A satire about our dark ritual

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2014)

Most seem to peg "The Cabin in the Woods" as either a traditional horror film with a neat twist or a predictable horror film that becomes increasingly ridiculous. However, a literal viewing the story totally misses the point.
It's quite clear that this film is a satire, not so much a parody of the genre as a vehicle for the filmmakers to poke fun at you, the audience, "the Ancients," whose unquenchable thirst for blood must be appeased.
The NASA-like technical team that "produces" the "sacrifice"—with precision and professionalism, totally detached from any moral culpability, ensuring every single moment "sticks to the script"—these might just represent filmmakers, or more generally, the Hollywood system.
I think this is what makes this film quite ingenious. It's sort of like a mainstream version of Haneke's "Funny Games." The filmmaker is trying to jolt you out of your somnambulistic film-watching routine and make you think about what you're doing and perhaps ask yourself some interesting and uncomfortable questions.
Why do we watch these films? Are we as sick as the people manning the controls? Is this really entertainment? Why must a film always live within the boundaries of the formula? And if it break the rules, will it really be the "end of the world"?