The Cabin in the Woods

How do you write a review of The Cabin in the Woods without spoiling anything? I could be very vague and say something like, "A group of stereotypical teens: Jock, Slut, Nerd, Stoner, and Virgin, set out for a weekend getaway to a cabin deep in the woods. The horrors that await them are only the tip of something monumental!" Its a horror/comedy filled with great moments and when the shit finally hits the fan... it's epic! But really, that's all that can be said without spoiling the fun.

Hit "Read more" for spoilers and my thoughts.



Truth be told, I was absolutely floored to see The Cabin in the Woods. I had been looking forward to it for a while, but going into it, I knew nothing about it. I knew they had kept everything under wraps, but even the little bits that got out, I avoided. I just wanted to be surprised. And surprised I was.... sort of.

What do you get when you watch The Cabin in the Woods? Great horror/comedy with some really funny moments, good characters, and a little sadly, "meh" killers? Yes. But what I didn't see coming was the "mission control" story. I was expecting a sorta riff on Evil Dead. What I got was a riff on the horror genre as a whole! Watching it all unfold and come together, it was beautiful. This was a movie that was made for horror fans.

Now I won't go to much into the whole, "The movie was a commentary about how stale and formulaic the genre has become" thing. I think that while it was pointing out the formulaic nature of a lot of our genres constituents, that's not its main purpose. I think the movie was more about giving us an explanation. A reason as to why we have horror movies. Our expectations, our wishes, our almost given guarantees. The slasher formula, the movie "cycles", the character archetypes. I can see it lampooning the summer blockbuster popcorn horror, but I think it also understands that that is why those movies exist. They are there to just have fun. And it does so by mimicking those very movies its poking fun at. It embraces those "negative" aspects of our bog standard flicks to say "I understand" but then sorta tosses them back a bit to show us that maybe we can do a bit more, work outside those norms.

So the movie is two main story lines, the group of teens in the cabin and the people working at mission control. These stories then come together towards the end of the movie in what can be described as one of the greatest horrorgasms since the finale of Dead Alive. I really don't want to ruin this movie for anyone, but I will say its amazing. So much going on and all of it is great. There is so much love for the genre in it.

The characters are great. Not so much the kill fodder teens, though the virgin and the stoner are memorable, but the guys in the control room. They are the real fun in the flick. Their banter, their attitude, their timing. Everything is fantastic. Their nonchalant attitude toward whats happening and just the way they deal with what needs to be done. Genius.

Really, just check it out. If you love horror, you'll probably love this movie. If you tire of the standard horror conventions and want something a bit different, watch it. It has good comedy, some really good characters (Did you say Poptarts?), and just some cool, fun ideas. Also, Merman...