Adam: After two
months of “I swear I’ll post it soon!” here it is—the first monthly Reader Request
Review. This month’s request comes from my friend Stew, who (clearly) has
excellent taste in movies. (Actually, he requested this in, like, October…but
who’s counting?) In fact, his request wasn’t meant to spawn a series of reviews
for this blog, but it planted the idea in my head and here we are.
Speaking of which, if you have a movie you’d like me to
review, feel free to comment or email me, as I’m looking for a February RRR.
Start thinking of titles! It can be any movie at all, any genre, length, year,
etc. I’ll look over the requests and choose the one I think will give the best
review (for instance, I’d pick Zodiac
over Live Free or Die Hard because
it’s easier to review a standalone film than the fourth in a franchise...but don't let it stop you from requesting), and
get my hands on a copy to watch. This could get interesting. I’m looking
forward to your requests!
One more thing: Adam and Riley's Best Films of 2012 lists will be posted in the next day or so. Get excited!
It’s been months in the making…so without further ado, here
is my review, the first Reader Request Review, of The Cabin in the Woods.
--
As I’ve mentioned a few times in past posts, I am a
self-proclaimed horror film buff. Ask anyone; I will gladly have a
conversation about the differences between walking and running zombies, a
discussion about why I enjoy the Paranormal
Activity movies so much, a talk about how you or I would rank the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, or a
debate about which remakes outdo the originals and vice versa. I take the stuff
far too seriously a lot of the time. The horror genre is home to many of my
favorite films, actors, and directors, and I am quite passionate about it.
(I’ve even written a full-length horror screenplay of my own.) I have a lot
more to learn and many more films to watch, but the realm of horror feels like
a little twisted bit of home to me.
So naturally, when I first heard about The Cabin in the Woods, a sort of satire/homage to the horror
genre, I was overwhelmed with excitement. My imagination was rampant with
anticipation for references to The Evil
Dead (one of my favorite horror films of all time), or commentary on “a
group of drunk, horny teens alone in a cabin in the woods” clichés, or maybe
even some fresh horror satire outside of the brilliant Scream franchise. I followed every bit of information about The Cabin in the Woods I could with a
creepy intensity.
But my enthusiasm wasn’t without skepticism, especially when
I saw who would be helming the feature. Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, recent
director of The Avengers, and
more-or-less God of the Nerds right now) and I have had an interesting
relationship over the years. I love his work, I find him brilliant, but a lot
of his fans drive me crazy and the hype is overwhelming, and that sometimes
leaves me feeling sour. (This is also true of Quentin Tarantino, but that’s
another post for another time.) So when I saw that the Mr. Whedon would be
co-writing a horror film, I admit I was a bit worried. And the other co-writer
(and director), Drew Goddard, was the writer of Cloverfield, a film I thoroughly enjoyed. So we have a Nerd King whose main horror experience is
Buffy, and the guy who made a
shaky-cam monster movie; these were not the names that would have popped into
my head to handle a horror satire. I was worried for this take on one of my
favorite genres. This would surely be an overhyped, lukewarm disaster, right?
I could not have been more wrong.
I saw the first trailer for the film and all of my doubts
were hacked to pieces. I was rolling with laughter, jumping in terror, and
awkwardly dancing in my seat as the teaser unfolded in front of me, and it was
then that I knew this movie couldn’t possibly let me down. My skepticism had
vanished.
(Okay, enough with my Cabin
back-story. Time for the actual review.)
The Cabin in the Woods
starts with a simple-enough premise: a group of college-age kids go to a
sketchy cabin in the woods to drink, get high, and have lots of sex. The group
is comprised of a stereotypical jock, slut, stoner/joker, nerd/scholar, and
virgin. We’ve seen this an uncountable amount of times before, right? Well, it
is soon revealed that this entire trip is being monitored and ultimately controlled
by a bunch of suit-wearing puppet masters (under the command of an unseen
Director), whose purposes are to keep the whole situation going according to
the tried-and-true formula of every character dying, one by one, ending with
the virgin (if you haven’t seen this trope a million times, you don’t watch
enough horror flicks). They use means of mind-altering gas, unleashing a myriad
of monsters, and a slew of hidden cameras to keep the players playing the game,
all the while betting on the source of the teenagers’ demise.
This eye-in-the-sky business can be read in three (erm…two
and a half) ways:
- a metaphor for making a horror film, including
the demented mindset it takes to create people in situations that ultimately
kill them
- a way to poke fun at making a movie in general
- a statement arguing the “bully-like” attitude of
a God and His angels
The moviemaking readings are straightforward enough: the
businessmen/Director are the crew, and the college kids are the actors. The
Director and crew direct the situations that lead the actors through telling
the story. Since there are multiple different monsters that can be unleashed,
this could stand for the “bank” of monsters to be re-hashed and re-used in
horror movies time and time again. The “gods” that the workers are keeping at
bay with these deaths could represent the moviegoing masses craving meaningless
violence.
The bully-in-the-sky reading is similar. God and His angels
control the situations, but give the illusion of Free Will (when the college
kids “choose” what monsters will kill them) and kill off the creation for
entertainment purposes alone.
But I think I’ll ease off the “deep reading” of this movie,
since this is a review and not an essay. I could go into much more detail,
citing scenes from the film, but that would take far too long and I don’t think
anybody wants to read such a thing. Let’s just stick with the usual review
stuff.
The writing, if you haven’t gathered by my review thus far,
is original, clever, and brilliant. The characters are hilarious and real enough,
despite being satires of clichés, and when they’re picked off one by one, you
almost feel for them. All of the parts are played excellently and I wouldn’t
call any of it “bad acting” despite almost all of the films they are parodying
have terrible acting. Whedon fans will recognize a few familiar faces from
former efforts, even if all you know of his work is The Avengers (who knew Thor was such a bro?).
The film is littered with references to classic horror
flicks (a plethora of which belonging to the Evil Dead series) and fans of the horror genre will find themselves
clutching their guts and shaking with laughter, especially in the film’s
monstrous climax. But this movie isn’t just for horror nerds. The casual
moviegoer may be slightly off-put by the amount of gore, but those looking for
an introduction into the world of horror will be warmly welcomed. This isn’t a
pretentious “look at all the horror stuff we know!” type of film. It’s a fun
ride for non-horror fans, and an Easter egg-laden treat for those more
well-versed in blood-soaked, dark-skulking cinema.
The Cabin in the Woods
is not only one of my favorite (and best) films of the year, but one of my new
favorites of all time. It sits on my shelf between Scream and The Evil Dead,
and there couldn’t be a better place for it. If you have even the slightest
interest in horror, whether you’re a seasoned veteran or fresh meat, I urge you
to watch this movie.
