Five college kids head to a cabin located deep in the
woods. Their plans for a hedonistic
vacation come to an abrupt halt when strange goings on put a damper on the
party. Unbeknownst to them, the quintet
are actually pawns in a much bigger game.
The men behind the curtain struggle to keep their prey both captive and
ignorant to their Machiavellian scheme.
As the rats in the maze get closer to the truth, that truth proves to be
more ghastly than anything in their wildest nightmares.
Cabin in the Woods
is a horror comedy from the minds of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, both of whom
were behind such genre favorites as Buffy
the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Here, they lend their talents to one of the
most well-worn horror movie scenarios imaginable. As can be expected, their trek down this often
traveled road yields a few worthwhile surprises, though the journey is bit
bumpy at the outset. Thankfully, the
destination justifies the stumbling blocks along the way.
The cast consists of a number of likeable actors playing
very familiar character types. Kurt (Chris
Hemsworth) is a parody of an alpha-male.
Dana (Kristen Connolly) is the proverbial babe in the woods. Jules (Anna
Hutchinson) is the likeable harlot and Marty (Fran Kranz) is the stoner. As written and played, Marty is symptomatic
of a larger problem that plagues the film.
From the outset, it’s obvious that his role is to break the fourth wall whenever
necessary. He goes about his business in
the most obvious way possible. All of
his punches are telegraphed well in advance.
As a whole, the group seems a bit too “in on the joke” at
points. That robs some of the early
scares of any real menace. This might be
due to the film tipping its hand very early on by allowing extended peaks
behind the curtain. The developments in
the underground facility are juxtaposed with that of the Cabin they monitor. It’s hard for the audience to get truly
scared and invested when the film so obviously lets them know that the whole
thing is a put on.
Thankfully, the stakes are gradually raised as the real
nature of the situation is revealed.
This results in a third act explosion that takes the film straight into
fantasy land. It goes a long way in
making up for the lack of believability that plagues the first two acts. It also allows some of the films more
intriguing ideas to come shining through in an amusing way. It’s a lot of fun. Unfortunately, like the zombies in the film,
“Chaos Cinema” rears its ugly head to wreak havoc on the kills, all of which
are obscured in poor lighting and haphazard edits. The soundtrack is forced to play the role of
a Seeing Eye dog for the viewer.
Cabin in the Woods
is a “metafilm” on many levels. While
it’s not a movie about film production in the literal sense, it is essentially
a movie about a group of characters placing another group of characters in a
certain situation and then manipulating the outcome of said situation to
produce the desired result. That’s
basically what storytellers and makers of narrative films do. It is also a metamovie in regards to the
audience itself. It’s about characters
watching and reacting to the outcome of an elaborate production as though it were
a movie.
The self-aware tendencies of the film sometimes work to its
advantage. Goddard and Whedon are
obviously aware of the puritanical undercurrent than has always been a part of
the slasher genre. Young, nubile
teenagers are punished by undead monsters for indulging in the vices of sex and
drugs. Cabin in the Woods puts such
tropes front and center, making them a part of the plot.
Cabin in the Woods succeeds
mostly on the ingenuity of its premise and the “carnival gone awry” atmosphere
of its third act. The twist, once it’s
revealed, may leave many wanting their money back. It leaves the viewer feeling as manipulated
as any of the characters onscreen, yet somehow that doesn’t take away from its
intrigue. Perceptive viewers will see it as part of an
elaborate joke, even though the punch line doesn’t have the heft that it should. Cabin
in the Woods is about how and why we watch horror films. Ultimately, the answers it offers are
creepier than anything the “puppet masters” can come up with.
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