By Robert Scucci
| Published
Horror comedy has always been a sub-genre that benefits from a healthy amount of self-awareness and meta humor to drive its point home. Through over-the-top violence, the acknowledgment of common tropes, and the use of an egregious and comical amount of violence, The Cabin in the Woods is the absolute king of horror comedy because it celebrates its own inherent ridiculousness with an unthinkable amount of enthusiasm. Not only will you find yourself laughing in disbelief while watching The Cabin in the Woods, you’ll subsequently have trouble watching similar horror movie plots that play it straight because of how effectively they get lampooned.
The Technicians
The Cabin in the Woods aggressively makes you consider the “man behind the curtain” when its narrative framework is established through lab technicians Gary Stitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Steve Hadley (Bradley Whitford). Revealing that they’re about to commence an annual ritual involving five college students spending the weekend in an isolated cabin in the woods, Gary and Steve head into a massive underground laboratory to do what they do best: witness the violent deaths of stereotypical character archetypes for some yet-to-be-revealed reason.
All that’s made known to the viewer at the time is that a bunch of students are getting ready to party, while the real party is already taking place underground as Gary and Steve open up a betting pool with their chosen victims’ lives in the balance.
Smashing on dials and switches and getting ready for the impending bloodbath, the technicians direct their subjects to the titular cabin so they can unleash a batch of monsters, demons, and zombies to do their bidding.
The Victims
Never shying away from the tried-and-true horror tropes we all know and love, The Cabin in the Woods introduces Dana (Kristen Connolly), Curt Vaughan (Chris Hemsworth), Jules Louden (Anna Hutchison), Marty Mikalski (Fran Kranz), and Holden McCrea (Jesse Williams).
Each character’s personality embodies the classic horror movie victims you’d expect – Marty is the super-talkative stoner who won’t shut up about conspiracy theories, while Anna is known for being the promiscuous girl in the group.
Rounding out the group are Curt and Holden, who play on the same football team while attending university, and Dana, the prude.
The Cabin
With the two above narratives operating simultaneously, The Cabin in the Woods plays out like a group of puppets trying to survive the whims of their sadistic masters back at the underground facility. From Mordecai The Harbinger’s (Tim de Zarn) warnings about the cabin’s violent past to the Latin incantations written in an old diary by the mysterious Patience Buckner (Jodelle Ferland) found in the cabin’s cellar, every interaction is meticulously planned and forced through the use of trap doors, pheromone mists, and other over-the-top, manufactured bumps in the night that transform a care-free weekend getaway into your stereotypical slasher film.
For example, when Curt suggests that the group stays together after a violent altercation, he immediately changes his mind and suggests that the group splits up to cover more ground when he walks by an air vent emitting a mist that’s designed to lower his inhibitions.
A Hilarious Bloodbath Of The Highest Order
The cabin plot in The Cabin in the Woods is derivative by design, which is why this movie is so fun to watch. On one hand, you become emotionally invested as the five chosen victims navigate their way through the treacherous woods and fight for their lives. But as soon as you’re reminded that there’s a cheering room full of technicians watching their every move and placing bets on the outcome, you kind of want to throw down $20 in favor of the virgin surviving because you want to believe that the “final girl” always makes it out alive.
The Cabin in the Woods is like no other slasher film you’ve seen before. While it borrows heavily from every classic slasher, it not only attempts to reinvent the genre through its self-awareness, but succeeds. If you’re ready to experience the violent spectacle that is The Cabin in the Woods, you can stream the title for free on Tubi as of this writing.
