What I'm Watching: Cabin in the Woods
What better way to spend Friday the 13th than with TWO posts to Trisk in one day? One full review, and one look at a brand new release!
I am going to do something a little different with this WIW post. Since Cabin in the Woods is such a highly anticipated movie, and it JUST came out today, I am going to put my review behind a slice...er, cut, so as to spare anyone stumbling across any spoilers today.
So, off we go into the woods...
OhmygodIlovethismovie.
I am seriously squeeing and flailing a lot right now. It has killed me to wait this time to squee loudly semi publicly.
I was a little concerned by the trailers revealing that there's some secret lab involved in the horror cabin genre the kids wind up in, but now that I have seen the movie, I think I'm glad they blew that out of the gate. This movie ISN'T just a cabin in the woods story, and the facility is JUST as important to the story, so giving people a heads up that This Movie Is Different before sitting down to watch it is a GOOD MOVE. They won't be surprised when they go in to see kids get slaughtered in a cabin and instead get some very Joss scenes of people talking and walking in labcoats.
This movie is the ultimate cabin in the woods movie. It is the pinnacle of this genre. It can even be said it explains all other cabin movies. And I love the idea behind it.
The cast in this is great. I love how they are all your typical genre stereotypes, and the movie even explains why that is. This movie plays with every trope in the cabin (and even horror) genre, and if they don't explain it, they still do them damned well, and better than most.
Like I alluded to earlier, you can probably guess the dialogue in this is great. It is Joss Whedon. You could have probably guessed that watching this movie, if you didn't know who wrote it, it is just that Whedony. The way the plot moves along, the way it all ties together, paying things off, and makes sense...just masterfully crafted.
There is a scene towards the end of the movie, watch for the cubes, that is a horror geek's wet dream. I want to rewatch it just to pick over all the horror classics lurking around this movie. I was practically fucking cheering minutes later.
My only real complaint is that Whedon scripting. Like with some of his talky talk, it does feel a little awkward or forced at times, but hey. It's Joss, it's how he writes. I knew it going in. I also could have done without the slam titles at the beginning of the movie, but only because it felt like their placement was off, smashing over the folks in the facility.
This is such a unique experience. It takes things we know, things like Evil Dead, with a bit of Cube and Truman Show, and smooshes them together into an entirely different thing that is entirely its own thing. I can't think of anything that this movie is like, entirely.
I also loved seeing the other projects around the world trying to do their things, especially the Japanese corner of things. Especially when they screw up and the Japanese schoolgirls stop the escapees from The Ring. And this pisses off the techs in the US. I have to wonder if yelling at the screen at the J-horror tropes was a commentary on anything.
There are so many references here, and they all make sense in this universe. There's a reason these references are there, and I love using the mythology of horror as a means to tell their story. This movie almost could not have been made without decades of horror to draw upon. It builds an explanation for all these horror movies we've seen into their story, and it is such a good thing to see. And this will make more sense after seeing the movie and I'm less babbly. ;)
I have so many of the thoughts, and the things in my head right now. I know I am forgetting things, and there are things I don't want to spoil, because this movie should be experienced as cleanly as possible.
If you have any remote interest in horror, this movie is almost a must see, unless you hate Joss Whedon. But then, you're probably an evil, heartless person.
J
I want to see this movie again right the hell now.
