By Robert Scucci | Published
Horror comedy has always been a subgenre that benefits from a healthy dose of self-awareness and meta-humor to drive home its message. Through excessive violence, recognition of common tropes and the use of blatant and comical violence, The cabin in the woods is the absolute king of horror comedy as it celebrates its own inherent ridiculousness with unthinkable gusto. Not only will you find yourself laughing in disbelief as you watch The cabin in the woodsyou will subsequently find it difficult to watch similar horror movie plots that play them straight because of how effectively they are ridiculed.
The technicians
The cabin in the woods aggressively, makes you consider “the man behind the curtain” when its narrative framework is established by lab technicians Gary Stitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Steve Hadley (Bradley Whitford). Revealing that they are about to begin an annual ritual involving five students spending the weekend at a remote cabin in the woods, Gary and Steve head to a massive underground laboratory to do what they do best: assist to the violent deaths of stereotypical character archetypes. for a reason that has not yet been revealed.
All the viewer knows at this point is that a group of college students are getting ready to party, while the real party is already happening underground as Gary and Steve open a betting pool with the lives of their chosen victims at stake.
Smashing dials and switches and preparing for the impending bloodbath, the technicians direct their subjects to the titular cabin so they can unleash a group of monsters, demons and zombies to carry out their orders.
The victims
Never shying away from the tried and true horror tropes we all know and love, The cabin in the woods features Dana (Kristen Connolly), Curt Vaughan (Chris Hemsworth), Jules Louden (Anna Hutchison), Marty Mikalski (Fran Kranz), and Holden McCrea (Jesse Williams).
Each character’s personality embodies the classic horror movie victims you might expect: Marty is the super talkative stoner who won’t shut up about conspiracy theories, while Anna is known for being the promiscuous daughter of the band.
The group is rounded out by Curt and Holden, who play on the same football team while attending college, and Dana, the prude.
The Cabin
With the above two narratives operating simultaneously, The cabin in the woods unfolds like a group of puppets trying to survive the whims of their sadistic masters in underground facilities. From Mordecai The Harbinger’s (Tim de Zarn) warnings about the cabin’s violent past to the Latin incantations written in an old journal by the mysterious Patience Buckner (Jodelle Ferland) found in the cabin’s cellar, every interaction is meticulously planned and forced through the use of trapdoors, pheromone fogs and other exaggerated artificial bumps in the night that turn a carefree weekend into your slasher stereotypical movie.
For example, when Curt suggests that the group stay together after a violent altercation, he immediately changes his mind and suggests that the group split up to cover more ground when he passes a vent emitting a mist designed to reduce his inhibitions.
A hilarious bloodbath of the highest order
The land of the cabin in The cabin in the woods is derivative by design, which is why this movie is so fun to watch. On the one hand, you become emotionally invested as the five chosen victims make their way through the dangerous woods and fight for their lives. But as soon as you’re reminded that there’s a party room full of technicians watching their every move and betting on the outcome, you kind of want to throw down $20 in favor of virgin survival because that you want to believe that the “final” girl still makes it out alive.
The cabin in the woods unlike any other slasher film you’ve seen before. Although it borrows heavily from all classic slashers, it not only attempts to reinvent the genre through its self-awareness, it succeeds. If you are ready to experience the violent spectacle that is The cabin in the woodsyou can stream the title for free on Tubi as of this writing.
