The Cabin in the Woods

A Movie review

Masangya, Chenille B.
2010-00107
STS Copernicus

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Movie Review
The Cabin in the Woods is an affectionately satirical nightmare that asks why horror is
so potent: what awful human need is, being fed by seeing attractive young people in
states of semi-undress who are suddenly, brutally slaughtered, almost as if they are
being punished for being young and sexy. Why does the genre adhere so closely to the
belief that young people in jeopardy have to be picked off singly, leaving that one
character who had initially appeared to be so vulnerable and unworldly, but in whom
the situation has uncovered extraordinary reserves of heroism and grit? Could there be
some anthropological answer to the ritualistic behavior in horror?
The Cabin in the Woods begins by unveiling two sets of characters: one middle-aged
and oppressed by the workaday cares of life, the other young and carefree. Richard
Jenkins plays Sitterson, a balding, bespectacled guy who resignedly shoots the breeze
with his buddy Hadley, played by Bradley Whitford. Then it was cut to a suburban
home, and a teenage girl's bedroom both disclosed via a soaring crane shot. This is
Dana, played by Kristen Connolly, and genre buffs will smirk at the outrageous way we
get to see Dana sauntering around in her underwear, packing for a restorative weekend
away with her attractive friends at a cabin in the woods.
Dana is getting over a borderline-inappropriate relationship with her college professor.
Her raunchy blonde friend Jules (Anna Hutchison) and Jules's macho jock boyfriend
Curt (Chris Hemsworth) are trying to set her up with a cute guy they're bringing along,
Holden (Jesse Williams). And just to complete the party, there is Marty (Fran Kranz), a
dope-smoking free-thinker, forever railing against the establishment. The five of them
turn up to the very creepy cabin after the regulation encounter with the dodgy local.
Again, the film is archly aware of how predictable this character is, and overtly tips us a
wink by repeatedly showing us the motorbike attached to the back of the camper van
the five are travelling in.
It isn't long before horrible things happen. Goddard and Whedon have allowed the
viewers to imagine that, being from the older generation, Sitterson is perhaps the
harassed dad of one of the teen characters. But it's clear the connection is more
disturbing than that.

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The Cabin in the Woods is all about the reality conspiracy. The quintet's sadistic,
formulaic victimization is part of a larger picture, one that semi-seriously reproves its
own audience for the cynicism and cruelty they have brought to the spectacle. The
action climaxes in a sensational, surreal scene in which pretty much all the horrible
things imaginable meet in a grand encounter not only with each other, but with those
whose job it is to keep them under control.
It's a smart twist to an enjoyable movie, but there's not a whole lot more to it than that.
The final explanation is so perfunctory though of course this absurdity, acknowledged
with stoner fatalism, is part of the comedy.
The Cabin in the Woods is a shrewd, ingenious look at the programmatic elements of
the genre, a satire that is also a lenient celebration. However smart and sophisticated
this film is, it may disappoint those who, in their hearts, would still like to be
genuinely scared.