The Cabin in the Woods:
Five college friends, each representing a horror film trope (despite being pretty intelligent), go out to the jock's cousin's old cabin in the woods. They discover a basement full of creepy artifacts, each unlocking a gruesome nightmare creature. They choose a diary, which unleashes a zombified family of pain-obsessed cultists, all while being watched by an evil corporation, who have their own dark goals. Funny enough, despite the creepy-looking poster, this film is hilarious. This truly decontruscts the horror genre, even more so than Scream, and better yet, they don't make constant horror movie references to do that. Most of the horror creatures revealed at the climax are tributes to classic genre tropes and films. The characters are great. Kristen Connolly is Dana, the smart sexy girl who turns into a bad-ass chick near the end. She's really likeable, and one of the few characters to not start to fall under the spell of the corporation. Frank Kranz is Marty, the stoner kid who is a better Shaggy than Mathew Lillard ever was. (No offense to Lillard.) He has the funniest scenes in the movie, and is immune to the corporation's spells due to his marijuana habit. He is the heart of the film, and you root for him to live. Chris Hemsworth plays Curt, the sociology major who is brainwashed into being the alpha male jock. Anna Hutchison plays Jules, Curt's girlfriend and Dana's best friend/roommate. She is smart, but is brainwashed into being the dumb blonde. Jesse Williams plays Holden, Curt's buddy whom Jules tries to set up with Dana. He's a nice enough guy, and represents the smart hero. Sigourney Weaver has a funny ending cameo. With good actors, you need a good script. And who better than Joss Whedon. He's written some amazing cult TV shows, a great superhero epic, and co-wrote Toy Story before he was famous. He and Goddard are true genre fans, and bring to life every possible nightmare, goofy or truly terrifying, possible, and put it on screen. The script is truly funny (many of the scenes are played for laughs), but is scary when it needs to be. Funny enough, Whedon's two films this year (this and Avengers) were funnier than most comedies this year, even though they were horror and comic book movies. The special effects were phenomenal. Most of them were done practically, which was a very challenging feat, but there were some CG creatures, but they weren't given nearly as much attention as the prosthetics and animatronics. It's really amazing to see on the special features how some of the stuff had to be pulled off. The climax of the film features the two leads descending into the factory of the corporation, and unleashing every horror in the place, a great, albeit short, sequence of true horror, gore, and dark comedy. The music is really good, too. Ranging from heavy metal soundtrack to creepy musical score. Overall, The Cabin in the Woods is a hilarious, surreal, and creepy deconstruction and "revitalizing" of the slasher genre and horror genre in general. 5/5 stars.
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