The Cabin in the Woods

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The Cabin in the Woods

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The Cabin in the Woods

Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams

Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know this story, think again. From fan favorites Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard comes The Cabin in the Woods, a mind b... read more read more...lowing horror film that turns the genre inside out. -- (C) Lionsgate

Id: 11160432

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The Cabin in the Woods Recent Reviews
  • fb1378820053
    April 15, 2013
    fb1378820053
    A
  • fb1038944442
    March 22, 2013
    fb1038944442
    The Cabin in the Woods is the freshest and most original take on the classic horror movie in recent memory, remarkable considering that it trades in and subverts every cliche in the book. It's funny, visually arresting, (though it unrolls its CG splendors quite late) and has an ... read moreunrelenting and never boring pace. The hour and a half of the film zips by.

    What I loved about the script that it's never what you think it's going to be. The film operates on two planes, the kids in the cabin waiting to be slaughtered and their mysterious high tech puppet masters in a mysterious lab somewhere. Both of these groups, who never cross paths until the very end, constantly surprise and undermine expectations. Director Drew Goddard and co-writer and producer Joss Whedon have achieved something truly remarkable here. The film is wonderfully executed trifle, and you can turn your brain off if that is your desire. Sadly, it's never mine.

    If you want to look at it intellectually, this is a meditation on the classic horror movie cliches. It explores the strange prurient need in humans to see young people being punished and slaughtered, particularly for expressing their sexuality. Why has this unquenchable desire created a whole indestructible genre?

    All the performances are more than fine, but it's not a starring vehicle for anyone. The kids in the cabin play their stereotypical roles with panache. The standout is Fran Kranz as the energetic and resourceful stoner. Bradley Whitford, Richard Jenkins and Whedon regular Amy Acker are more than acceptable as the scientist/puppet masters.

    If I had read the outrageous and over the top ending on paper -- including a cameo from a huge star of the genre - I would have rejected it out of hand as being patently ridiculous. However, on screening the ending, I don't see how else it could have ended. It's so twisted and supernatural that it makes picking apart the plot at that point irrelevant, which is to the credit of the clever writers. In all, Cabin in the Woods is well worth checking out. That said, I'm not sure how a younger viewer without any prior knowledge of horror movies would enjoy seeing a film that trades in viewer identification with the Elm Streets, the Friday the 13ths, and the Halloweens. Perhaps they should be exposed to those films first.
  • edfilmreviews
    February 11, 2013
    edfilmreviews
    A film that makes fun of the cliches of the horror genre and also offers something grander than its seemingly simple premise. "Cabin in the Woods" is one hell of a ride that is sure to entertain. It's one of the best horror/comedy films ever made.

    It's well directed, perfectly ... read morewritten, and the suspense is always there. The acting is superb with the stoner dude being the obvious standout; he's hilarious. The film may seem straightforward, but trust me, you won't know the whole deal until the very end. It's basically a work of genius.

    Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon obviously had a lot of fun here; together they have created something truly original by using the generic horror story as their template. But there's more than meets the eye to this film.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    December 26, 2012
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    An incredibly clever take on the horror film. "Cabin in the Woods" at once explains in the most fantastic way why horror films are so predictable and so formulaic while simultaneously daring filmmakers to think outside the box when it comes to the genre. The result is an entertai... read morening, unpredictable little romp not to be missed.
  • SirPant
    December 21, 2012
    SirPant
    In my opinion The Cabin in the Woods has changed the horror genres. It really does have something for every horror fan, whether it's gore, slasher, comedy or what ever, it's all here. It's clever too, nothing is cliched, in fact, this is the anti-cliche horror film. Long time com... read moreing and done brilliantly. I loved the characters, the monsters, the storyline and I loved the outcome. There is nothing I disliked about it, I thought it was brilliant. Hopefully now everyone else will raise the game, and to think The Innkeepers was touted as the best horror of 2012!
  • YodaMasterJedi
    December 14, 2012
    YodaMasterJedi
    four stars
  • cosmo313
    December 4, 2012
    cosmo313
    Produced by Joss Whedon, directed by Drew Goddard (in his debut), and co-written by the two of them, this is a wonderful celebration to all types of horror movies. Not only is homage paid to the genre and subgenres, but they all get trned on their head in one of the best and most... read more interesting genre deconstructions since the Scream series.

    The broad plot follows a group of five youths who plan to spend a weekend partying at an isolated cabin. Don't think you know how it goes from there, because this film is anything but typical, and it's all kinds of twisty and turny with the plot, and the surprises start right from the first scene and go all the way through to the end.

    I'm not going to get much more detailed than that, since part of the fun is knowing as little about this going into it. I'll just simply say that the film is well cast, the performances are stellar, the direction is sharp, the writing superb, and the mix of horror, humors, and intelligence is well blended.

    The cinematography and art direction are top notch, and best of all, the brilliant special effects are done practically as much as possible, and the film really delivers the goods when it needs to. This isn't a film for all tastes, but it is very well done, a ton of fun, and one of the most enjoyable thrill rides I've checked out in a while, so definitely give it a watch.
  • mumby1988
    November 13, 2012
    mumby1988
    When I reviewed The Dark Knight Rises back in August, I commented that the attention being given to The Avengers had obscured or dampened the enthusiasm for what was arguably the more interesting of the two films. The same could be said of The Avengers and The Cabin in the Woods,... read more which is, put simply, the best Joss Whedon film of 2012.

    Of course, giving The Cabin in the Woods this moniker is pretty misleading. It's not strictly a Joss Whedon film, in that he produced and co-wrote it but was not behind the camera. It's not strictly a 2012 film, since it was completed in 2009 but then sat on a shelf during the collapse of MGM. During this time its release was repeatedly delayed, and there was talk of retrofitting it into 3D (talk which ultimately came to nothing). Most of all, this moniker feels like damning with faint praise, since even without Whedon's welcome involvement, this is a genuinely great horror film.

    I've often praised or singled out horror films which were made by people with great affection for the genre. But The Cabin in the Woods has something extra: it's made by people who want to celebrate horror, while also pointing out where it needs to develop. Whedon described the film as a "loving hate letter" to horror, reflecting his desire to move it away from the sadistic excesses of so-called 'torture porn'. And in director Drew Goddard he has the perfect partner-in-crime: they collaborated on Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, before the latter found success with Cloverfield.

    A good way to illustrate Whedon and Goddard's intent is to compare the film to another recent horror pastiche, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. One of the few problems with Eli Craig's debut was that it never quite put its foot down and tried to break new ground beyond the satire of its comic conceit. While the film was primarily a comedy, and therefore its main concern was to make us laugh, there was still a niggling feeling that it could have been slightly more adventurous.

    Whatever Tucker & Dale lacks, in ambition or visual distinction, The Cabin in the Woods has it in spades. The film looks fantastic, with the cold steel of the technical facility being offset by the glossy, frat-boy aesthetic which surrounds our main protagonists. The film is shot by Peter Deming, whose credits include Evil Dead 2, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and all the Scream sequels. He manages to recreate the feisty, edgy quality of Whedon's TV work while still giving us an expansive cinematic world, beyond which dark and unspeakable forces lurk.

    In terms of its narrative or thematic innovation, The Cabin in the Woods finds Whedon taking one of the oldest horror stories in the book and deconstructing or dismembering it with ruthless intelligence. Some critics have found the experience to be too mechanical, saying that Whedon is indulging his own cleverness and that the film won't hold up to repeat viewings. While it remains to be seen how much the film will give second time around, all other reservations can be swiftly debunked.

    If nothing else, Goddard and Whedon's recreation of classic horror tropes and images is immaculate. The titular cabin is a very deliberate recreation of the cabin from the Evil Dead series, and the events that occur therein nod very prominently to the second film. The mirror scene is a nod towards Ash's reflection trying to strangle him, the wandering zombie hand speaks for itself, and the scene were Jules makes out with the moose's head is a nice little send-up of the moment where the moose and lamp become possessed and start laughing at Ash (who in turn laughs back).

    The rest of the film's iconography is slightly more veiled. In the sequence in the cellar, our teenagers find a whole series of trinkets and artefacts, all of which (unbeknownst to them) could cause their doom. But rather than have them encounter anything too obvious, like a chainsaw or a hockey mask, Whedon gives the audience something they might vaguely recognise but which appears original enough to remain threatening. The puzzle ball is a subtle nod to Hellraiser, but this only becomes confirmed when we encounter its owner, who has saws in his head instead of nails.

    Hanging over the whole film are two key texts, one rooted in horror, the other in science fiction. The science fiction text is The Truman Show, from which the film takes the idea of a world enclosed by an impregnable dome, in which everything from the weather to the chemical impulses of the characters are carefully controlled. From this there is also a resemblance to Marc Evans' My Little Eye: Goddard takes that film's thesis of reality TV being the new pornography, and extrapolates it into a wider study of voyeurism and submission to a greater will.

    The horror roots of The Cabin in the Woods lie in H. P. Lovecraft and his concept of the Old Ones. Lovecraft's universe was one in which humanity was utterly helpless and insignificant, totally unable to prevent the upcoming return of imprisoned, ancient gods. The lines about the Ancient Ones slumbering refer clearly to those famous words in 'The Call of Cthulu': "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." The technicians are offering up the innocent as a sacrifice to the Ancient Ones because there is nothing else we can do but appease them, hoping and praying that they may wait a little longer to devour us.

    Purely as a genre exercise or a sideways look at Lovecraft, The Cabin in the Woods is an unqualified success. Certainly on the latter front, it is a lot more focussed and coherent than previous attempts, such as John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness. Although the characters are archetypal, they are well-written and feel distinctive, so that we care about them even when they are required to be stupid. The film benefits from a fantastic central performance by Kristen Connolly, whose character manages to subvert the final-girl cliché while still making her resourceful and strong.

    But the greater triumph of The Cabin in the Woods is the insights it gives into the mechanics of horror. This is ultimately what separates from Tucker & Dale and other such films, and elevates it into a level of medium analysis approaching that of Peeping Tom. The film is not just a hybrid of Lovecraft and Truman, in which we are pitiful beings manipulated into saying lines to ensure the survival of our species. It is about how horror is created, how fear manifests itself, and how we strive futilely to contain our worst nightmares.

    By making the central story so choreographed, Whedon is making a point about how horror films are assembled. The ease with which the technicians treat their job, to the point of holding sweepstakes on the outcomes, is a jab at how mechanical and formulaic mainstream horror has become. As the Lovecraft elements begin to encroach, the film enters more ritualistic territory, and like the characters in Berberian Sound Studio we become complicit in the ritual. The voyeurism of the technicians reflects our own desires, whether to be scared masochistically (which Whedon celebrates) or to delight sadistically in another's pain (which he condemns).

    The conclusion of The Cabin in the Woods is about how we as a species deal with fear. Having the teenagers choose the means of their own death reflects the idea that our fears are shaped by deep-rooted personal trauma. These feed into our shared culture, resulting in the horror movie monsters we know. Perhaps the scariest shot in the whole film is our two survivors, screaming in a box surrounding by thousands of other boxes, each containing a different monster, a different concentration and expression of human fear. But despite all the elaborate protocols and rituals, fear wins the day, reinforcing the story's Lovecraftian despair.

    The Cabin in the Woods is a quite remarkable film which sets the bar extremely high for future horror deconstructions. Goddard directs with confidence and panache, while Whedon's welcome fingerprints on both the script and visuals make for a fiercely intelligent thrill ride. Only time will tell if it holds up to repeat viewing, or whether its small moments of slow pacing will inhibit casual viewers' ability to enjoy it. For now it deserved to be celebrated, as a well-oiled horror film and an open invitation to re-examine the genre we love.
  • skactopus
    November 7, 2012
    skactopus
    Drew Goddard throws a solid change up in The Cabin in the Woods.

    If there is a film that successfully meshes horror and science fiction, this film is it. Running at a convenient 90 minutes, the plot consistently hints at something original, even when things seem cliched

    ... read more. All this leads to a final act, which is pretty darn satisfying.

    The mixture of gore and effects is a nice touch. The violence is bloody, but not quite at the extreme level. The effects are good and are used in moderation until the ending.

    Kristen Connolly takes some time to build up, but by the end it feels like she is in charge. Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford end up as a great duo with their roles, which are more amusing than the rest of the young cast in the cabin.

    The Cabin in the Woods gets points for its plot. Enough so, that that alone is enough to consider this picture above average.
  • allan913
    October 30, 2012
    allan913
    An insanely enjoyable and twistedly fun horror movie. A stroke of pure mad genius that's the most inventive, original and wild cabin flick since The Evil Dead. The perfect blend of big fright horror and outrageous comedy mashed into one hell of a sick and pulse-pounding thrill-ma... read morechine. It gets at the story underneath the story, and the reason behind the cliches of past horror films and makes something new and fun. A wickedly funny and blood soaked good-time. Director, Drew Goddard and Writer, Joss Whedon bring on a re-invention of the slasher flick with great effects, awesome monsters and a great cast. Fran Kranz, Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchison, Jesse Williams and Chris Hemsworth have great and wonderful chemistry together, which rarely comes around in a film like this. Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins are terrific and brutally funny. A bone-chilling and hilarious guilty pleasure. Horror-comedies don't get much more fun than this. An instant classic.
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