A refreshingly different take on a tired horror film formula

Rating: Null/10 (10 October 2013)

Warning: Major Plot spoilers * * * * * * Last night we watched 'The Cabin in the Woods'. From the title and brief description I read, I was expecting the usual type horror story. The kind with partying college or high school kids isolated from the rest of civilization doing stupid things and a monster killing them off one by one. Just like in so many other films before. Instead this one had an interesting twist to it.
The party bound college kids in this film were actually being set up by some sort of secret organization that periodically sacrificed young people to various type of horrors zombies, ghosts, werewolves, giant bats and so in. The human sacrifices were needed in order to keep some giant Lovecraftian type creatures from taking over the world. It's similar to the way virgins had once been sacrificed in ancient cultures to appease their gods like being thrown into a volcano or stabbed on an altar. Now the young were being sacrificed in a different way and certain types were needed like a studious one, a virgin, an athlete, a buffoon, a promiscuous girl and so on. Also they were being watched by TV cameras without their knowledge. They were even drugged in order to affect their actions and ways were set up to prevent their escape. A few of the assigned victims decided not to give in so easily to the zombies killers sent to destroy them. Instead they turn the tables on the organization that is using them as sacrifices. The organization itself was an interesting setup. They almost seemed like any other group of white collar corporate co-workers, even taking bets on what type of horror the victims would inadvertently pick to destroy themselves. The way others might bet on the outcome of a weekly pro football game. When it looked like all was going as planned they seemed to be having a typical office type party to celebrate another success. They cared little for the lives of the people they had set up. They viewed it as something necessary for the survival of humanity and were used to it. This added side plot to the movie made all the difference to me, making it refreshingly different instead of the usual formula.
As many of you know, I don't care for gore fests or that kind of film. I did like this movie and the sort that take you off guard, it was not overly gory and was different for a change. It also had an appropriate final scene.