Cabin in the Woods
Apr. 27th, 2012 01:44 pmFor the first time in I-don't-know-how-long last night, I actually went to see a movie at a theatre that was not on Disney property. I had heard generally positive things about Cabin in the Woods* and I trust Joss Whedon to deliver entertainment that's head and shoulders above the status quo. And ... it was. I say this coming to it as someone who is not terribly familiar with the Teen Horror Slasher genre (what horror movies I do know are more in the Hammer vein) – I know there are references that I missed, but it played so well on so many tropes that are in the collective consciousness, and the story was good enough on its own, that I never felt like I wasn't 'getting it' at all. The writing was, of course, excellent, the pacing great, the premise interesting and (to my limited exposure) original, and because it was all about subverting tropes it was, for the most part, unpredictable.
*one of my friends threatened to disown anyone in his acquaintance who did not go see it
The more observant reader at this point will probably get the sense that I am leading up to a 'however,' but for that I have to go into spoiler territory, so it goes behind a cut.
( However ... )
( Further However, now with spoilers for Dr Horrible )
In summary: Good film overall, cleverly written, feels a bit like it could have been a grand story arc for a season of Buffy but in a good way ... If you like Joss Whedon, this sort of horror, or puncturing archetypes in general, you will probably want to check it out at some point. I saw it in a small theatre in 2D and can't imagine what the benefit of seeing it in 3D could possibly be (especially as it's all post-process, which sets my teeth on edge); I also think it won't lose much in the transition to the small screen, so if you have to wait for the DVD release don't feel bad. I do request that if you wait and watch it at home, you pay for it in some way, because the studio took a chance on making a smart film with a good script and letting the director have his way with it, which should be rewarded in our creatively bankrupt age.
I feel compelled to state that this is a really, incredibly, gruesomely gory movie, just in case anyone might have a problem with that or is going into it with different expectations. It ain't pretty! But it does do a good job of maintaining the audience's distance, quite often with humour, and other times with just being so ridiculoulsy gory, that (at least to me) the gore wasn't as upsetting as it would have been had everyone been taking it seriously. It falls somewhere between Kill Bill and Shaun of the Dead gore and tone wise. Fun, if you can do that sort of thing, but unbearable if the sight of blood makes you faint.
P.S. I agree wholeheartedly with everything in![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nextian's much more specific and necessarily spoilerific post!
*one of my friends threatened to disown anyone in his acquaintance who did not go see it
The more observant reader at this point will probably get the sense that I am leading up to a 'however,' but for that I have to go into spoiler territory, so it goes behind a cut.
( However ... )
( Further However, now with spoilers for Dr Horrible )
In summary: Good film overall, cleverly written, feels a bit like it could have been a grand story arc for a season of Buffy but in a good way ... If you like Joss Whedon, this sort of horror, or puncturing archetypes in general, you will probably want to check it out at some point. I saw it in a small theatre in 2D and can't imagine what the benefit of seeing it in 3D could possibly be (especially as it's all post-process, which sets my teeth on edge); I also think it won't lose much in the transition to the small screen, so if you have to wait for the DVD release don't feel bad. I do request that if you wait and watch it at home, you pay for it in some way, because the studio took a chance on making a smart film with a good script and letting the director have his way with it, which should be rewarded in our creatively bankrupt age.
I feel compelled to state that this is a really, incredibly, gruesomely gory movie, just in case anyone might have a problem with that or is going into it with different expectations. It ain't pretty! But it does do a good job of maintaining the audience's distance, quite often with humour, and other times with just being so ridiculoulsy gory, that (at least to me) the gore wasn't as upsetting as it would have been had everyone been taking it seriously. It falls somewhere between Kill Bill and Shaun of the Dead gore and tone wise. Fun, if you can do that sort of thing, but unbearable if the sight of blood makes you faint.
P.S. I agree wholeheartedly with everything in
nextian's much more specific and necessarily spoilerific post!
