DirkH’s review published on Letterboxd:
This film tries to put its tongue in its cheek so hard it has left a big, gaping hole that should have been filled by a great film.
Let me start off by saying that I actually like Whedon's work. Most of the stuff he's done is quite enjoyable. Here, however, he is at his worst. Every single twist, turn and reveal felt like him screaming at me: 'Hah! Look at how clever I am! I am reinventing the entire genre!'
The problem with Whedon's script is that he has actually written two films. One a rather funny, sometimes hilarious comedy. Two, a boring and generic horror film. Somewhere in between lies the idea of a great film, which is completely blown away by the fact that we get our noses rubbed in its unrelenting 'look at how meta I am!' scripting. What's left then is a constant hopping between boring horror scene to funny sketch. Boring horror scene. Funny sketch. Which in the end makes it neither a successful comedy, nor a ground breaking horror film.
In the entire film there are some 15 minutes where it does work. And for those minutes I give it two stars as I really enjoyed the hell out of that. Then again, maybe I shouldn't as that short period of time only reminds me of the great film I could have been watching.
Oh, and if you're wondering what that moaning sound is at the end of the film, that's Mr. Lovecraft, turning in his grave.