Review: The Cabin in the Woods

ann hale thinks the new movie horror film really kills…

*PARTIAL SPOILER ALERT — SOME SPOILERS WITHIN THIS REVIEW*

In a decade of remakes and unoriginal ideas, horror movies have become almost unwatchable. With the exception of a few films, the genre has become disappointing and desperate for a fresh idea. The Cabin in the Woods is the film horror fans have been waiting for. It’s the film Ive been waiting for.

Going into it, I knew I would like it because it was written by Joss Whedon. He has a way of making his characters likable with fresh humor and satiric situations. As a huge fan of Buffy, I knew I was going to leave happy. What I didn’t know was just how much I was going to like it.

The idea doesn’t seem fresh to begin with. There are five college students heading out into a remote part of the woods to stay in a cabin. There’s Curt the jock, Jules the slut, Dana the virgin, Marty the stoner, and Holden the kind, smart guy. On their way to this cabin, they stop at the typical scary gas station with the typical backwoods scary attendant. The scene provides some excellent laughs but made me a bit weary that the movie was going in the direction of a million other horror films. When they finally arrive at the cabin, its the spitting image of the Evil Dead cabin.

Now, here is where I was thrown off. There is this company that we are introduced to that seems to be watching these kids on cameras throughout the house. They have somehow arranged the whole situation without any of the student realizing it. They pump in gasses to change the students moods, arrange doors opening and closing to herd them into specific rooms at specific points. The only person that seems to think anything strange is happening is Marty, the stoner, who is convinced that there is a puppet master behind it all.

Just like in Evil Dead, the basement door slams open and they all head into the basement to explore. Jules (Anna Hutchison) grabs a necklace she finds on a mannequin and almost puts it on, Curt (Chris Hemsworth) almost blows into a conch shell before spotting a puzzle ball that he starts to work on, Holden (Jesse Williams) starts playing with a music box but Dana (Kristen Connolly) begins to read aloud from a diary and stops them all from doing what they were about to do. As she begins to read aloud the Latin part, Marty (Fran Kranz) is the only voice of reason telling her not to. Of course, she does anyway and this raises zombies from the grave. At this point, you realize that each one of the objects would have raised a different monster.

One by one, they are taken out by these zombies. When each one dies, the men at the company pull a lever that releases blood into a machine and down into a temple-like room.

I feel like I can’t explain or give away any more without completely ruining the ending. What I can say is that the idea behind the film is beyond intelligent and creative and easily worth every penny it earns and more. The audience responded with fits of laughing and fear all throughout the movie and, at one point, a round of applause at a cameo by a certain influential scream queen. I have never experienced an audience so involved in a film outside of a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

We can only hope that this means a new beginning for the horror genre. My sincere congratulations to Joss Whedon and co-writer/director Drew Goddard for pulling off what so many have failed to do in the past decade. Unlike any film since Rob Zombie’s The Devils Rejects, I plan on seeing this in the theater again and again and again until I cant take any more.

Easily earns itself a 10 out of 10 in my book. Well worth the money!!