The Cabin in the Woods (2012) Director: Drew Goddard

★★★☆☆

The Cabin in the Woods is a bit of a trip. It is a highly meta film that contemplates the horror genre, and reorients the audience’s perspective up until the very end.

The plot predictably (or so it seems) follows a group of college students, each fitting their respective classic 1980’s horror genre roles. However, each gets placed into a situation that forces them to make difficult choices, with only two people surviving and discovering a secret and sanitary underground bunker where they are shocked to find a cohort of nerdy computer hackers have been plotting the whole thing. The girls press a “purge” button wherein the monsters begin attacking the directors, and the lead director begs them to Marty, who is the “fool” archetype in horror films, in order to save humanity. However, they decline and in the end the floor of the underground facility collapses and a giant hand appears.

After watching this film, the audience wants to piece together its criticism all over again. The film is actually funnier than it is scary or horrifying. The Cabin in the Woods is a decent picture, I suppose. It is redeemed by its intellectually compelling, meta and self-critical examination of the horror genre, otherwise it is a highly unusual and somewhat off-putting film. Not particularly recommended from me.