The Cabin in the Woods

The Movie Itself: Our Reviewer’s Take

Coming five months after its theatrical release date, I’d typically pull out the stops and give you a huge spoiler-filled review describing what makes ’The Cabin in the Woods’ the best horror movie in over a decade – but I’m not going to do that. This is one of those films that you’ll wish you could watch for the first time again, so who am I to spoil this little slice of genius?

Keeping it spoiler-free makes ’The Cabin in the Woods’ the hardest movie to review. It’s impossible to talk plot without ruining something that is wildly fun to learn in the meticulously thought-out manner in which it’s revealed in the film by its geek writers – Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard of ’Buffy’ fame. Because of that, I’m going to emphasize how much you should just take the leap of faith and see it, all while glazing over the central storyline in a general manner.

If you’ve seen the trailer for ’Cabin in the Woods,’ you’ve seen too much. It’s fine that you know about the group of college-age kids headed to an ’Evil Dead’-ish cabin in the woods for the weekend. It’s fine that you know that something in the woods is trying to kill them. What should not have been shown is everything else. If you haven’t seen the trailer, then these next three lines might need a SPOILER ALERT. The strange and unexplained science fictiony images that are shown – elevators, SWAT-esque teams, video monitors, invisible grids – should have been saved for the first-time viewing experience. The way that it’s shown in the trailer, this aspect of the film appears to be something that’s revealed in the final chapter of the film, but it’s actually woven throughout the film in a slow-rolling manner. In fact, the opening sequence of the movie leaves you wondering if you’re watching the right movie.END SPOILER.

What ’The Cabin in the Woods’ pulls off will forever change the way you look at horror movies – not only those to come, but those that you already know. It sets up a mold that you can apply to 90 percent of the horror movies out there, one that explains exactly why everything stupid happens - why the virgin is the central character, why the group always splits up, why people always trip while being chased, why there’s so much nudity in them, and so on. It takes the genre, playfully flips it on its head, and shows you horror like you’ve never seen it before.

The trailers didn’t hint to it at all, but ’The Cabin in the Woods’ is hilarious, definitely falling into the horror comedy sub-genre. I laughed more during ’The Cabin in the Woods’ than I did collectively through Adam Sandler’s last ten movies. But don’t mistake this as pure comedy, because it’s also full of terror and gore. It’s surprising to see what Whedon and Goddard were able to get away with – not as in R-rated content, but in story content. Just when it feels like the movie is coming to an end, a wild and unrestrained final act begins that is completely out of control. I don’t know which studio exec thought, ’Hey, this might be a good idea,’ and gave the film a green light, but I’m sure glad they had the courage to try something this amazing!

Made on an estimated budget of $30 million, the worldwide $65.9 million box office draw of ’The Cabin in the Woods’ wasn’t too great - but that doesn’t matter. For those who love horror, it’s an instant cult classic. And for those who don’t much care for the genre, it’s a very pleasant surprise. I brought a plus-one to the press screening back in April who despises all horror movies – and he loved ’The Cabin in the Woods.’ In fact, he found it so intelligent and entertaining that he rounded up a group of friends and took them to a showing on opening weekend. Don’t believe in general audience opinion? Then look at the critics. With 197 reviews, ’The Cabin in the Woods’ is currently sitting pretty at 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Those who heed the acclaim of general audiences or critics will be very, very glad they did.

Being a fan of the film, the packaging of ’The Cabin in the Woods’ is absolutely brilliant, but it might not seem so cool if you haven’t yet seen the film. The slipcase features a lenticular cover that shows the standard poster artwork of the "Rubik’s Cabin" at one angle and a spoilery image at another angle. Click here at your own risk to see the spoilery artwork.

The Region A-locked BD-50 comes in a single-disc Elite blue keepcase. Included is a code that unlocks either a Digital Copy or an Ultraviolet copy. My PS3’s software was up-to-date when I popped in the disc, but it recommended that I install an update from the disc. It took less than 20 seconds to complete, after which the slew of skippable videos played – a Lionsgate vanity reel; a commentary disclaimer; trailers for ’The Possession,’ ’The Last Exorcism,’ ’Cabin Fever’ and ’My Bloody Valentine 3D;’ and commercials for EPIX and Fear Net TV.