The Cabin In The Woods -Joss Whedon Horror!

[othervoice1]

Yea I always hate that - why make a cover or even pics on the back that give stuff away? I also really hate it when a movie trailer basically gives big parts of the movie away or shows every exciting part the movie had to offer. I think the Audition Blu-ray was another one I thought the cover said too much- but maybe that is just me

[soxfan666]

Watched last night and was disappointed. I wanted something that had more horror elements and less attempts at comedy. Recent movies like this have made me appreciate others like Insidious even more for their attempts at true horror.

[Zombie Dude]

I guess because Joss Whedon was behind this I never expected a serious film. I really enjoyed this one. They took a stab at the slasher movie in what I thought was an interesting and clever way. The acting and dialogue was great and I enjoyed the twists. I especially enjoyed the ending. I'm so sick of films ending the way you would have expected this one to.

[Katatonia]

I didn't care much for this one at all. It all seemed incredibly contrived, and the further on it just kept getting more annoying. It reminded me of Cube (which I love), but from the start fully showing the "other side" without any of the suspense/mystery.

[Dobby]

Originally Posted by Zombie Dude

I guess because Joss Whedon was behind this I never expected a serious film. I really enjoyed this one. They took a stab at the slasher movie in what I thought was an interesting and clever way. The acting and dialogue was great and I enjoyed the twists. I especially enjoyed the ending. I'm so sick of films ending the way you would have expected this one to.

I knew you were goong to say that your predictable.

[Zombie Dude]

Originally Posted by Dobby

I knew you were goong to say that your predictable.

I can't help thinking the film was decent. It's not going to win any awards but it's much better than some of the shit-fests they've been releasing these days.

[Anthropophagus]

Originally Posted by soxfan666

Watched last night and was disappointed. I wanted something that had more horror elements and less attempts at comedy. Recent movies like this have made me appreciate others like Insidious even more for their attempts at true horror.

+1, high hopes for Sinister as well.

[Shannafey]

Won't get into a big discussion. Watched it this week and really loved it, but can see how others hated it and found it contrived. I did have a few issues with it. Will make a post later.

[othervoice1]

I know I said it before but Im gonna keep saying it - I love this movie <:

[Paff]

Originally Posted by KGBRadioMoskow

I should have recognized the meta plot, rather kicking myself in the arse for not doing so. But the deconstruction on the net states that the "reason" is...

I completely missed this interpretation too, and now that I read it, I like the movie even more (just saw it for the first time last night). It's sort of like Scream, except that it critiques the audience for EXPECTING cliches, whereas Scream critiques the audience for not being able to recognize cliches. Cabin in the Woods is far less insulting in that aspect, and the critique is even justified (unlike Scream, which seemed to point out the obvious absurdities in horror that I and most horror fans have been well aware of for many years; it's a very condescending film).

And if nothing else, Kristen Connolly looks damn cute in her undies.

[Marclar]

This movie has been raking up some very good ratings and the reviews looked a little too good to me. So i watched it and....did not like it that much simply because they stuffed a little too much into the story. The ending was clever enough, but the whole movie did not flow well for me. I give it 3 out of 5.

[Steel76]

I love this movie. Best horror comedy since...way too long.
But it seems it´s a movie you either love or hate

The ending was brilliant

[ImmortalSlasher]

Here's my Cabin in the Woods review posted on the other horror forum. People seem to have forgotten about this one. Or maybe I was just too late. Let's see if anyone here still wants to chat about it.


SPOILERS!!! (Just in case)















I was looking forward to this one. I’m a big fan of Buffy and was hoping for a real good horror movie. It turns out this is like Scream and basically a commentary on why all horror movie rules and themes are tired and overused. It actually gives a reason for it! Which is kind of interesting because depending on your point of view, the viewer could be one of two groups in the movie. But Scream is better as an actual movie. Because it’s more than a just a commentary on horror movies but a good movie too. Something like the Starz “Going to Pieces” special will explain just as much if not more about the workings of horror movies than Cabin in the Woods. So the only real reason to watch Cabin in the Woods for repeated viewings is to pick out all the references in the basement, control room, elevator, and final scenes. Cabin in the Woods really is a love / hate horror movie tale. But it is more hate or tired of this stuff it seems. They show that even nine year old Japanese girls can defeat the ghost girl. The whole movie makes fun of the old and tired plots but they don’t make anything new until the ending minutes. And even then it’s a big tease. It’s not really scary but that’s part of the joke too. That this stuff isn’t scary anymore.

For all the secrecy of this movie, I was surprised that the twist was revealed in the titles and opening minutes. I thought that maybe the monsters were virtual because of force field and how it was shown on posters. But they were real monsters and even explained! The movie reminded me of the old Night Trap videogame where the player would basically watch kids in a house and save them (if they wanted to) from vampires (I think). The bad guys were always people dressed in black from what I remember.

Cabin in the Woods did miss one of my favorite horror tropes of having the villain use victims bodies at end, which you think would happen with the blood sacrifice. I think that’s a flaw since the actual bodies are never collected for the blood sacrifice. You would think that there would be a collection crew picking up the bodies similar to the clean up crew mentioned concerning the merman. And with these crews, why aren’t they prepared to handle the monsters? Since this happens every year, I assume the majority of monsters have to be returned to their cages.

The best scenes to me were with the blonde girl. Her make out with the wolf and sadly short fireplace dance. That should have been stretched out like the dance in Death Proof. I like the Stoner character and his early dialog in the van explains the ending decision. Many of his lines are great, especially his introduction scene about the cops fearing his “type.” Also the dialog about “drawing a line” over reading the book in the basement.

I didn’t like the ending that much. I thought for all the attempt at something creative and new, basically saying something worse is out there and leaving it to a sequel is a cop out. I was waiting for the movie to be a movie and it ends at that point. I agree with the Stoner, I would like to see the “Ancient Ones” as large statues have always freaked me out since I was a kid. I’ve seen tons of ancient civilization statues in museums and other countries. Some modern large statues are kind of scary too. I visited the Awakening statue in DC a long time ago when they still had it in its original location. I didn’t want to go near the thing. It is just like the last scene in Cabin in the Woods although a bit smaller. So the movie was kind of a miss to me. But I would watch that sequel if it ever happened.


Questions - Something I wasn’t quite sure of. Does only one ritual worldwide need to be successful? You would think there would be more panic in the control room if what we are seeing is the last attempt before the “Ancient Ones” are revived.

Also, was anyone else slightly disappointed by the final "Ancient Ones" chamber. This could have referenced tons of old Gods with all their huge temples and giant statues. Maybe the budget wasn't high enough. I thought that would have been cool if the survivors realize that all those old Gods were just contained before the final surprise character dialog.

[spawningblue]

SPOILERS!! I don't feel like putting everything in a spoiler bar so don't read this if you haven't seen the film!

Originally Posted by ImmortalSlasher

I was looking forward to this one. I’m a big fan of Buffy and was hoping for a real good horror movie. It turns out this is like Scream and basically a commentary on why all horror movie rules and themes are tired and overused. It actually gives a reason for it! Which is kind of interesting because depending on your point of view, the viewer could be one of two groups in the movie. But Scream is better as an actual movie. Because it’s more than a just a commentary on horror movies but a good movie too. Something like the Starz “Going to Pieces” special will explain just as much if not more about the workings of horror movies than Cabin in the Woods. So the only real reason to watch Cabin in the Woods for repeated viewings is to pick out all the references in the basement, control room, elevator, and final scenes. Cabin in the Woods really is a love / hate horror movie tale. But it is more hate or tired of this stuff it seems. They show that even nine year old Japanese girls can defeat the ghost girl. The whole movie makes fun of the old and tired plots but they don’t make anything new until the ending minutes. And even then it’s a big tease. It’s not really scary but that’s part of the joke too. That this stuff isn’t scary anymore.

I didn't know what I was getting into when I first saw this but it was a pleasant surprise. This ended up being one of my favourite horror movies in a long time and I had no problem with the comedy elements. The dialog was extremely creative and witty, never feeling like they were trying to hard or going on for too long. From the previews I thought it would be more like The Evil Dead and thankfully it wasn't since we will be getting the remake of that this year, which will hopefully deliver the scares that this film may be lacking (Although I did kind of find the scenes with the brutish zombie frightening to an extent).

Originally Posted by ImmortalSlasher

For all the secrecy of this movie, I was surprised that the twist was revealed in the titles and opening minutes. I thought that maybe the monsters were virtual because of force field and how it was shown on posters. But they were real monsters and even explained!

I never even noticed this. The ending was a complete surprise to me and what a thrill! It was a horror fans wet dream, insanely awesome and fun trying to pick out all the references.

Originally Posted by ImmortalSlasher

And with these crews, why aren’t they prepared to handle the monsters? Since this happens every year, I assume the majority of monsters have to be returned to their cages.

I thought they were. Didn't they have several swat team like soldiers to fight them off? I think they were prepared to handle one or two at a time, but not all of them at once, and how could they? It was just pure insanity!

Originally Posted by ImmortalSlasher

The best scenes to me were with the blonde girl. Her make out with the wolf and sadly short fireplace dance. That should have been stretched out like the dance in Death Proof. I like the Stoner character and his early dialog in the van explains the ending decision. Many of his lines are great, especially his introduction scene about the cops fearing his “type.” Also the dialog about “drawing a line” over reading the book in the basement.

I loved everything about this film it's hard to pick favourites but those were great scenes. I love how just about every thing had a payoff.

Originally Posted by ImmortalSlasher

I didn’t like the ending that much. I thought for all the attempt at something creative and new, basically saying something worse is out there and leaving it to a sequel is a cop out. I was waiting for the movie to be a movie and it ends at that point. I agree with the Stoner, I would like to see the “Ancient Ones” as large statues have always freaked me out since I was a kid. I’ve seen tons of ancient civilization statues in museums and other countries. Some modern large statues are kind of scary too. I visited the Awakening statue in DC a long time ago when they still had it in its original location. I didn’t want to go near the thing. It is just like the last scene in Cabin in the Woods although a bit smaller. So the movie was kind of a miss to me. But I would watch that sequel if it ever happened.

The ending is the one thing that people tend to have a problem with, personally it worked for me. After the insanity with all the monsters I don't think there was anyway to top it, so why try? They have to save something if there ever was a sequel. That and I think you are right abut budget. This wasn't a huge film and I'm sure all the monsters took a chunk out of their budget. They accomplished quite a bit in those regards in my opinion. Every movie could always be bigger and have more, but you have to be realistic.

Originally Posted by ImmortalSlasher

Questions - Something I wasn’t quite sure of. Does only one ritual worldwide need to be successful? You would think there would be more panic in the control room if what we are seeing is the last attempt before the “Ancient Ones” are revived.

Also, was anyone else slightly disappointed by the final "Ancient Ones" chamber. This could have referenced tons of old Gods with all their huge temples and giant statues. Maybe the budget wasn't high enough. I thought that would have been cool if the survivors realize that all those old Gods were just contained before the final surprise character dialog.

Yes, I got the impression that only one ritual had to be successful, and they were the ones to always come out in the end. I think they were just really cocky. They had a perfect record I believe and it was never a problem for them. They started to get pretty worried once things didn't go exactly as planned but again I don't think they foresaw anything that happened. AS for the last part, again I'm sure it had to do with budget, or they just didn't want to stretch out the ending any longer. After having all the monsters, they didn't want to lose the impact that scene had and stretch it out with if you thought that was cool, check out this. I think the giants were just a fun quick way to end it off.

[bigdaddyhorse]

I've watched this twice since picking it up just before Black Friday and have to say...
It is no doubt my new favorite horror/comedy. Just hilarious all the way through, and actually was better the second time despite knowing what was coming.