A fantastic deconstruction of the horror genre to its bare bones

Rating: 7/10 (27 October 2013)

In an industrial facility, two technicians are preparing for their day on an unknown operation. Meanwhile, five friends are preparing for their trip to a remote cabin owned by Kurt's cousin. On the way, they stop for gas and have an encounter with the strange local who owns the gas station. They arrive to find they are quite isolated with no means of communicating with the outside world. When the cellar door flings itself open, they of course go down to investigate. They find an odd assortment of relics and curios but when one of the women, Dana (Kristen Connolly), reads from a book, she awakens a family of deadly zombie killers. There's far more going on however than meets the eye as the five campers are all under observation.
I knew absolutely nothing about Cabin in the Woods except for the behind the scenes stuff where it got pushed forward due to MGM's financial difficulties. This is a fantastic deconstruction of the horror genre to its bare bones. Joss Whedon is one of the writers in the movie which is a satirical take on typical slasher/horror movies. Its original, strange, funny and has some surprising moments while all the time embracing its stereotypes. It works as an intriguing puzzle for us to solve for the most part. I didn't particularly care for any of the characters since they were so two dimensional (intentionally as the plot progresses). Chris Hemsworth was forgettable like most of the actors from the core group. Its the other part of the movie that was clearly the driving force for the movie's effectiveness and critiques of the typical modern horror fan (the ancient ones). Its a shame that Amy Acker didn't have more to do since she's a phenomenal actress. For anyone with a sense of humor, this movie will do wonders.
7/10