"Ok, I am drawing a line in the sand. Do not read the Latin!"
Cabin in the Woods is easily one of the most subversive and slyly clever horror films to come out since Scream. It takes the well known cliches of the horror genre and gleefully twists them. Written with wit and style by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon and directed by Goddard, the film offers laughs and frights in equal measure.
The film centers on five friends who travel to the titular secluded cabin in the woods. At first the group, consisting of Dana (played by Kristen Connolly), Curt (played by Chris Hemsworth), Jules (played by Anna Hutchison), Holden (played by Jesse Williams) and Marty (played by Fran Kranz). At the start of the film, they all seem like regular, well rounded people, but subtly as they get closer to their destination and as they spend more time there, they fall into certain archetypes, the slut, the jock, the brain, the fool and the virgin. Unbeknownst to these five, there is a whole group of people overseeing and quietly manipulating their environment in and around the cabin. The operation is overseen primarily by two technicians, Sitterson and Hadley (played by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford).
It quickly becomes clear that these five were manipulated into going to the cabin as a sort of ritual sacrifice. The technicians make references to not being the only ones watching, toying with the audience as to the true identity of the others is exactly. They run through how the ritual has to go. First, they unwittingly pick the bringer of their deaths from a basement filled with artifacts (the wealth of background details in certain scenes will have eagle-eyed viewers making frequent use of the pause button). Then, their deaths have to come in a certain order to properly appease the others. The joke here, of course, is this is how almost all the movies within this sub-genre go with only minor variations. There are limitless options of the monsters that could be chosen, with the choice that is made being the Zombie Redneck Torture Family (not to be confused with regular zombies, which we are informed are an entirely different species), which proceed hunt down our protagonists as the technicians continuously manipulate the scenario to make sure they do exactly what they want them to. The film also gets a few good-spirited digs is towards Japanese Horror films, with the technicians stating that Japan is their main competition those days.
The charm of this film is the way it keeps playfully toying with the audience, expecting them to know the cliches they're messing around with. It's a film made by fans of this type of movie, subverting it and throwing curve balls left and right to keep the audience on their toes. I loved this movie because I was right in step with them up to and including the absolutely bonkers third act which I won't spoil here, except to say it's worth watching just for that.
The performances here are great, especially from Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins, playing the two technicians as just an average couple of blue collar workers and damn near steal the show in the process. Also a frequent scene stealer is Fran Kranz as the stoner of the group, Marty. In fact, his introduction, driving up to meet the group in his car while smoking out of the coolest bong I've ever seen (it's made out of a Thermos mug that folds up into it's original mug shape) is one of the funniest things I've seen in awhile.
Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon perfectly balance the scares and laughs with equal measure. On one hand, they're lovingly sending up the genre, while also making a film within that genre. This film was a fun roller-coaster ride from start to finish and it keeps you guessing the whole time. It's one I wholeheartedly recommend. I also wouldn't mind seeing a few follow-ups, with other, different monsters that the group could have summoned instead just to see how that would play out.
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