Cabin in the Woods
Directed By: Drew
Goddard
Written By: Drew
Goddard and Joss Whedon
Starring: Fran
Kranz, Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Jesse Williams, Richard
Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Brian White, and Amy Acker
Director of Photography: Peter Deming, Editor: Lisa Lassek,
Production Designer: Martin Whist, Original Music: David Julyan
I’m going to spoil
everything in this movie. Most of it, which people have made a big deal about,
really shouldn’t be considered “spoilers.” I read a couple of the reviews that
called this film a mind-blowing masterpiece, and then refused to tell you
anything about it, which kind of seems like a pointless act of film criticism. Apparently, many of the critics who don’t like this film
have spoiled it (and of course these are the critics who are “wrong,” though
people like Rex Reed aren’t exactly helping). I find this all quite amusing,
because this is what separates film reviews from film criticism. I try and do
both (albeit very poorly), because I have the feeling many of the people who
read this stuff anyways are those who have seen the films already. Anyways, on
with the show.
The
title of Cabin in the Woods is the
first sign that the latest work from the universe of all things fanboy Joss
Whedon is very aware of the story it’s telling. Five teenagers—the jock,
the sex bomb, the nerd, the stoner, and the virgin—head up to, well, a cabin in
the middle of nowhere, with a plan of enjoying all that comes without parental
or societal supervision. Of course, the forest is a place where transgression
leads to death by way of the supernatural, and in this one it is “Redneck
Pain-Worshiping Zombies” (“if only it could be Merman, just once” a character
explains—more on that later). Needless to say, Whedon, along with director and
co-writer Drew Goddard, have set out to make a deconstruction of the horror
genre, not too far from the Scream
franchise.
Ah
yes, the latest movie about movies! Deconstruction is essentially a genre on
itself these days, and it seems you can’t make a normal movie without someone
believing it is actually about the making of cinema (see: Inception, a lot of film noir, all musicals, etc.). But Cabin in the Woods is specifically about
the way we watch and enjoy horror cinema. Its premise—not only about these
kids, but also those who control their destiny—is certainly clever, and at
times quite ingenious. But Whedon and Goddard perhaps try and stretch their
metaphor, a bit too much, trying to cram as much universe building and extra
explanations as possible. Cabin is a
ton of fun when it’s playing with the horror clichés we know, but it’s also a
nightmare when it tries to explain those.
