The proverbial cabin, dissected

Rating: 9/10 (19 September 2016)

This film sat on the shelf for a few years due to studio bankruptcy, but like some fine wines, it improved with age. For one thing, the stars of Chris Hemsworth and Jesse Williams rose in the interim, which is a bit ironic given that they are the weakest members of the excellent cast. They aren't bad, but they sometimes struggle with the subtleties of timing co-writer Joss Whedon's dialogue usually require of performers, while the rest of the cast -- especially Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford, along with Whedon veterans Amy Acker and Fran Kranz -- are more natural, relaxed and effective in their roles.
For another, the combined critique of and homage to horror entertainment seems to get more relevant, rather than to date, as the years pass. Director/co-writer Drew Goddard has a fine eye for paying visual tribute to contemporary and historic classics of the genre and his script is peppered with lines taken from those classics. Sometimes, the latter effort is a bit clunky, though the former never is. Horror movie and TV fans can have plenty of fun just playing spot-the-references, and there are videos on You Tube that will help viewers out with that.
But the film is so much more than a series of references. Like Wes Craven's "Scream," "The Cabin in the Woods" is a deconstruction of horror tropes and motifs, except that this time, the audience is ahead of the characters in terms of figuring out what's really happening. "Cabin" sets up a scenario in which it can offer intriguing and clever explanations for why characters in horror films do and say the dumb things they sometimes do and say, and in doing so makes a case that audiences need to demand better. These explanations aren't always explored in enough detail to be entirely convincing, clear or persuasive, but they generally get the job done. As long as you don't pull too hard on particular threads, the whole elaborate construction isn't likely to unravel. What is more clearly and consistently explained is why this particular assortment of character types is something we see repeatedly, with minor variations, across decades of horror films.
In the end, "The Cabin in the Woods" makes an argument that we need to blow up the horror genre and start again, yet it does so in a way that appreciates and emulates what makes a good horror movie so compelling to begin with. It's a tricky thing to do because the film itself, by weaving a magnificently entertaining and reverential example of horror at its finest, seems to undercut its own message. Somehow, it succeeds beautifully, in no small part by being a film that gives you a lot to chew on, but is clever and creative and fun enough to enjoy purely on its terrific surface.