulates have never claimed to be anything other than a bloody good time and based on that, Cub is a decent horror movie that will appeal to genre fans (see if you can spot the Dario Argento reference) but may lose anybody not entirely clued up on their ‘80s slashers.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=8k_v0cVxqEY
