Got A Woody For The Cabin In The Woods

SPOILERS
Cabin In The Woods may not reinvent the horror genre like so many have claimed, but it does push the genre in new and interesting ways and does so in a way that’s both supremely entertaining and staggeringly intelligent. The most astonishing thing about Cabin is how many things it’s doing at the same time, all of which are done very well.

1/ The first layer is perhaps the most obvious and it’s also the weakest in it’s execution…the cabin in the woods itself. The story is ripped from the Evil Dead/Friday The 13^th horror movie template as a group of teenagers escape to the cabin in the woods for a weekend of swimming, drinking, sex and drugs. If I have a minor complaint it’s that Cabin isn’t that scary a horror film, being too engaged in smart humour and cleverly subverting the story to really drum up the pulse rate. That’s quite alright though because the rest of the film is flawless.

2/ Layer two (an office dramedy) is actually introduced into the narrative first and is directly linked to the events of the teens in the cabin. It’s in these scenes that the story maintains is top gear, being extremely funny (Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins are two of the best character actors with a gift for comic timing in the business), the most intriguing (as a greater horror story is revealed) and the most revealing intellectually.

3/ The juxtaposition of these two parallel narratives allows for the characters of the office story to comment on and influence the characters in the cabin story. In doing so the film not only dissects the archetypal horror story in a post-modern way, but it also offers an explanation as to why events in this type of movie are so bizarre and why their participants often act without logic or reason. In doing both of these things Cabin doesn’t destroy the horror genre by revealing every intimate detail of it’s inner workings but reinforces and celebrates the those mechanics by taking them to the next level.

The characters in the office narrative influence the characters in the cabin story much in the same way that film-makers alter the fate of the characters in the motion pictures they produce. I could be argued that Whitford and Jenkins are the screenwriters of the events in the cabin as they are constantly imagining up new ways to get the cabin folk to the end of their story (they even answer to a ‘director’ who guides them.)

4/ Things get deeper when you start looking into the meaning and metaphors underneath the narrative. On one level this is an exploration of existentialism, exploring whether ones ‘self’ (or soul) is something independent of outside influence or whether your very being is influenced by circumstance or a manipulative exterior consciousness.

5/ Then you’ve got the religious/spiritual factor to consider. The office workers could also represent Gods, influencing the unsuspecting mortals in their decisions, deciding who lives and dies and when and where it will happen. As with all religion the ‘mortals’ have to perform certain rituals…in this case horror genre rituals like the jock and slut having sex, the nerd going outside for a walk alone, the encounter with the creepy gas station attendant and the reading of the ominous note book in latin.

6/ Then you’ve got the Joss factor on top of that. The script, co-written with director Drew Goddard is as tight as a gnats chuff, with plenty of the dry Whedonesque humour we’ve come to adore from the Firefly, Angel and Buffy scribe. The cast is perfect with Chris (Thor) Hemsworth and Anna Hutchinson doing the classic Jock and Prom Queen stereotypes brilliantly without making them unlikable, Fran Kranz and Kristen Connolly perform the offbeat everyman roles with warmth and conviction while Whitford and Jenkins are a perfect fit for Whedon and Goddard’s wit and wisdom. Like the rest of the Whedonverse (yes, I said it) the deliberately pitched tone allows the story to shift from intense horror to action, to broad daftness in very short durations and not feel out of place or incoherent.


7/ Sociology is also tackled as the question of whether civilizations need to completely implode and collapse in order to for humanity to survive, improve and move forward. This is not only explored verbally but given form as the world disintegrates as the secrets of office workers are exposed. Of course, this discussion also parallels the question about the horror genre itself and whether that needs to gutted, exposed, destroyed and reinvented into something new, bigger and better.

Finally there’s some great scenes…some of which will undoubtedly enter the horror hall of fame for being iconic, or brutal, or hilarious or all of the above. It’s a rare day that something this good comes along, especially in a genre where 15 direct to video efforts are release for home rental every week but Cabin In The Woods IS that film. Your enjoyment of the film will be high, but much will depend on your familiarity of horror films in general to spot the references, or your ability (or willingness) to read between the lines at the subtext that’s woven through the piece as to whether your satisfaction reaches stellar levels as it did me. Like the similarly complex The Matrix (one of Whedon’s favorite films I think and a major influence here I feel) you can enjoy Cabin purely on a surface level and have a complete blast, but there’s so much more to savour than meets the eye.