2012: The Year in Film: "The Cabin in the Woods" Review

This is Joss Whedon's coming out party in the movies. First, this flick, that has been delayed several times, which Whedon co-wrote with protege Drew Goddard (who got his start writing on Buffy and has been involved in many nerd-tastic JJ Abrams projects since..), who also directs. Of course, Whedon also wrote and directed "The Avengers" which comes out in a couple of weeks. Good for him. Now I know I don't do much horror around here.. it's just not my genre. I find horror to be contrived, cliched, predictable and often unnecessarily gruesome simply for gore's sake. I have a rule, and that's that generally I don't watch things that I can completely figure out from a one minute trailer. That covers horror, romantic comedies, the type of action movies that Jason Statham stars in and shitty Adam Sandler-style comedies. In addition, I'm not frightened by the supernatural and/or things that are impossible. A lot of movie horror consists of atmospheric creepiness (tense music and things popping out at you) and preposterous, unbelievable situations. But horror can be great when done well and avoiding tropes.. "The Exorcist", "Silence of the Lambs" and "Alien" all come to mind, but many would argue that the latter to are more thriller and sci-fi than straight horror. But anyway, Whedon's involvement immediately piqued my interest, and then I started seeing that the flick was getting rave reviews (currently at 92% on RT), so I decided to check out this flick that's been getting so much buzz in the fanboy community.

First, this movie turns the horror genre on its head. It uses its premise to directly attack/mock typical horror movie tropes and situations, and really is quite funny, quite often. Despite how the trailer may appear, this is far from your typical slasher flick. There are layers and twists that make this much more than even a knowing horror attempt. It is at once quite meta and self aware, and at the same time making a legitimate attempt at constructing a story despite its acknowledgment of the problems of the genre. I am going to avoid spoilers in this review, because I avoided them myself prior to seeing it and really think it added to my enjoyment.



Using the traditional tropes of horror films (the jock, the slut, the brainy one, the stoner/goofball, the "good girl") allows for effective horror on one level while simultaneously making a mockery of the genre on another AND creating a cohesive narrative at the same time. The chutzpah of these guys, I'll tell you. The cast is strong, despite being limited by the constructs of the narrative.. particularly Kristen Connolly (Dana, the "good girl"). Of interesting note is that this flick sat for 3 years due to MGM's bankruptcy, so Chris "Thor" Hemsworth appears here in a supporting role. There are many extremely funny parts, which is to be expected with Whedon, but I laughed hard several times, and was legitimately frightened several times.. so good for this movie. This movie tries to do a lot of things and be a lot of things and doesn't necessarily knock each of these efforts out of the park.. but I applaud the hell out of them for even swinging. (too much baseball?) This sort of filmmaking is to be applauded.

I apologize for being quite vague with this review.. but I really don't want to spoil what's going on.. it will take a lot of the fun out of it. But it works as a horror movie, as a send-up of horror movies, as a simply fun movie, and as an overarching narrative of its own. My complaints are, simply, that at time it's a little TOO knowing and tries a bit TOO hard, and that I kind of sort of hated the ending.. rather strongly. In addition, and maybe this isn't entirely fair to hold against the flick.. but when you're making a smart, knowing movie, the dumb plot holes seem especially glaring. There are several that make no sense. Despite these criticisms, all in all, this a fun time at the movies. I had a blast.

7.5/10. If the ending was different, I'd be giving it an 8.5. It's good, a lot of fun, and well worth a watch. Check it out, you won't regret it.. as long as you know this isn't your typical horror flick.