Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Woods

Drew Goddard 2012

                Cabin in the woods was probably the 2012 film that I was most looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. The reason I was anticipating this film was because it was written by Joss Whedon, who is my favorite television writer (the creator of Firefly, Buffy the vampire slayer, and now accomplished director of The Avengers).  Whedon has a massive fan base and is known for his ability to inject humor into a tense situation as well as make an audience care about a large ensemble cast.  This Horror comedy was created as a satire and commentary on every horror movie you’ve ever seen, to the point where the films tag line “you think you know the story” is meant to tease the audience and hint at the fact that there is probably more to the story.

                Cabin in the woods may seem like a generic story, five teens go out to a cabin in the woods for a weekend of drinking and debauchery, but what this movie does brilliantly is that it has layers of action going on and the generic horror story is just the base layer. As it turns out there is a government organization in a secret underground base that is pulling the strings of what is happening to the teens on the surface. Everything that happens in the cabin is being controlled by the government and being broadcast to worldwide audiences. You get the sense that they have been doing this for quite some time. The Americans are not the only group doing this either, we see monitors from all over the world, Japan, Mexico, really any country that has ever made a horror film is represented (which allows whedon to make comments about the style of those films).  When the layers of the film break down and the surviving kids find their way into the underground base all hell breaks loose.

                I think the problem that most people had with Cabin in the Woods is that they were expecting just another horror film, which it isn’t though it does do many horror moments very well. I could see how such an expectation would lessen the film for some people but the people who understand what Whedon was going for can really appreciate the film for what it is, a brilliant piece of work.