Goddard & Whedon Craft an Entertaining Yet Uneven Horror Satire

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2017)

It's hard to write about The Cabin in the Woods without spoiling parts of the narrative, but that's what the spoiler tag is for, right? The film knows exactly what it wants to be: a horror film focusing on the classic "college kids in a cabin" trope that simultaneously riffs on the genre as a whole with a biting satirical edge. But it doesn't quite reach its lofty aspirations. It's obvious that director and co- writer Drew Goddard, as well as his fellow co-writer Joss Whedon, are attempting to put a new spin on a genre that has become stale, inundated with cheap jump scares and cardboard characters. In that regard, the film succeeds masterfully by taking a well-trodden premise and turning the film into a refreshingly original genre exercise. Sure, the film begins like many other horror films, with a group of five college kids venturing out into the woods to stay in a cabin, but the story soon manifests itself into something entirely. Yet the inherent nature of the film's story causes some problems.
The film contains a secondary narrative parallel to that of the college students, in which a secret organization manipulates the environment around the cabin in an attempt to lead the kids to their eventual doom. Because of this, however, the film unavoidably telegraphs some of its scares. Perhaps this was Goddard and Whedon's intention, but it prevents the film's scares from reaching their full potential. Some good does come from this secondary storyline though. Goddard and Whedon give Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins quite a few of the film's best jokes and the seasoned actors take full advantage of the opportunity. Portraying the two technicians in charge of the operation, Whitford and Jenkins fully buy into the film's strange vision and play off each other wonderfully. However, the principal characters make for a decidedly more uneven bunch. Kristen Connolly delivers the best performance of the five as the classic female horror heroine while Chris Hemsworth makes for an amusing sight as the typical American jock. But while Goddard and Whedon acknowledge that these characters are purposefully stereotypes, that doesn't change the fact that they're still stereotypes. And let me tell you, Fran Kranz's stoner-shtick gets quite tiresome.
Ultimately, both story lines coalesce in a climactic (and bloody) final act that proves inventive and yet screams "look at everything we know about horror films!" I do enjoy the ultimate meta-idea that Goddard and Whedon present: that every slasher movie ever made functions as a way to appease The Ancient Ones, towering deities that can only be satisfied through annual ritual sacrifices around the world. However, it's a bit unfortunate that the tightly composed scares and eerie atmosphere of the film's first two acts give way to an uproarious bloodbath, even if it does pay homage to a multitude of horror classics. The last few minutes of the film lost me completely though. I'm fine with horror films having bleak endings (despite their weaknesses, this year's Life and Alien: Covenant both had satisfyingly bleak endings that fit the tone of their story), but Goddard and Whedon seriously put the fate of the entire planet into the hands of a perpetually baked stoner who ultimately decides that humanity isn't worth saving. Quite the selfish call, if you ask me.
While Goddard and Whedon don't quite pull off the tricky balancing act of dark humor and horror that The Cabin in the Woods requires, the film still makes for a deliriously entertaining time as it simultaneously pays homage to horror films while critiquing everything from their characters to their story lines. The film's biggest success, however, might be in how it implores horror filmmakers to take creative risks. If the failure of the other rituals around the world signifies anything, it's that we have become overly familiarized with the immutable horror tropes that have dominated the genre in the past several decades. It's time for a change. And when Goddard and Whedon can create something this original from age-old ideas, who's to argue?
Rating: 7/10 (Good)