The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

A Spoiler-y Review

I'm just gonna get this out of the way right off the top as this movie was at least partially written by Joss Whedon. He has a brilliant creative mind but is a trash human. I've been a fan of his work since watching Angel and then Buffy, Serenity and then Firefly, then Dollhouse, The Avengers, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which yes, he only worked on the first bit of, but still). However, unless I can get it for free, I won't be consuming anything else he manages to make if he ever manages to recover from the most recent, uhm, drama or whatever. I saw The Cabin in the Woods pretty soon after it came out in 2011, purchased the Blu-Ray, and now watch it every year as my Halloween movie. Whedon was the main reason I even watching The Cabin in the Woods in the first place, but I can mostly manage to separate this piece of art from the creator at this point, so... yeah. Let's all acknowledge this and move on.

I have never really been a fan of horror movies. Gimme vampires and werewolves and witches, sure, but straight up horror flicks... nope. Do not want or like. I do not need to be creeped out in my own home, thanks. That said, The Cabin in the Woods is definitely a horror movie and I absolutely love it.

In addition to the horror elements, the story-line also kind of commentates on and kind of flips the traditional narrative. I also like that it undercuts the horror with some comedy bits and gives the horror additional meaning. I mean, horror basically existing in that universe as a ritual sacrifice to the Ancients/Old Gods is definitely meaningful.

So, the A Plot of The Cabin in the Woods follows the traditional horror movie cast, who, it turns out, are not actually as traditional as it seems at first glance. They do all the horror movie things of going out into the middle of nowhere, start chilling at their vacation home, and, of course, essentially choosing how they die. They then have to deal with the consequences of that choice, which is where the murder and mayhem start to happen.

The B Plot of The Cabin in the Woods follows the facilitators of our horror movie. The people who have set up the entire scheme from beginning to end... which usually works, of course. They've got their ways of making sure the sacrifice goes off without a hitch and ways of blowing off steam afterward. We don't get exact specifics on everything they do, but we do get enough to understand the hows and whys and infer the rest.

I honestly think the real fun begins when the two plots merge. The remaining pair from the A Plot manage to find their way down into the control center's office building and basically set it on fire. Like, yes, it is the climax of the movie, but I just think it's more interesting than either plot on its own. There are so many references to so many movies and just pop-culture horror things that it's fun to watch. And, ya know, chaotic wholesale murder of a whole building full of people who are basically murdering college students every year is kind of cathartic. I haven't gone so far as to pause during the elevator scene to see how many monsters I recognize, but I do definitely try to look in a different part of the screen each year, see if I see something new.

I won't give away the very ending, for those who haven't seen it, but it is probably my favorite ending to a horror movie I've seen. I think The Cabin in the Woods does horror movie commentary a lot better than something like Scary Movie, to be honest. I haven't seen Scary Movie in years, but I don't remember liking it very much... but again, not a big horror movie fan. I might appreciate it more now, but I also don't feel the need to seek it out so... yeah.

If you need more than that to draw you in... Chris Hemsworth is in it. Basically pre-Thor. And Amy Acker, who is fantastic, as she always is. Richard Jenkins, who apparently was in Dhamer recently, and Bradley Whitford, most recently in The Handmaid's Tale. Seriously awesome actors in this thing. Looked like they had fun doing it, too, which is a plus.

I highly recommend giving The Cabin in the Woods a watch, if you haven't already.