A version of this review appeared in The Age, June 14, 2012.
Five college friends head off for a weekend at a remote cabin, among them a blonde bimbo (Anna Hutchison), a jock (Chris Hemsworth), a brain (Jesse Williams), a stoner (Fran Kranz) and a shy, virginal type (Kristen Connelly). Cut off from civilisation, they're confronted by a mysterious evil, and must battle to survive till dawn.
It sounds like the oldest horror story in the book, but from the first scene of The Cabin In The Woods it's clear that the director Drew Goddard and his co-writer Joss Whedon are bent on turning formula upside down. The surprises shouldn't be spoiled in a review, though some of the basic ideas may feel familiar to devotees of Whedon's TV shows, particularly Buffy and Dollhouse (Kranz's scene-stealing Dollhouse role as a nerdy genius is cleverly echoed and inverted here).
Ever since Wes Craven's original Scream (1996), plenty of smart-alec filmmakers have set out to “deconstruct” the horror genre. But this film goes about the task in a bold, fresh way, using fanciful allegory to pose questions about the ultimate purpose of horror, and what we gain from the ritual of watching youthful victims being tortured and killed. It might even be that the filmmakers have some broader notions in mind – about the nature of capitalism, for example – though they're content to leave alert viewers to pick up on the hints.
Like The Avengers Рthe other Whedon special of the season Рthis might also be described as a film about editing, and its ability to show the familiar in a new light. Given the glee and affection which Goddard and Whedon put into skewering every horror clich̩ imaginable, they can hardly be accused of holier-than-thou moralism. On the other hand, their wit and originality stands as a pointed rebuke to lazy screenwriters who can't be bothered coming up with new plots.
It sounds like the oldest horror story in the book, but from the first scene of The Cabin In The Woods it's clear that the director Drew Goddard and his co-writer Joss Whedon are bent on turning formula upside down. The surprises shouldn't be spoiled in a review, though some of the basic ideas may feel familiar to devotees of Whedon's TV shows, particularly Buffy and Dollhouse (Kranz's scene-stealing Dollhouse role as a nerdy genius is cleverly echoed and inverted here).
Ever since Wes Craven's original Scream (1996), plenty of smart-alec filmmakers have set out to “deconstruct” the horror genre. But this film goes about the task in a bold, fresh way, using fanciful allegory to pose questions about the ultimate purpose of horror, and what we gain from the ritual of watching youthful victims being tortured and killed. It might even be that the filmmakers have some broader notions in mind – about the nature of capitalism, for example – though they're content to leave alert viewers to pick up on the hints.
Like The Avengers Рthe other Whedon special of the season Рthis might also be described as a film about editing, and its ability to show the familiar in a new light. Given the glee and affection which Goddard and Whedon put into skewering every horror clich̩ imaginable, they can hardly be accused of holier-than-thou moralism. On the other hand, their wit and originality stands as a pointed rebuke to lazy screenwriters who can't be bothered coming up with new plots.
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