This review originally appeared in shorter form on KSNT-NBC, KTKA-ABC, and KTMJ-FOX, Kansas First News.
The director of Marvel’s upcoming movie The Avengers (Joss Whedon) and a veteran of the hit TV series Lost (Drew Goddard) have teamed up for one of the most original horror movies in a long time.
The first Scream movie in 1996 deconstructed the horror genre by having its characters talk about horror movie “rules” even as they were in one themselves. More than 15 years later, the new mind-bending horror flick The Cabin in the Woods takes horror satire to a whole new level.
The movie starts with two middle-aged men (a droll Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) in a high-security compound making idle office chatter and then abruptly shifts to something more familiar to horror audiences: a group of teenagers spending a weekend in a secluded cabin.
The teenagers fit the stereotypes of most slasher movies: The jock (Chris Hemsworth, Thor), the slut (Anna Hutchison), the brain (Jesse Williams), the stoner (Fran Kranz), and the virgin (Kristen Connolly)
The strategic unfolding of how these two stories relate to each other is what makes The Cabin in the Woods such a refreshing surprise. If you’ve ever wondered why someone walks into a pitch-black basement all alone or does other really stupid things that usually wind up getting them killed in horror movies, The Cabin in the Woods has the answer.
The entire film works as a metaphor for horror filmmakers and horror audiences. At least for commercially successful horror films, the ones that make a ton of money usually follow some pretty established templates. The Cabin in the Woods certainly sends up the slasher movie template, but it also opens up to cast a much wider net, and the story actually supports that larger exploration.
Much has been written about the “twist” or “surprise” ending. Simply put: there isn’t one. It would be a shame to spoil the bigger picture of The Cabin in the Woods before seeing it, but what’s really happening is a slow trickling out of information that will gradually alter the perspective of what you’re seeing.
All the meticulous buildup leads to a hugely satisfying payoff; the kind that doesn’t really exist in mainstream modern horror anymore. And—despite all its ironic detachment—The Cabin in the Woods has tons of laughs, some truly jaw-dropping moments and a couple scenes of unexpected poignancy that make it more than a parody movie.
Whether you like horror movies or not, you owe it to yourself to see The Cabin in the Woods.
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of Scene-Stealers.com, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and contributor for The Pitch. He’s former President of the KCFCC, and drummer for The Dead Girls, Ultimate Fakebook, and Truck Stop Love . He is also the 2013 Air Guitar World Champion Mean Melin, ranked 4th best of all-time. Eric goes to 11. Follow him at:
{ 8 comments }
Fucking EPIC awesome movie!
Absolutely LOVED Cabin in the Woods. Planning to see it again.
I enjoyed it for all the same reasons Eric did. Even though there were points that were annoying for me, the premise paid off in the end. But my favorite part is that it commentary on the generic horror movie formula.
I’m eager to see it again knowing how it ends and see how it plays. I think the stoner will be less annoying the 2nd time since he’s the smartest one in the room….
I honestly wanted him to die first he was that annoying. So yeah, definitely, he was the smartest one and had important and fore-shadowing lines in the whole thing.
I also loved the metaphors you pointed out in the podcast. Why couldn’t I have seen that?!
A great movie I’ll definitely see again. I almost left when it was shaping up to be different than I thought it would be by starting off so campy and cheesy, but I sat through it in case and couldn’t have been happier with how it all played out.
Watched this last night. Been thinking about it all day, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. Definitely going to watch this one again!
Yeah, it’s definitely worth multiple watches to pick up on some of the clues and the fun little details yo may have missed the first time out.
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