Film Review: The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods is an intriguing and humorous satire of the horror genre, doing what Scream did for slasher flicks for the cabin-based horror film. We’ve seen it all before in these films – The Evil Dead, Cabin Fever, The Ring etc. A group of teenagers (who could almost make up the cast of Scooby Doo with their stereotypical archetypes) go on a cabin holiday in the middle of nowhere – Curt: the athletic type (Chris Hemsworth), Jules: the blonde party girl (Anna Hutchison), Holden: the studious one (Jesse Williams), Marty: the stoner (Fran Kranz) and Dana: the shy virginal type (Kristen Connolly). All of them hold up solid performances in their roles. They depart in their camper van towards their inevitable ordeal, meeting sinister garage owner Mordecai (Tim De Zarn) on the way. The group feel uneasy with this greeting, but decide not to let it ruin their holiday and drive to the forests to the cabin. After some partying, the group discover that not everything is quite as normal as they thought. So far, so clichéd.
But the pleasant surprise here is that there is an external force working against them, controlling their actions in a clever twist on horror film conventions (giving more reason to stupid decisions characters in horror films usually make and playing with conventions in its form and mise-en-scene, such as the typical eerie mist). The film brilliantly pastiches the style of both Western and Eastern horror, not only playing with the conventions we all know too well in teen horror films like The Evil Dead (a film which is referenced to multiple times throughout the narrative) but also with the conventions of yūrei and onryō ghost tales (like that of Ringu and Ju-On) in a small scene taking place in Japan, even going as far as to toy with the convention of sympathy for the vengeful spirit.
Not only does The Cabin in the Woods give one enough to think about with regards to the conventions of the genre, but enthusiasts will notice various references to their favourite horror films pop up in the film. Interestingly, Sigourney Weaver makes a small cameo in a parallel to one of the protagonists, a ‘final girl’ herself once-upon-a-time in Alien (media or film studies students will know this term, coined by Carol Clover, signifying the last girl to survive long enough to confront a killer at the end of a horror film). The twist is particularly fascinating, drawing upon ancient history and mythology in a different way than many would expect.
Fans of Joss Whedon will certainly feel his presence here, as the film plays out at times like a brilliant, feature-length episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s hilarious with its witty script and comedic performances (particularly impressive are Kranz, Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford), it’s full of pop-culture references and, whilst not wanting to spoil the twist for anyone, feels very much as if its final threat was influenced by Buffy. Tom Lenk (better known to Whedon fans as Andrew from Buffy) makes a cameo appearance in the film.
The film is not without its flaws. The plot can feel a little messy in places, the use of CGI is hit-and-miss and some characters felt very underused, particularly Truman (whose name may be a reference to The Truman Show?) and Mordecai whose initial involvement seemed to indicate that they would be important characters later on, but did not prove to be in the end. This unfortunately made them feel a little pointless. The film was scary in parts, but did not offer as many scares as filmgoers (and horror lovers in particular) may have been expecting. Terrifying the audience was not the entire focus (or point) of the film, and perhaps this is where the scares were lost as the film concentrates on comedy and parodying the horror genre. It made the film feel a little confused in its focus at times, as it was uncertain whether it wanted to make the audience laugh or be frightened.
However as a directorial debut for Drew Goddard (producer for Lost and writer for Cloverfield and Buffy the Vampire Slayer) this is a fantastic, fresh take on the horror genre. It offers a revival for the horror film, amongst an abundance of senseless torture-porn flicks and lacklustre monster movies. It is by no means the best horror film ever made, but it is a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining piece. What is commendable is how Goddard and Whedon fought for the film to be released in 2D when the studios wanted it to be in 3D, battling against the cash-in gimmick, as it would have distracted from the clever satire of the horror genre. It meant that the film had to wait a couple of years to be released, but in the end it was definitely worth it.
8/10