[ TRAILER - IMDB - ROTTENTOMATOES ]
Cabin in the woods had managed to place itself as one of my favourite horror movies of all time, I love almost everything about it! Which is pretty good for a horror, as they’re almost too easy to muck up.
I love the weirdly casual opening of the film, very industrial, professional warehouse looking place, very OUT of place for what the film had advertised itself to be. The characters talking vaguely about stuff we, the audience, don’t know anything about (yet). And the use of a jump scare as the title I thought was really good- I just wish that that had been the ONLY jump scare, it would’ve had a way better pay off then.
I only noticed it the fourth time watching it but the books the main character reads at the start (“Soviet Economic structures” & “Aftermath of the…”) are foreshadowing to the guys who tamper with them in the cabin, very subtle, but now that I’ve noticed it, it’s quite clever!
The start of the film is very cliché, so are the characters (initially), but for what the movie is- I think it’s absolutely worth it.
The characters are all okay- it isn’t until a bit in when I properly started to care about these characters, around when the girl is getting beaten up did I start to feel bad for her- and when the stoner was revealed to be alive I was very pleased! Then I was fully rooting for them the entire rest of the movie. All the actors in this film were incredibly good I think, they all portrayed their characters very well, especially since they’re over the top stereotypes.
The stoner character is my personal favourite, the way he’s written is very funny to me, and the whole film does what most horror movies fail to do- which is: be funny on purpose. Most horror films are funny because they’re so bad- but this one writes itself to be funny and it works.
In terms of shots, I think the shots are okay, the set design is honestly fantastic, I love the contrast between the actual woods, and the lab area is amazing to watch unfold.
The one liners in the film get a bit cheesy after a while, like the film is being a clever parody, so when it tries to be edgy and sound cool it’s just too much. It’s very good for what it is so if it tries too much more it’ll just roam to ridiculous territory like most horror.
The elevator scene is very good I think, I love the designs for all the monsters, the CGI really is quite good! I love how the giant bat monster looks and how absolutely over the top it is when all the elevator doors open to let all the monsters out, it’s too much but in a good way. The only thing I’d say isn’t great is the fact that the elevators are very conveniently timed, and Segorni plot convince- I mean weaver at the end was kind of unnecessary too. The whole “ancients” thing is also kind of…odd. Like it makes for a very, very good morality check at the end, deciding to die for or with the earth, but it’s also a bit odd to have that placed in with the already fantastic commentary beforehand.
The commentary being, the lab people are the movie makers, the cliché teens are the actors in a movie, and the ancients are us, the audience, wanting the same murders over and over. With a list of different monsters. I just wish that this movies ‘audience’ characters was some form of dark web, dot onion red room server that sick rich people watch, and not actual real gods.
