The Cabin in the Woods

            Have you ever viewed a movie that was so dependent on the plot twists that you can’t talk about it with anyone who hasn’t seen it?  That, my friend, is The Cabin inthe Woods.  So how the hell am I going to do a write-up of it?

            Very, very carefully.

            On to the (limited) review!

           

            First off, let me say that I’m very sad that Lionsgate sat on this film for so long.  I understand that movies are serious business, but I’m kind of disappointed in how little faith they put in Joss Whedon.  Here’s a guy who has an incredible cult following to the point that they’re pretty much guaranteed to make their money back with a little profit thrown in. 

            I guess the biggest worry was the cast of ‘no name’ characters.  In today’s film industry, it seems like the studios demand at least one big name to pimp their films.  This is why stupid attempts like getting Keanu Reeves to play a main character in Akira happen.  Fortunately for us, Chris Hemsworth became pretty damn popular pretty damn quick thanks to Thor. 

To top it off, the better-late-than-never release was well-timed, as its only competition was a PG comedy reboot of The Three Stooges and the powerful juggernaut that is The Hunger Games.  R rated horrors are tough enough to pimp out, so releasing it against a kid’s comedy and no other real competition was a bright idea.

 So what’s so good about it?  Why should you go watch it?  Why am I disappointed in you if you’ve never heard of it? 

Because it’s a great horror film that actually bucks conventional wisdom and delivers a multi-tiered plot rather than just killing off a bunch of drunk college kids.  Between this and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil it feels like there’s a sudden resurgence in American horror films.  Who knew that we just needed to poke fun at the tried-and-true formula and deliver thoughtful horror-comedy?  I guess we’ll just have to leave the real scares to the Japanese and Korean markets for now. 

I know I haven’t told you much about The Cabin in the Woods, but this time I really think you should just take my word for it.  Or the word of anyone else who has seen it.  Even my wife, who does not like horror films at all, enjoyed every moment that she wasn’t scared shitless.  Do yourself a favor and check it out. 

As for me, I’m on vacation.  I’ll have something posted for Wednesday and Sunday, but don’t expect them to be new movie reviews.  Instead, I’ve got a live Netflix’d-style post for Wed, and Sunday will be something extra-special, just for you.