The genre and its fans need a hard reset.
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So, what is the message to the horror genre? Well, the last few minutes of the movie quite efficiently lay that out there. After watching this movie a dozen or so times I am still discovering new references.īut what does it mean? Satires often have a message to whatever they’re satirizing. As much of a sharp criticism it is, it’s also a playground for horror fans to play in. There are so many that you have to pause the movie several times to catch them all. However, the movie quickly subverts those and replaces them with reference after reference to classic horror movies - some direct and some you have to dig through your brain to unlock. Any horror fan watching the movie can pick out the cliches and stereotypes. More than that, there’s a clear sense of recognition. It’s a meta-horror movie that simply laughs at the very movies it’s trying to perpetuate. Simply put, The Cabin in the Woodsis one of the sharpest satires of our generation. It’s a subtle jab as to why every horror movie plays out the same.īy the time the film comes together - which is refreshingly gradual compared to the sudden “twist ending” that has also plagued the genre - you’ve already pieced together the clues and have come to an understanding about it. However, Goddard and Whedon use the scenes at the facility to explain those occurrences. The group even encounters a creepy old man at a seemingly abandoned gas station warning them of their impending doom. Goddard was careful to actually recreate the horror movie setup that he is looking to tear down - the other two friends joining them on the trip fill the roles of the comedic stoner Marty ( Fran Kranz, who gives one of the best performances of 2012 in the film) and love interest Holden ( Jesse Williams).
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However, the opening scene in the facility coupled with the fact that the characters don’t exactly meet their stereotypical horror counterparts - Dana had an affair with a professor, Jules is pre-med, and Curt is at school on full academic scholarship - makes you realize that this is a horror movie like no other.
Goddard creates the opening of almost every 2000s horror slasher so perfectly - right down to the score - that the audience would immediately be turned off by it. Without it, we’d open to the next scene which shows the girl next door type Dana ( Kristen Connolly) packing for a weekend at the eponymous cabin in the woods with her newly blonde friend Jules ( Anna Hutchison) and her jock boyfriend Curt ( Chris Hemsworth). Goddard and Whedon’s decision to open with this scene was surprising but completely necessary to the success of the movie. The movie opens on Sitterson ( Richard Jenkins) and Hadley ( Bradley Whitford) speaking to Wendy Lin ( Amy Acker) about several failed rituals around the globe. The Cabin in the Woodsdoesn’t just subvert the genre tropes, it challenges the very fabric of the horror movie industry. 💌 Sign up for our weekly email newsletter with movie recommendations available to stream. In that sense, The Cabin in the Woods is a gift to horror fans. This movie could only be born out of horror movie fanatics that are so well-versed in its history and tropes that it would take another horror movie fanatic to truly catch all the references. In the Blu-ray commentary, they called the movie “something for us.” However, that “us” can also describe fans of the genre.
However, The Cabin in the Woods is one that won’t be easily copied, which is why it is and will stand as a new horror classic.ĭrew Goddard and Joss Whedon wrote The Cabin in the Woodsin essentially a weekend as a response to a couple of failed projects and a glut of “torture porn” horror movies - popularized by the Saw series.
The last movie to attempt this to success is Scream, which set off yet another wave of copycat movies. It simultaneously emulates - specifically the genre post- Evil Dead - and criticizes its new tropes by “explaining” its most outlandish aspects. Five years later, The Cabin in the Woods is looking more and more like a horror classic that is singular in its mission to revitalize the genre that we know and love.įive years ago, the trajectory of the horror genre was forever changed with the release of the Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard film The Cabin in the Woods. Well, maybe not forever changed, but it sent a statement to the horror community that has certainly been heard.Ĭabin is a loving hate letter to the horror genre.
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