Last weekend, I had the good sense to check out Cabin In The Woods, the new horror movie from Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard and the legendary Joss Whedon. Cabin was one the films plunged into limbo by the financial crisis at MGM, that has now managed to reach multiplexes. The trailers promised it would be more than your run-of-the-mill slasher pic, and for once, they didn't lie.
Cabin neatly lines up every horror archetype. The slutty girl, the jock (played by the Norse God of Thunder himself, Chris Hemsworth), the funny guy (Dollhouse's Fran Kranz) the nerd, and the good girl. Throw these characters into a creepy cabin in the middle of titular woods, and you have every horror movie ever. And that's the point. Over the 95 minute run time, Goddard and Whedon effectively skewer and affirm every trope of the horror genre, with enough twists, turns, and screams to keep you on the edge of your seat. I can't say much without giving anything away, even the trailers spoil several key beats of the film if you pay close attention to them.
Overall, it's my top film of the year, beating out The Hunger Games, although I doubt it'll hold the spot for long with The Avengers less than two weeks away.
Cabin neatly lines up every horror archetype. The slutty girl, the jock (played by the Norse God of Thunder himself, Chris Hemsworth), the funny guy (Dollhouse's Fran Kranz) the nerd, and the good girl. Throw these characters into a creepy cabin in the middle of titular woods, and you have every horror movie ever. And that's the point. Over the 95 minute run time, Goddard and Whedon effectively skewer and affirm every trope of the horror genre, with enough twists, turns, and screams to keep you on the edge of your seat. I can't say much without giving anything away, even the trailers spoil several key beats of the film if you pay close attention to them.
Overall, it's my top film of the year, beating out The Hunger Games, although I doubt it'll hold the spot for long with The Avengers less than two weeks away.