An Amazing Meta-Love Letter to Horror Fans

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2012)

Cabin in the Woods lives up to all of the excellent reviews it has been getting. I smiled through the entire movie because it was written for Horror movie freaks. It was paced fantastically, there was no significant down time during the film. It was, all at once, funny, scary, clever, tense, and Meta-Awesome.
Cabin in the Woods employs a movie-within-a-movie device to perfection. There is a standard slasher film with young adults travelling into the woods that is, all the while, being manipulated by an organization that must complete a cliché string of horror tropes in order to make a sacrifice to the gods.
This Meta-Movie offers an explanation for why horror movies get made and why they have to follow a formula; if they don't then gods that previously ruled the earth will rise up and exterminate all living things.
In the control room Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins act as directors for the Truman Show or the Hunger Games, attempting to choreograph the actions of people with free will. Most of the humor comes from the control room; Bradley Whitford is extraordinarily funny in this movie, I'm glad they cast him.
The different layers are intertwined to perfection with a lot of little gems and rewards for horror fans. The tone of the movie is affective, and despite the humor and ridiculous plot manages to be tense. Must watch.