Man, I couldn’t even begin to tell you how floored I was by this movie when I saw it many months ago. I am not the biggest horror movie fan out there, but what this movie managed to do was make a satire of horror movies while still delivering all things we have come to associate with the genre. If you haven’t seen the movie, I suggest seeing this before reading my little musings and full linked review. It works best when I don’t spoil the whole premise of the movie. SO GO NOW!
Cabin In The Woods is a brilliant parody/homage/satire/genre film. As a passive horror fan, not the hardcore variety, I loved the inventive nature of the film with it’s familiar tropes and over the top violence. Everything about the movie is culled from horror movies before it, using them as a template for familiarity, but also as a means to setup the quirky nature that the film conveys. The film is a send-up to other horror movies as everything in the movie is a reference to those often used tropes that make my eyes roll into the back of my head. The title of the film is a lovely little play on the often used plot setting of that innocent and innocuous cabin nestled neatly in deep woods of a remote area. The wild and crazy teens who party hard, fuck, drink, smoke and all fit a particular characterization. The devices that they discover to herald the coming of their doom and even the grotesque display of blood and gore is just reminiscent of torture porn. It’s all blended together in a macabre film that sneakily mixes it in with the playfully funny movie.
The premise of the is even fun, where all these monsters, deaths, and setup is just a formulaic television show controlled by people who are cavalier with the lives of those that are being sacrificed. But it’s also the fact that the live feed show is a construct of pick and choose tropes and plots and villains, that you can’t help but think it’s a prod at the cookie cutter nature of horror movies.
All of this produces some of the most entertaining horror moments I have had the chance to see. It’s stunning execution of a serious movie that parodies/homages/satirizes the genre it is in with a smirk and laugh. If you have seen it, then you know what I am talking about. I would easily place this in my top ten films of the year just for execution.
Below is an excerpt of my review with a full link.
The film is amazing, the sort of tongue and cheek spoof of a genre that actually plays it straight and ends up being amazing in the process. The notion that horror movies are formulaic is played out in front of our eyes, from the setting of the cabin to the choice of monsters that will end your life. It is fantastic to see the little odes to other horror movies and familiar villains that populate our nightmares. From killer unicorns, scary ghost children and the old favorite, zombies, The Cabin in the Woods brings them together to unleash their collective terror upon the cast and people of the audience. But it isn’t just the monsters that are familiar, it is the gratifying scares and kills that make this film complete. Whedon and Goddard take the care that is required to keep this film from becoming a spoof of the genre and a scare filled horror movie. One that should be honored by all the die hard fans of horror movies and cherished like the last breathe you have before the killer delivers the final blow. Full review here