The Cabin in the Woods (2012) Movie Review

BACKGROUND

I know what most people thought when you first saw this trailer. They would say something like “Oh god here comes another stupid horror film set in a cabin and everyone dies”.  What may surprise people is that it was co-written by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon (you know the man responsible for making Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and a little movie known as The Avengers!).  The film was scripted and shot in 2009 but due to the bankruptcy of MGM it got caught up and couldn’t be released. They then decided to shop the film around to other studios and they ended up at Lionsgate, which is a perfect studio for it considering that it is technically a horror film.  I say technically because of many elements that happen to make it the most important horror film to be released in a long time.  It is hard to explain this film without saying any spoilers so I will end my review and my rating and then do a detailed spoiler filled section afterwards. I will give a big warning so you can stop reading.

PLOT (Taken From IMDB)

Five teenagers head off for a weekend at a secluded cabin in the woods. They arrive to find they are quite isolated with no means of communicating with the outside world. When the cellar door flings itself open, they of course go down to investigate. They find an odd assortment of relics and curiosities but when one of the women, Dana, reads from a book she awakens a family of deadly zombie killers. There's far more going on however than meets the eye as the five campers are all under observation. Written by garykmcd  

REVIEW

I had known about this film for some time and was really anxious to see it especially after seeing several posters that boasted the tag lines: “If you hear a strange sound outside…Have Sex”, “If an old man warns you not to go there…Make Fun of Him”, and “If something is chasing you…split up”.  I was sold especially after seeing Joss Whedon’s name attached to the project.  Joss is excellent at dialogue and character development, which is evident in his t.v shows Buffy The vampire slayer and Firefly.  It is also very prevalent in The Avengers but that’s another review for another day.  His dialogue in this film is absolutely spot on. 

Before seeing this film I had envisioned it to be reminiscent of Scream but what I got was something totally different but in a very good way!  The film is very self-aware of what it is and it takes the tropes and clichés within horror films and it turns those on their head.  The film turns out to be mainly made up of really dark and smart comedy in a way that no other horror comedies have been able to reach before.  The comedy of the film is what makes it smart and highly entertaining! 

The film is a complete deconstruction of the horror genre and knows every cliché in the book and uses these clichés to center the story in a very clever way.  I have to say though that the last 20 minutes in the film are excessively crazy and surprising.  I came out of this film with a big smile on my face knowing how awesome and glad I was that I had seen this film.  This is the best horror film I have seen in a really long time and it mixes dark comedy with horror in a way that I have never seen before. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Anyone who loves great horror movies and loves comedy should definitely check it out.  It is definitely worth a watch and I will be picking up this gem on Blu-Ray!

SCORE

4.5 Out Of 5

WARNING!!

I have to give you all a warning! Stop reading this if you have not seen the film.  Once you have seen it come back and read this.  If you have seen it then you may continue reading for an in depth discussion of my favorite scenes and moments.

SPOILER SECTON!!!

The film starts off with an introduction to each of the characters and what makes these characters different is that even the “jock” (aka Chris Hemsworth) are smart people. I remember them saying that they are going into some pretty advanced fields.  The reason that they are acting stupid is because this company that is making sure that the ritual sacrifice goes according to plan.  They are using chemicals to change how they act.  The blonde girl had just had her hair dyed and this company has put some sort of chemical in this dye to make her act all slutty and stupid.  What I can determine from this film is that the company is the reason why horror movie clichés exist. They make sure that everyone acts a certain way and they also make sure and control the monsters.  This company is an explanation for why horror movies exist. I absolutely love how clever a twist this is!

I had to see this film twice to get all of the references in it. There are a shit ton of horror movie references in the film.  The first and most obvious ones were to The Evil Dead series. The cabin itself looks very similar to the cabin from the first 2 Evil Dead films.  The hatch that leads to the basement is also another big reference. 

The cabin from The Evil Dead

 The other reference I noticed was that big guy holding the sphere like object with the saw blades sticking out of his head is an obvious Hellraiser reference.  He looks and acts exactly how Pinhead does in the Hellraiser films. Here are some pictures so you can compare the 2.

Pinhead from Hellraiser

Saw Head from Cabin in the Woods

There is a scene where the company is doing a betting game and all the choices are up on a white erase board.  If you watch the scene again you can see that it says a whole bunch of monsters.  The best one would have to be how it says “Deadites” which as you all know is my favorite.  There are many more and you can see for yourself in this picture below.

There are several more references in the film so I would recommend seeing the film a second time. It helped me see many things that I missed. Thank you for reading my review and look out for more reviews from Deadite very soon!