Cabin in the Woods

[baumer]

Review it

[baumer]

Although I'm giving this a 7.9 out of 10, it could have easily been a 10 out of 10, and on further viewings, it might be. But for now it will get just below an A from me. But here's the thing. There are few films that when you see them, you think to yourself, "I've never seen a film like this before." The Coens do it to me with most of their films and Wes Craven did it with Scream. This is one of those films for sure. It's like the tag line says, you think you know the story, but then it all gets thrown into a blender and gets pureed. I loved this film for the first 9/10's of it. Even the 1/10 I didn't care for was still brilliant but it just felt slightly out of place and that's what brings it down from the 10 it could be to the 7.9. It's like when they were writing the film, they were on acid and then when they got to the denouement, they dropped acid, Ecstasy. mushrooms, snorted coke, injected heroine and even smoked some paper laced with iodine or something. It's just so out there and that's what makes it brilliant but a bit over the top. I'll leave the spoilers out for now, but just saffice to say that half the time the movie is winking at you and the other half, it's down right scary and very messed up. I was nervous for the characters and I really had no idea who was going to live and who wasn't. I really love this film, and I might have to see it again and possibly bump it from my 7.9 to ?See it though. It is original.7.9/10

[glassfairy]

B- but up until the part where all the monsters were let lose on their killing spree it was at A+ levels. A horror movie that's great until the end... water stays wet, bears keep shitting in the woods and the pope remains Catholic.

The movie took maybe 15 minutes for me to warm up to. I thought the first scenes with the guys were a joke at first until we saw them again. Up until the monsters let loose part I was really liking the movie. I like my horror movies with some humor on the side and the funny parts were really well done. Of course it wasn't really scary either, more interesting like you're putting the pieces of the puzzle together and waiting to see what comes next.

But then what I love about this movie I also hate. I love that right from the start we knew the set up. There wasn't some big reveal at the end like in the last 5 minutes. But then on the other hand I probably could have done with some more suspense and I felt like to much time was spent in the control building. Yes, I get that it's messed up they are betting on the situation and partying like it's not messed up. I don't have to see 2819 scenes for the point to be driven home.

As for those awful cgi monsters at the end, the ancient gods needing sacrifice and worst of all those selfish ass bitches letting all of us die. Well, my feelings can only be expressed in gif form.

I still can't believe they hung humanity out to dry like that. Trifling ass mofos. I can't . I am not even trying to die because some disillusioned pot head won't take one for the team.

Also, if they needed a scholar, an athlete, a whore, a virgin and a fool why go to a class of 9 years olds in Japan? I know expository lady in the end said they can make do but surely an older class would have given more to work with? Also, good for those little girls for dealing with the ghost. Maybe they'll take down the old Gods and save us all .

Edited April 13, 2012 by glassfairy

[baumer]

I feel exactly like glassfairy did, but I liked it more. Nice write up though.

[The Dark Alfred]

It's a fun movie. I don't like the whole background story and the ending, but it sure has some entertaining moments. Perfect popcorn flick.

[75Live]

I enjoyed this flick, got to see it for free and with Dbox seats so that was good.

It is definitely self-aware and knows the audience it is aiming for. While not scary or intense or anything, it still is fun and enjoyable movie.

And thanks to this movie, I have a name for a band "death by unicorn"

B+

[MovieMan89]

Just got back from it. WOW! This movie is the most over the top, genre flipping, tongue-in-cheek, all out mess of a mindfuck "movie" I think I've ever seen. Those last 15 minutes or so were like the minds of a million horror geeks just exploded on screen, and I've never seen anything quite like that put to film! I'm not sure how general audiences will respond to it though. My screening seemed mixed, with people walking out either hating it, loving it, or not knowing what the hell to think. If there's one criticism I have against it, it would be that it wasn't at all scary, so if they were going for any real scares I don't think they delivered, but it was extremely funny and that script was just devilishly clever. Great all around performances from the cast too, I'm really becoming a Hemsworth fan the more I see of him. Gotta give it a solid A. Loved every minute!

[baumer]

I think Marty can give Randy a run for his money as coolest horror character ever created....at least the most self aware one.

[AniNate]

A highly enjoyable mindscrew of a movie. Goddard and Whedon's conceit is just so wonderfully twisted and is a lot more fun to imagine than just simply waiting for a bunch of hot young teens to get gruesomely murdered. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to take horror movies seriously again after seeing it.

And personally I loved the ending where everything just goes to shit. I thought it was of a piece with the f-ed up tone of the rest of the film.

A

[Gopher]

I adored this. I can't remember the last time a horror film rolled me like Cabin in the Woods. The first hour- a sort of Truman Show-ization of the horror genre- is plenty entertaining, but the last half hour is just delirious. Brilliantly written and executed by Goddard and Whedon.

A-

[MovieMan89]

A quick question for glassfairy. How would you have preferred it end then? Marty gets killed and humanity is saved? What a boring ass, cliched Disney ending for such an over the top and unique film. The ending went perfectly with the tone of the rest of the movie and that final shot with the god hand crushing the cabin was just flawlessly camp and the perfect last scene for a movie like this. Like Marty said at the beginning, humanity had its run, time for something else.

Edited April 15, 2012 by MovieMan89

[AniNate]

To be fair, Disney films don't normally end with one main character murdering another. But it still would've been a lame, anticlimactic ending, leaving nowhere near the impression the film's actual ending does.

Edited April 15, 2012 by tribefan695

[MovieMan89]

To be fair, Disney films don't normally end with one main character murdering another. But it still would've been a lame, anticlimactic ending, leaving nowhere near the impression the film's actual ending does.

LMAO, true! I meant more the saving humanity part woulda been very Disney.

[glassfairy]

A quick question for glassfairy. How would you have preferred it end then? Marty gets killed and humanity is saved? What a boring ass, cliched Disney ending for such an over the top and unique film. The ending went perfectly with the tone of the rest of the movie and that final shot with the god hand crushing the cabin was just flawlessly camp and the perfect last scene for a movie like this. Like Marty said at the beginning, humanity had its run, time for something else.

Well, the movie as a whole was a mess to me after the monsters were all let loose. Why it is so hard for horror film makers to not have their movies go to shit at the end I cannot grasp. Even when the finish line is in sight they find a way to drop the baton and lose the race.

The ending of the movie was all the more tragic because up to that point the movie had been doing something very rare. It was skillfully balancing horror, humor and camp. And I will give them credit for walking that tightrope for so long. The last time I saw that so well done was in Drag Me To Hell (which I place leaps and bounds above this for several reasons). And in a movie like this restraint goes a lot farther than just saying fuck it, lets throw in everything and the kitchen sink which for some reason the movie decided to do right at the end. Which is not to say the movie wasn't showing signs of going too far into the try too hard zone. In the first four fifths of the movie the only real gripe I have is that too much time was spent in the control center (well, that and I wish they had used a merman instead of zombies... for a movie that tries so hard to be ~alternative~ i'm surprised they didn't go there from the start). I get the winking and the emphasis of how messed up everything is. But the thing is that I am not a cretin and I don't need one idea beat into me. It's like when someone types in caps lock and you're like bitch, why are you shouting, I get it. Humanity is fucked up, I get it. I got it before I sat my behind in the movie theater. I didn't need the film to bowl me over with the message 32939 times.

And then we come to the very ending which is the cliche. Right from the start pot head was harping on about humanity's time being up. All throughout the movie we are beaten over the head about how messed up everything is and then la di da, surprising absolutely no one, we all get thrown under the bus because humans have had their time in the sun.

Me at the end of the movie :

How would I have preferred it to end? Idk, but if you pay me whatever whoever wrote the script got I could finish it off better.

Edited April 15, 2012 by glassfairy

[Ezen Baklattan]

Honestly, I was glad that Marty didn't kill himself. I really wanted to see what happened, and it was awesome!

[Andy Stitzer]

I loved the movie and have been texting all of my friends to go see it.With that said, I have one comment to make about the controversial ending. I believe the choice of the two characters to let humanity die was justified considering the hell and ridicule they'd been put through during the rest of the movie. They have every right to be cynical and sadistic after the pain they were subject to at the cabin in the woods. HOWEVER, I'm a tiny bit curious as to why the writers didn't opt for the "Disney" ending in a cleverly-written way. According to their rules, I think they could've still let humanity survive and killed somebody by sunrise (or whatever that 8-minute window was) if only a different "fool" had been sacrificed to the upset god(s) instead of Marty. Marty could've made the claim to the god that Sigourney Weaver was a fool for letting all the other monsters escape in the first place, and therefore her sacrifice to the gods could've appeased them, still sparing the "fool" and the "virgin".I dunno, maybe I'm thinking too much into it. I'll probably watch it again tonight or tomorrow.

[Gopher]

Isn't the revelation that one guy we thought was dead wasn't actually dead just another horror movie cliche that Goddard and Whedon were trying to subvert? I mean, they all still died at the end.

[hogwash13777]

"The Cabin in the Woods" - Mini-Review

My friend and I walked out of the theater, and the first thing he said was, "That was pretty much a sophisticated, rich-man's Scary Movie."

It's not a perfect metaphor, but sort of. I love these "deconstruction of a genre" movies. The movies that go the "satire" route. I know they don't appeal to everyone, but they're wholly entertaining to me for some reason.

This movie confounded and entertained me throughout it's duration. Absolutely everything is thrown at you at an extreme pace, and you have to keep up. It's an amazing experience. And I can't wait to see it again to see what little things I missed. All the twists, all the monsters, the revelations, it's all a great take on horror movies.

The only complaints I think I have, others have mentioned too. It gets maybe a bit too frenetic. And I wish there was more of a character emotional pull to give some more oomph to that ending. And the whole cult/organization in charge of setting these situations up is rather under-explained (at least the overseas operations), and wish there could have been some insight there.

But the movie is fantastically written, things tie together left and right, there's an unbelievable amount of blood splattered everywhere, and it just worked all the way through.

8/10 or a "Love it."

After the Credits! Nothing during or after, which was weird to me. I'll mention, though, I LOVED the soundtrack in the movie.

Edited April 15, 2012 by hogwash13777

[baumer]

Isn't the revelation that one guy we thought was dead wasn't actually dead just another horror movie cliche that Goddard and Whedon were trying to subvert? I mean, they all still died at the end.

Marty living was the best part of the film.

[Webslinger]

Well... that wasn't what I expected going in! It's a little tough to talk about The Cabin in the Woods without giving away its most enticing secrets, but it's necessary because the less a viewer knows going in, the more likely he or she is to have a blast with it. With deft juxtaposition of horror with comedy, director Drew Goddard and co-screenwriter Joss Whedon have fashioned an immensely entertaining ride that never fails to go into interesting directions, has a consistently clever sense of self-awareness, and saves its craziest material for the final fifteen minutes. It won't be for everyone given how odd it is, but it's the most enjoyable horror movie I've seen since Drag Me to Hell and the wildest, most demented fun I've had at a movie in 2012 to date.

A-