Street Date: May 13

Official Synopsis:
Forced into hiding after their kidnapping plan goes awry, two rival siblings, David (Andy Serkis) and Peter (Reece Shearsmith) find themselves fighting for their sanity while they hole up in a secluded country cottage. Weighed down by a hostage who refuses to stay quiet, or tied down, they quickly find themselves held captive by their own victim. But everyone's problems go from bad to worse when they come face to ax with their psychotic neighbor - a demented farmer with a dark, nasty secret buried where you'd least expect.
  
Our Take:
The Cottage is one zany, madcap, caper comedy, that’s for sure. Unfortunately that’s the exact reason I didn’t like it. There is silly music, prancing about, and gags that feel like, well, gags. I don’t mind slapstick but I guess I need a little bit more than just slapstick to carry a movie for me.

The DVD art is, of course, as misleading as they come as; like I stated, this is purely a comedy. Sure, it’s about a couple of kidnappers, a victim, and an axe wielding maniac but it’s a comedy nonetheless. And anyone who looks at that DVD art will come away thinking this is a straight up horror movie; it won’t be until you read the quotes on the back of the box that you’ll get a hint at what type of movie this is supposed to be.

Now, in my mind, the only draw to watch this movie is the presence of Andy Serkis in one of the lead roles. We all know and love Serkis as Peter Jackson’s wonder boy as both Gollum/Smeagol in The Lord of the Rings and the great ape Kong himself (and Lumpy the chef) in King Kong. And while his performance here is fine and dandy, it’s ultimately nothing special. There just wasn’t any material for him to grasp onto and turn out a character worth watching.

Special features include:

* Deleted Scenes (12 minutes) – Nine scenes.

* Outtakes (5 minutes).

* Storyboard Gallery.

It’s not that The Cottage necessarily has a bad premise; a comedy in this vein could have turned out just as good as this one turned out bad. But I say wait until we find the one that turned out good instead giving this one a watch.

Overall Picture:
Movie: D+
DVD: C+

- Landen Chase Pelish
Staff Writer