Cabin In The Woods

Year: 2011

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Goddard

Review

i never officially said so, but i sorta figured that scream was the alpha and omega when it came to postmodern horror films. it spoke to the genre and inhabited it equally well and i figured it would basically never be touched again. it’s kinda like unforgiven in that way, though not as great. well, cabin in the woods takes it another step further. and while the ending left me wanting something else, it’s a solid film on the whole that does a lot of thinking and commenting on the genre. horror is, despite its appearances, one of the most thoughtful film genres there is. stuff like bloodsucking freaks and scream call into question the norms of the genre and even question the audience and its fascination with these films. cabin in the woods does those things as well and portrays the genre as a paint by numbers sort of exercise as well as a catharsis and substitution for “something worse.” in other words, we get off on watching these kids get butchered in the woods so we don’t have to quench the thirst of our dionysian/id in more destructive ways.

Watched in theater