Review of The Cabin in the Woods (2012) by Austin G — 11 Aug 2015

I'm not really a cultural or critical theorist and I probably don't really know how to use the terms "postmodern" or "deconstructivist" correctly, so bear with me here. The Cabin in the Woods is a horror movie along the lines of The Evil Dead or any of its more straight-faced predecessors or brethren.

Kids go to the titular cabin, find an old book in the cellar, and awaken some evil spirits that then wreak bloody gory wrath on them. Except there is a framing device here that inserts alternating scenes in the narrative that take place in something that looks strangely like a control room, where the action of the film is discussed by people in white lab coats (including Richard Jenkins).

The viewer is naturally at sea for a good chunk of the time (and I won't spoil it for you) but it isn't hard to see that the screenwriter (Joss Whedon) is having a merry old time poking fun at horror movie clichés and making various references and in-jokes.

But given that poking fun at the clichés is already cliché, it's not all that bracing. However, it does get weird and weird is good. I could do without all the blood and gore myself and the need to still "be" the horror movie drags things down a bit - more surreal moments could have elevated this more.

Still, The Cabin in the Woods is probably a lot better than most of the movies it deconstructs (or comments upon) but it still can't top the original Evil Dead.