Directed by Goddard in his directorial debut, the film’s ambition is to skewer its own genre, to scrutinise its innards and see what makes its heart beat away, and to sew it back up again with a few unexpected extra features carefully stapled on. I shall try to remain quiet about these extra features, but I assure you they’re tricky to detect and positively delicious in their glorious, refreshing revelation - yes, I did just use the word “refreshing” to describe a 21st century horror movie called "The Cabin in the Woods."
Kicking off with an instant curveball, “The Cabin in the Woods” opens on generic banter shared between two middle-aged technicians, as played with expert comic timing by Richard Jenkins (“Let Me In”) and Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing”). Clad in shirts and ties and sipping on coffee poured from a vending machine, the jabbering pair navigate their way through what appears to be an underground science facility. And it seems that a serious job is afoot, with references to a “scenario” leaking into the conversation.
And then we dive into more familiar and expected territory: five suspiciously stereotypical (and shockingly well-acted) college students are preparing for a vacation in a cabin in the woods owned by one of the group’s cousins. The group are as such: hunky jock Curt (pre-“Thor” Chris Hemsworth), virginal good girl Dana (Kristen Connolly, “Revolutionary Road”), sexy Jules (Anna Hutchison, “Go Girls”), mature Holden (Jesse Williams, “Grey’s Anatomy”) and comic relief pothead Marty (Fran Kranz, “Dollhouse”).
On the drive to the cabin, the group stumble upon one of many genre clichés they will encounter throughout their eventful break: a creepy attendant of a grubby gas station, from whom they politely ask for directions to the cabin. Characterised expectedly as a tobacco-chewing, inexplicably hostile hillbilly, the attendant casually insults them, gives them the directions they need and alludes to a danger ahead, not that he gives a hoot. “I can get you there,” he snarls, self-amused. “Gettin’ back - that’s your concern!”
In the middle of the woods and at the end of a narrow road above a dangerously steep cliff sits the cabin. With creaky doors, an open fireplace and walls decorated with animal heads, the cabin is suspiciously similar to the one from Sam Raimi’s “The Evil Dead,” self-opening basement door and all. And it is in this dark and cluttered basement that the gore-splattered horror begins, with the reading of a strange diary enticing some unwanted visitors onto the cabin’s doorstep, all watched and controlled from afar by the two aforementioned technicians.
As I’ve seen many critics smartly doing in their reviews of “The Cabin in the Woods,” it is at this point in the story that I shall start to become tight-lipped about the film’s plot - this is, after all, not your typical “cabin in the woods” movie, much as its audience may believe it to be, and just like Whedon and Goddard wish them to upon walking in. Lack of prior knowledge is key here, with the twists and turns of the slowly developing and increasingly intricate plot all the more satisfying when entirely unanticipated.
Satisfying the film most certainly is: starting out as something of a semi-scary meta-horror (a la Wes Craven’s “Scream”), it gradually develops into a full-blown autopsy of the genre and then, just as you think you have a grasp on everything, throws everything out of the cabin window, descending into unrelenting, mind-bending chaos that is as titillating as it gruesome. But, as I promised, I shan’t give anything away - that would only spoil the succulent surprises that are in store.
Horror hounds (who will no doubt be flocking to see this) will surely giggle with glee at all the playful nudges to the film’s colleagues, which range from Sam Raimi’s aforementioned “The Evil Dead,” to Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser,” and even to the J-horror movement (“Ju-On: The Grudge,” “Ringu” and all that jazz). But Whedon and Goddard haven’t littered their film with subtle references to such a degree that non-horror buffs will feel alienated; the film works tremendously well on its own terms as a not-so-run-of-the-mill horror flick that screws with your head, in a very good way, and invites you to think, in an even better way.
“Think about what?” you may ask. Well, “The Cabin in the Woods” provokes many questions about its own genre in much the same way that “Scream” did 16 years ago, only in a more literal fashion. For example, it is often the case in the film that we are asked non-directly why it is that we are gaining almost sadistic enjoyment from the suffering of these characters when they, pushing some forgivable sins aside, have done nothing wrong. There are also questions raised about the nature of the films themselves: why do these movies revisit the same ancient, hackneyed tropes time and time again? Why are their main characters always the same, one-dimensional stereotypes? Why do these characters do what they do when their actions shall surely get them killed? And, rather boldly, are these characters doing these things because they wish to, or are they doing them because that’s merely what the genre requires them to do?
These are daring questions raised by Whedon and Goddard, who handle them with the care, attention and intelligence that they deserve, resulting in a horror film that not only thrills, but provides thoughtful insight into its own genre. Seething with lashings of gore, dollops of wit and gallons of brain juice, “The Cabin in the Woods” is probably the most effortlessly entertaining essay of horror cinema you will ever have the pleasure of reading, or indeed watching.
9/10
I pretty much agree with this. Richard and Bradley were superb loved their banter. Most enjoyable horror in a long time.
ReplyDeleteLoved this movie. I've liked a couple slasher flicks, but most of them seem to me like a bitter exercise in watching pretty co-eds die. And then there's that weird Puritanical undercurrent requiring that the first victims sin in some way before they get the icepick, like that makes it okay. And here's Whedon and Goddard full-on explaining that. Made me feel sort of... acknowledged.
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