A Hilarious Send-Up and Fitting Tribute to the Horror Genre

Rating: 9/10 (6 December 2014)

I don't know what I was expecting, but Cabin in the woods wasn't it. It was a hundred times more awesome. It starts just like any other horror movie. No, make that every other horror movie. Five teens, including a jock, a slut, a stoner, a nerd, and a shy pretty girl head for a weekend of partying at a remote cabin none of them has ever been to before. And it's not long before they realize that something is very, very wrong, and that there's no way out and no-one to save them.
So yeah, it sounds like another clichéd horror clone, except that it's not. Because Joss Whedon doesn't do hackneyed formula movies. That's why from the very beginning, Cabin in the Woods jams in every horror cliché in existence, dials them up to eleven, slathers on the comic relief, and turns the whole thing on its head. And the result is oddball, over the top, blood soaked, side splitting, and made of pure win.
Cabin follows a fairly standard three part arc, which is just about the only standard thing about it. In the first act the setting is established, the characters do all the stupid things people in a horror movie should never do, and not so subtle hints of what's to come are dropped. In act two, evil is awakened and teenagers begin dying in grisly fashion, at a rate that makes you wonder if the movie will reach the one hour mark. And then the third act takes everything in a direction that only Whedon could have come up with.
Without giving anything away, the important thing to understand is that there are bigger things at work than a few teens and zombies. There are powerful players with global reach watching their every move and manipulating every event, but they're actually not that bad once you get to know them. And that's part of the brilliance of Cabin in the Woods, the combination of seemingly mismatched elements that work together to create outrageousness and hilarity; graphic violence and stoner wisdom, evil conspiracies and office parties, zombies and werewolves plus unicorns and the sugar plum fairy.
The other thing that makes Cabin brilliant is that it's the antithesis of Scary Movie. It's a smart satire that actually skewers the common elements of American (and occasionally Japanese) horror movies instead of just making references and fart jokes. It takes all the old clichés, deconstructs them, and has a lot of fun doing it. When it does make references, they're clever and often subtle. And it has a plot that matters and makes sense. Plus it's not just a great comedy; it's a competent horror film with sudden shocks, gruesome deaths, and moments of real terror.
This was one of the most original and entertaining movies I have seen in a very long time. As horror comedies go it may even be better than Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead, though I admit that's up for debate. All I know is that I could not stop laughing, and the ending had me holding my sides, then cheering, then doing an air guitar solo. (When you see it you'll understand why.) This movie is pure unadulterated awesomeness. If a friend asks if you want to watch Scary Movie or whatever exorcism movie is coming out this month, bring this one instead.