On first appearance The Cabin in the Woods looks like just another genre movie: a group of teenagers take a weekend break to a relative’s dilapidated shack in the forest only to find themselves menaced by a malevolent force in a blood soaked battle for survival. But don’t be fooled by the set up. Joss Whedon and writer/ director Drew Goddard’s ability to manipulate horror film conventions in an ingenious concept single this out as an exciting leap forward for the horror genre and a hugely entertaining thrill ride for gore hounds and film lovers alike.
To reveal too much would be spoiling it, but The Cabin in the Woods starts in pretty familiar territory, introducing the clichéd frat protagonists (including a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth) in a manner befitting of any bog standard genre entry, but things start moving out of the ordinary when the foursome unleash the so-called dark forces in the basement and uncover the truth behind their presence.
The Cabin in the Woods uses our familiarity with the genre conventions to meld a fascinating and original story but suffers from an inability to evoke any kind of genuine fear in the viewer due to two dimensional characters and it’s over-analytical nature. One could argue that using anything other than clichés and stereotypes would undermine the film’s intention to create a feeling of familiarity in the viewer but without that basic empathy it’s hard to relate to the characters on a personal level, which lessens the dramatic impact. But at the end of the day, this is just a horror movie and is enormous fun none the less. While it suffers from a lack of identity due to its self-referential nature, as an experimental concept and hybrid of genre conventions, The Cabin in the Woods is totally exhilarating thrill-ride and definitely one for horror fans. Referencing Hellraiser, The Shining, Romero’s zombie canon and most notably The Evil Dead in its execution and narrative, it has a structure which toys with our pre-conceptions knowing full well what the audience expects and delivering the exact opposite.
Being a victim of MGM’s financial hiatus, The Cabin in the Woods has been sitting on the waiting for distribution shelf for over a year now but it is worth the wait. It won’t win any awards, break any records, reinvent horror per se or spawn a new sub-genre like the Blair Witch Project’s found footage or Saw/ Hostel’s gorno, but for an energised, original and highly entertaining experience it’s well worth seeking out and whilst also serving as a fitting homage to the genre’s meagre video offerings of the 80s with the grainy shadowed monsters reminiscent of Lucio Fulci, it feels refreshing in an age of countless remakes and sequels, bearing all of the old bad films notable qualities into a well packaged slaughter-fest of exceptional vitality.
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