If you are fan of horror films (which I am), you probably can immediately
understand what the cabin in the woods genre is. Attractive kids (the film suggests
it is always five) get trapped in a cabin in the woods where they are in peril
of their lives and are gruesomely killed one by one. Director Drew Goddard co-wrote this film with Joss Whedon, whose
names you might associate with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The film, according to
Goddard, tries to examine why we as viewers enjoy watching slasher films and seeing young people get chopped up.
The gimmick for this film is set in place at the end of the
beginning sequence. Five college kids head off to a cabin deep in the woods of
Canada—the promiscuous girl (Anna Hutchison), the horny athlete (Chris Hemsworth), the handsome brain (Jesse Williams), the stoner (Fran Kranz),
and "the virgin" (Kristen Connolly). As they drive off in their van, we see they are being watched
by high tech security. Quickly we discover we’re at two levels. Goddard calls
them “the upstairs” (the kids) and “the downstairs" (scientific tech adults who
are manipulating the life and death adventures of the five).
The adults, led by Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and
Hadley (Bradley Whitford), allow their team to bet on what demons the kids will
unleash. It is all about choice, Sitterson stresses. Explaining the system to another technician,
Sitterson says:
They have to make the choice of their own free will. Otherwise, system doesn't work. Like the harbinger: creepy old f..k practically wears a sign saying "YOU WILL DIE". Why would we put him there? The system. They have to choose to ignore him. They have to choose what happens in the cellar. Yeah, we write the game as much as we have to but in the end, if they don't transgress they can't be punished.
Multiple nightmares are in place, but the kids will make their
own choice of what will kill them.
They eventually chose a family of pain-loving
religious zombies.
With the first death, we suddenly see there is an element of
sacrifice to the scenario and a new level is introduced to the plot.
The
writers delight in some very creepy scenes. One comes as the technicians stand
around voyeuristically watching a couple making out while we know they are about
to be attacked-- effective commentary indeed on the film audience’s similar
reaction. Later the same group parties while one of the kids struggles to
survive a brutal attack.
Suddenly, then, the film veers into another dimension where
the attacked actually are able to penetrate the world below and change the
dynamic of the genre. Those clever and gory changes offer constant surprises.
The film offers humor amid graphic gore. This film is not
for the squimish, but the fans raised on 1950s comics, graphic novels or Night of the Living
Dead or The Walking Dead or Buffy the Vampire Killer will enjoy the ride. (It's no surprise to hear writer Whedon refer to attending Comicon.)
[Note: IMDb has a great trivia section which discusses the
choices the kids could have made. On the DVD, one of the extras is a very
interesting short on the making of the film.]
The Cabin in the Woods (2011) ****
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