I knew nothing about this movie until right before it came out. This was mostly due to the fact that the movie is called The Cabin in the Woods and the poster is a picture of a fucking cabin, but also on account of the fact that horror movies generally bore the shit out of me. So when I hear a horror movie is coming out that "completely changes the genre forever!" it didn't really do much for me, but for whatever reason I was in the mood to see it. Maybe because it was Friday the 13th. Or because it was written by Joss Whedon and co-written and directed by the guy that wrote Cloverfield. Or because Cabin in the Woods sounds weird to me when I say it out load. Like you are saying Camping in the Woods in a weird accent, or talking about racing taxi's into trees. It just sounds like a shorthand for the word Cabing, which doesn't exist, because Cabin is a legit actual word for little wooden house.
Cab'n in da woodz
The movie is more or less some teenagers cab'n out and having fun before getting murdered, except that there actually is more because a whole lab of scientist, including the bad guy from Billy Madison, seem to be watching and controlling everything they do, possibly being the entire reason they are there, for some possible secret dark intent or otherwise hidden good intentioned motive possibly.
While not being that into dumb slasher movies, I still know the tropes well enough from Scooby Doo to understand and enjoy the basic idea of the movie. The slasher/evil-in-the-woods/survive-til-dawn/don't-have-sex-or-you-will-die-horribly formula has been put pretty steadily into place in our society's culture mind. So stepping back a bit and giving it a broader context and actual purpose rather than "teens die just-because-why-not" by throwing in some sci-fi secret laboratory action sounds like a good way to make this lame shit interesting for once. And that's where I'm not following where a lot of "horror fans" are coming from on this movie. Because a lot of them hate it, which considering how good it is while being in such a dumb genre, sounds wrong. Like they are just objectively wrong. I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs about how flawed and stupid horror movies are, and probably will, but I think we've all agreed that they aren't really that good. Through there are good horror movies, they are technically just good movies that happen to be horror, and if you look proportionally at all the terrible movies that have ever been made, I'd say a good 80% of them are fucking horror movies. So I don't get this high and mighty "This movie is a insult to the Horror genre!" hullabaloo, because even horror fans admit that they don't enjoy the genre for its quality, but rather it's fun attitude.
And how the hell do you insult a fun attitude? The genre is synonymous with the word terrible, so saying a good movie insults it is like saying "Johnny Cash is an insult to Country music!" or "Sex is an insult to Garbagemen!" It's all backwards bizarro and shit.
Dr. Funattitude
The movie does a great job of serving up classic horror fare without tipping its hand to whats actually happening. It tells you just enough for you to know there is more to the story, but still concentrates on the characters, allowing you to be invested in the moment. So as the movie goes on, you figure out that although you know what is going on with these kids in the cab'n, you don't necessarily know whats going on with the rest of the movie, so you may be able to see the next kill coming, but you know about it because you are supposed to. And that's one of the things that lets me actually enjoy movies. When I don't know what will happen next, forget I'm watching a movie, and get immersed in the story. What else can you even ask for from entertainment than immersion? You have identifiable characters from great actors, a tight, interesting storyline that keeps you engaged, and sex+violence, pretty much for it's own sake of sex+violence.
The problem I'm seeing here is the whole inferiority complex driven "fuck those elitist that think they are so smart" bullshit that's been coming up in our society a lot lately. Apparently this movie was made back in 2009 and was delayed so they could 3Dify it. Luckily they never got around to it, but for the past few years it's built up quite a reputation with critics and film snubs as being the next big thing in horror. I guess some horror fans, who consider themselves purists(Jesus Christ...), found it insulting that some fancy pants "Meta" horror parody comedy movie thought it could be a better horror movie than the standard by actually being a better movie. Once upon a time this shit was reserved for hillbillies to help them deal with the fact that they were dumber than city folk, but I see even kids using it these days. Grr. "All the out of touch pansy critic elitist like the movie because it's self-referencing and thinks it's so fucking smart!"
I was blissfully ignorant to all the bullshit pretense surrounding the movie, so I was able to see it without having much in the ways of expectations or needing to like it or dislike it to validate my self identity as a filmbuff/nerd/person. So I liked it. Liked the shit out of it. Instead of feeling looked down upon by uppity intellectual filmmakers, I actually felt respected by a story that didn't feel a need to talk dumb to me and could instead allow me to trust that whatever happened next was going to be fun. Maybe because I'm not ashamed of my intelligence. Because I'm smart. Or because it was a pretty good movie and I don't get why people gotta get all political and shit.
It's these goddamn hipster kids with their tight jeans and their raps music stop making fun of my cat and GET OFF MY FUCKING LAWN!!
8 out of 10 Cab'ns
