A week before it was released “The Cabin
in the Woods” had already boiled up quite a buzz. Premiering at South by
Southwest, this film started an early positive campaign from nerds and critics
alike. Written by Joss Whedon, creator of TV’s “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer”,
“Firefly”, and director of Marvel’s upcoming “The Avengers”, and directed by
Drew Goddard, writer of “Cloverfeild” and many episodes of “Lost”, this films
fanboy pedigree is something to be distinguished. The few negative reviews
there have been have only seemed to give the movie even more attention, as the
geek fan-base has fought against these critics as misrepresenting and sometimes
outright spoiling the film. So though it might be somewhat difficult, I will
try to avoid as many spoilers as possible with this review.
The film begins with the introduction
of five college-aged friends, out to blow off some steam at a cabin…in the
woods. The group consists of a blond jock, a shy brainy girl, an extroverted
easy girl, a shy brainy dude, and their greasy haired pot-head friend—evocation
of the “Scooby Doo” gang may or may not be intentional. After ignoring a
warning of doom from a sketchy gas station attendant, they stick with their plan
and settle into the creepy cabin for some beer drinking, weed smoking, sexy
good fun. Not long after they enter, they notice some peculiar things, like
one-way mirrors that have been used to spy on those in the next room, paintings
of grotesque murder, and a basement full of ritualistic trinkets and ghostly
diaries. Soon, without their knowledge, they unleash an ancient evil, which
leads them to discover the sadistic secrets behind “The Cabin in the Woods”.
If you know your horror movies than
this plot should sound suspiciously familiar to the slasher films of the 80s
like “Sleepaway Camp” and “Friday the 13th”, as well as Sam Raimi’s
ultimate cabin-in-the-woods flick “The Evil Dead”. To just say ‘that’s kind of
the point’ would be an understatement. Godard and Whedon wrote everything here
to be incredibly self-aware and their screenplay makes many overt attempts to
keep the audience conscious that they are watching a clichéd horror film, with
an aim to destabilize all of these obvious horror tropes. What comes out of
this is a thoughtful and oftentimes very funny post-modern exercise in genre. Throughout
we get a picture of the films creators as two geeks who like horror and seem to
be having a lot of fun playing around in it. The last twenty five minutes in
particular feels a bit like a Halloween spook house mash-up of some of the most
satisfying aspects the genre can deliver.
Now, is this the first time anyone
has ever deconstructed a horror film within a horror film? No. Back in the 90's one may remember Wes Craven’s
“Scream”, a movie that made a specific attempt to address and poke fun at the
basic horror movie structure. A few years ago Austrian director Michael Heneke
released a home-invader thriller called “Funny Games” in which the screenplay unabashedly
shattered the 4th wall. Last year the low budget splatter-comedy
“Rubber” also played around with the ideas of the film, the filmmaker and
audience (with mixed results for this critic).
But “Cabin in the Woods” seems to find a funny and entertaining way to
communicate these ideas without confusing the audience or being pretentious. While the movie might be clever it never feels like homework, and there
honestly hasn’t been anything else in theaters this year that made me laugh
more.
With all of that said, there are
some aspects about the plot that don’t completely work for me. Without giving anything
away, there is a final reveal that involves a strange and tired cameo in which
a final showdown seems to redirect the tone into a much more apocalyptic direction.
Given the rock and roll atmosphere the movie had up to that point, the ending
seemed a bit too grim and ponderous. But nevertheless this movie is a hell of a
good time! While you might enjoy everything a bit more if you’re a seasoned
horror fan (I for one especially enjoyed the skewering of Japanese ghost movies)
you can easily come into this without a point of reference and sit back and
enjoy the bloody mayhem.
Originally published in The Basic Alternative/May-2012
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