Whenever I go to the pictures (or ‘cinema’ as most people call it) I make every effort to avoid trailers. Over the weekend I went to see The Cabin In The Woods, a film I knew absolutely nothing about other than it was apparently good, and it was written and directed by Drew Goddard (Lost, Cloverfield, Angel) and co-written by Joss Whedon (partly responsible for quite a few things I’ve not liked, particularly that fourth Alien film after the trilogy). We arrived early, got into the screen early and I had to watch the trailers. Looking back, I wish I’d had some ice cream to distract me.
Here’s one of the trailers:
I’ve not laughed so much since my playthrough of Bulletstorm a few weeks ago. Then came:
This trailer wasn’t so funny, if only because it made me ponder the sad state of the Western ‘blockbuster’ horror movie. If it isn’t a Western rehash of a world cinema gem, then it’s some found footage or paint-by-numbers Hollywood glam horror, or another cheap sequel. The last bad horror film I watched was Paranormal Activity 3 (I missed the second one– oh noes!) which sort of straddled those latter three, and in all honesty I’ve had bigger scares using Games For Windows Live. It had its moments but it was ultimately a let down after the first film which creeped me out no end. Now usually I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of seeing a film with a 3 at the end but because my girlfriend works at the cinema amidst many film-goers, we usually get a decent idea of what’s worth seeing and what isn’t and apparently Paranormal Activity 3 was worth seeing. Obviously, this system is not 100% reliable.
The last good horror film we watched however, was Julia’s Eyes, a Spanish film by Guillem Morales and while it had its flaws, it was unpredictable and did some interesting things centered around the film’s main theme of blindness. Unfortunately, unpredictability is becoming a scarce resource in films for me these days. When I watch, read or play anything, my mind plots courses, mapping out the possibilities in which the story may unfold and what events may occur (this may explain why I enjoyed Heavy Rain so much because, to a certain extent, you could influence these possibilities). Often some of these projected courses come into being and with it I get a little disappointed that the film didn’t surprise me in some way.
Anyway, where was I…? Ah, the trailers. As I said, I make every effort to avoid them, at best they give me time to eat my ice cream before I have to start looking up to watch the film, at worst they spoil a film. Now in the case of The Cabin In the Woods, the trailers leading up to it almost seemed cherry-picked to enhance my enjoyment of the main feature. The bad trailers (above) of presumably bad films irked me, they reminded me of why I don’t really entertain most modern Western horrors and I don’t like to be reminded of that. But there I was, sat ice-creamless preparing to watch a modern Western horror. I’d heard it was good. This better be good.
Thankfully, it was good. Oh boy was it good. I’m going to go all-in here and say it’s one of the most exciting films I’ve seen in years. The trailers before the film were just added kindling for the fire that The Cabin In The Woods was about to light– the effigy it was about to burn as much as it was going to celebrate. Watching it was a kind of release; it was like witnessing the dust being beaten out of the genre. You could say that The Cabin In The Woods is the explosive enema that the lazy, gluttonous and bloated blockbuster horror needed. You could also say that I’ve probably used too many metaphors here. Either way, it was a very welcome surprise to say the least.
The problem is, I can’t say much more about The Cabin In The Woods because the less you know about it the better. And no, don’t watch the trailer either. In fact I’ve probably said too much already. It’s not a straight-up horror and it isn’t really that scary, but everything else it does not only wiped the grimace off the cynical curmudgeon in me, it also made me giggle like a spoilt child. It’s a riot, and an unpredictable one too. I can also safely say that Joss Whedon has finally won me over.
Anyway, don’t just take my word for it, here:
…if you’re into horror at all you need to prioritize this ASAP, especially since the less you know about its mechanisms, the more fun it is.
Some random off the internet
I want to talk about this more so hurry up and watch it, then come back here and tell me what you think. While you’re here, let me know of any other horror films that have impressed you over the years. Old or new, me and my girlfriend are always open to recommendations.
Alien 4: From what I understand, writer Joss Whedon and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet did not get on at all. Whedon has complained that his script was changed by Jeunet many times and the final picture is not what he intended. I’m pretty sure the original draft is online somewhere (the “human” alien at the end was not human at all in the original script). Jeunet has made some fantastic films, though; I loved Delicatessen, for example. So Alien 4 might be proof that if you try to put mad geniuses together it all falls apart. It is for this reason I try not to work with anyone, obviously.
Oh, you were talking about The Cabin in the Woods?
Oh okay, that’s good to know and probably explains a lot! I’ve enjoyed most of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s films as well, The City of Lost Children, Amelie and particularly Delicatessen, I wasn’t too keen on A Very Long Engagement but I was very surprised by Alien Resurrection. It just felt so un-Alien. And yeah, that alien at the end was just… I can almost hear Giger clawing at his screen.
I think this was what it was supposed to look like:
An alien, to be sure, but nothing we’ve seen so far, its forelegs arch
out of its back like spiders legs, its back legs set on enormous
haunches, thick and powerful.
Its head is long, eyeless, like the others, but along its white expanse
red veins, coming out of the skin and running like thick black hairs to
the back.
It has retracted pincers at the side of head that come out when its
tongue does.
Its much bigger the the others, nearly the size of the queen herself.
And it’s bone white.
Is it bad that what I zeroed in on in that excerpt was not any of the content, but the improper form of “it’s” in the penultimate line?
Thanks for the link, very interesting! I’ve got an alternative script by Vincent Ward and John Fasano for Alien3 kicking around somewhere which is incredibly different to how the film turned out. It involved a wooden planet and monks… hmm, linky linky… ah! Whoa! Great link that includes a graphic novelisation of the idea: http://vincentwardfilms.com/concepts/alien-3/unrequited-visio/ and the script itself: http://home.online.no/~bhundlan/scripts/alien3/fasano.txt
Whedon, what a hack, eh?
I hate trailers. So rare is a genuinely good teaser, that does only that: tease at what’s to come. It’s funny you mention disliking the trailers which played leading up to The Cabin in the Woods, because when I first saw the trailer for The Cabin in the Woods I thought it looked like a terrible movie. Even after it had something like a 93 fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes I was skeptical, because I hold firmly to the belief that people generally suck and can’t be trusted.
But just last night a close friend, and someone whose tastes I very much trust, told me he saw this film and that it was wonderful.
Now I must see it.
Me too. I saw the commercial and I thought… another trashy teen horror film. In fact probably a remake of something from the early 70s.
I’m a fan of Joss Whedon. He’s snappy and witty. His work isn’t always 100%, but he does seem to have scriptwriting chops; a rare art indeed these days.
Gregg has never steered me wrong on a film. Just recently he recommended Gareth Edwards’ Monsters, which he described as a combination of “Tarkovsky’s Stalker and a buddy-road movie.” Based on his enthusiasm I scampered out to my 360 and Netflix’d it, and was not disappointed. The other nice thing about taking Gregg’s film recommendations is that if he knows about your personal phobias, he’ll warn you if movies contain them. Hence… Julia’s Eyes is not for me.
In games, trailers tend to wander from the fascinating-but-unrelated-to-the-game (Dead Island) to the useless (most on Steam). I like watching them when I’m at the movies, but I go to the movies so rarely these days that everything about the experience is like a treat. Cabin in the Woods is now on my list.
Not THAT list, that’s the list of people who must die. I mean the other list. The one with movies on it.
God damn it, I told Gregg about Monsters now he’s claiming all the cred.
I am a definite Whedon fan. I recently got through all seven series of Buffy and there was much to enjoy in the flawed and truncated Dollhouse.
I also love Veronica Mars. This is not a Whedon series, but he was a big fan of it (“Best. Show. Ever.”) to the point where he got a cameo. If I can just find some way of talking about video games that naturally brings up that series…
I did tell Steerpike that it was that Harbour Master guy who’d recommended it to me. I did do that, right Steerpike? Also, Jon Hopkins who composed the music for Monsters also did the music for Vessel.
I watched the trailer for The Cabin In The Woods after writing this article (having never seen it before) and yes, it is terrible, but only because it shows just enough to spoil the film’s big surprise but not quite enough to suggest it’s any different to other (bad) horror films. You can’t really sell The Cabin In The Woods without totally spoiling it. Thankfully (or hopefully), you won’t have remembered anything about the trailer! I knew nothing about the film prior to seeing it and I’m so glad that was the case.
I don’t remember! Knowing Gregg he surely gave credit where it’s due. I can only say for certain that it’s a movie I would have missed otherwise, and damn if I’m glad I didn’t. It’s beautiful and haunting. Immediately after viewing I looked it up on IMDB, as is my wont, and was sad to see that it made less than its modest budget. While in games that typically means “no sequel,” such a thing would be silly with Monsters; I just hope it doesn’t stunt the careers of those involved because it really was a very good film.
Meanwhile, I didn’t know Whedon wrote/directed “The Avengers” until just this weekend. Color me much more interested!
Actually I should point out that Jonas Kyratzes turned me onto Monsters. He pwns you all.
I dug out Jonas’ original review of Monsters that made me look out for the movie. In other words, wait for over a year before it came on the telly because I don’t do the cinema right now.
‘Every once in a while there is a movie that can only be described as awesome. Awesome in the original sense of the word: “Inspiring awe or admiration or wonder.” A movie so full of truth, executed with such skill and such belief in the work, that experiencing it is like being transported to another reality and coming back a different person. Monsters is such a movie.’
I really want to see this. I like horror movies and I am a big Joss Whedon fan (despite some missteps from time to time, I can only have love for the man who brought me Buff, Angel, Firefly and Dr. Horrible).
Sadly, however, I rarely go to movies anymore. I have a giant, excellent movie theater within walking distance from my house, but I still rarely go. I see, maybe, 2-4 movies a year in the theater.
This year, I know I will see “Avengers”, “Dark Knight Rises” and “Prometheus”, but beyond that… Hrmm. Oh, and “The Hobbit”. That’s coming out this year, right?
Back in my youth, I used to see movies all the time. I had a collection of ticket stubs from back in the late ’90s or so. I looked through them about a year ago and found a bunch from movies that I not only didn’t remember seeing in the theater, but didn’t even remember existed.
HM: thanks for linking that! I hadn’t really followed Monsters, but it sounds good.
I nearly spit out my coffee at “a low-budget version of Cloverfield, that piece of cinematic excrement.”
Really? Someone else who hates Cloverfield? Thank god.
As for Cabin in the Woods, damn, I wanna see it, but have to convince my husband, who only really likes matinees.
Oh Amanda you must watch Monsters, probably one of the best SF movies in recent times. It’s like someone decided to make a SF film for grown-ups again.
Cloverfield: It was everything I hoped it wouldn’t be. Someone should also point out that overtly fake shakycam on a giant cinema screen is really, really nausea-inducing.
Cloverfield was awful. I was only happy when everyone died. Wait! Shit! Spoiler! (sorry)
Monsters, meanwhile… Kyratzes sums it up well. It really was a remarkable piece of work, one that is very ambiguous and leaves you thinking. A great example of what pseudo-documentary style filmmaking can really do. You can Netflix it on the device of your choice. Do so now.
@Ajax: wait, what? You really want to see this, you’re a horror fan, a Joss Whedon fan and it’s not on your ‘I know I will see (at the movies)’ list?! 😉
@Amanda: You should definitely check it out. It’s only like Cloverfield in that it features monsters. Other than that the title of the film is quite misleading (my girlfriend said there were a lot of teens sorely disappointed by the distinct lack of them — aww boohoo sob). Monsters is more character drama framed by SF than SF with character drama shoehorned into it.
“Monsters” is not a monster movie at all. I can see why idiot teens would be disappointed. It’s a very touching adventure movie about people and a bunch of other stuff, and also a real testament to what talented people can do with Adobe After Effects and limited funds. After I saw it I went to IMDB to learn more about it and, naturally, the forumgoers there called it “boring.” It is slow, maybe, compared to monster movies, but it is not boring. From concept to execution I thought it was fantastic, and a great choice of leads.
As for Ajax and his moviegoing, I have the same problem. Back when we all lived in the same town we went to lots of movies. Now planning these things is enough of a production that we rarely factor the cinema into our plans. On days I work from home, I try to see a movie in the late afternoon – it’s how I saw The Hunger Games – but that only applies if I’m not actually busy with regular work. I got used to seeing movies alone when I was in film school, and I still like doing it, but finding the right day and time remains a burden.
Because my better half works at the pictures we get to see them for free, a perk we never take for granted. Watching movies on the big screen is a pricey business these days, that and theater etiquette seems to be going down the pan so even if you can stump up the cash for a ticket there’s a good chance you’re going to be sharing the viewing with a bunch of obnoxious assholes who don’t know when to shutup and be quiet.
Who are you people and why am I talking to you if you didn’t like Cloverfield?! It was such great cheesy fun!
I saw it twice… although the first time I “watched” quite a bit with my eyes closed to mitigate the vomit-inducing shakycam. The second time I used motion sickness bands to combat the nausea.) It reminded me of my teen years wasting Saturday afternoons watching badly dubbed Japanese horror/SF movies.
I really enjoyed Cloverfield. Luckily, I didn’t suffer any kind of nausea or anything from the shaky-cam.
I enjoyed it as well, no motion sickness either. I felt more sick watching {insert 3D film here}.
Aw man, I liked Cloverfield! Anyway, I’m really intrigued by Cabin in the Woods. I don’t know if these qualify as horror films as such but I enjoyed them. I typically like a horror movie that is more than just a horror movie, if that makes any sense:
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (horror movie + courtroom drama)
The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro people)
Zombieland (the role that Woody Harrelson was born for)
*Adds Monsters to instant queue*
Zombieland makes me happier than almost anything except for vicodin. Just saying.
@Botch: It’s much more than a horror film but I can’t possibly say why because it would spoil it. I enjoyed it more than The Devil’s Backbone and The Orphanage and The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Julie’s Eyes and Cloverfield and, dare I say it, Monsters. I haven’t seen Zombieland yet unfortunately, but it is on my list. There aren’t many films over the last few years that I’ve found as downright fun, entertaining and clever as The Cabin In The Woods.
Here are a couple more choice quotes (from Qt3’s movie forum thread):
Okay, I’ll stop banging on about it, I’m irritating myself now. 🙂
I’m going with the girlfriend to see this on Friday. And I added Monsters to my Instant Queue. I loves me some horror.
@Gregg: pretty high praise indeed. I think you would really enjoy Zombieland. It is good fun. And I’m sure others have said it, but it should win the nomination for best cameo ever.
I watched Monsters and while I appreciated it for bucking the norm, I didn’t like the characters very much.
Fucking Canadian Netflix. It doesn’t have this Monsters film you’re all yapping about. But I’m totally going to see Cabin in the Woods tonight. I’ve wiped the shitty trailer from my memory, going in as blind as I can.
Cloverfield was fun in its own special way. Don’t listen to Steerpike. He’s wordy and pretentious, remember?
So, if someone — say, one’s wife — likes Joss Whedon but absolutely can’t abide horror, would she like it? Someone who couldn’t really take The Devil’s Backbone?
It depends what she doesn’t like about horror. The Cabin In The Woods is certainly for horror fans, and it’s certainly a horror film but its spliced with something else that I think makes it accessible to people who aren’t especially into horror. I don’t think it’s a scary film and it’s not particularly creepy but it’s all the other things that make it so entertaining. God damn, it’s so difficult to talk about and ‘sell’ to people! Hopefully Max will be able to help me out when he’s seen it! 😉
My girlfriend (who’s a Joss Whedon fan) says if you like Whedon, you should like The Cabin In The Woods.
@Toger: Motion Sickness bands? Maybe that would work. I hated Cloverfield for a very simple reason: I threw up. Right in the popcorn bucket.
Later, we rented it, because my husband said he thought it was awesome and I really missed out. And I gotta say, through the squinting and nausea, I just couldn’t see what all the big deal was about.
She says what she doesn’t like about horror is that it’s horrible. And then “The gore probably is the big problem.”
She says what she doesn’t like about horror is that it’s horrible. And then “The gore probably is the big problem.”
I thought Monsters was a sweet love story. All I’m going to say. Also I love trashy teens-trapped-in-the-woods movies so I hope no future filmmakers will be deterred by Whedon’s (sort of pompous) genre busting tendencies. I was at a friend’s house last night and he had downloaded Cabin In the Woods from Pirate Bay but the quality was so bad we only watched the first couple of minutes before turning it off. We did run the scroll bar slowly to the right for a minute and pretty much caught the premise right off. Will watch it when it comes out on DVD, I suppose. Also I too appreciated Cloverfield though not enough to like or hate it.
The Cabin In The Woods is gory but it’s gory in an unaffecting Evil Dead sort of way; none of it is really that unsettling. Actually, there are a couple of scenes which are quite unsettling before the ‘tone’ of the film kicks in but they’re relatively short lived. If it’s any type of gore that bothers her though, she might want to avoid it!
Hm. Yeah, I think next movie night is Damsels in Distress.
Ok, I watched Cabin in the Woods this weekend. I think I had a giant smile on my face the entire time. Especially the last act of the movie. Grand good time.
Is this comment thread staying “spoiler free”?
I think it should be okay to spill the proverbial beans now, provided you SPOILER!! warn everyone (not sure the comments system allows spoiler tags unfortunately). Seriously people, if you haven’t seen it yet, proceed with caution.
SPOILERS!!
I especially loved that final act. I was half expecting the film to end around the point where they’re all partying in the office while the protagonist is being beaten senseless in the background on the big screens. After that everything just goes ape shit, and for the better. When they found the lift I was all ‘Please, please, please be a house of horror film horrors’ and sure enough it was. Then it was followed by that scene in the foyer with the lifts and the armed guards… wow. I haven’t beamed and giggled so much during a film since… probably the foyer scene in The Matrix.
It’s funny, when the words ‘The Cabin In The Woods’ exploded on to the screen in big red block capitals in exactly the same way as Haneke’s Funny Games’ title did I should have expected the film to mess with my expectations, but I think my cynicism kept that puppy down.
/SPOILERS!!
SPOILERS!!!
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Yeah, that last act was absolutely batshit crazy in the best possible way! I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling. MERMAN!!!
I gotta get this bluray for all the behind the scenes stuff and director’s commentary.
Have to watch the movie again as well to try and figure some things out. I don’t think it is a movie that will hold up to breaking down the “plausibility” of some things (I use that word loosely of course, within the context of the movie), but it was a grand old time.
I actually would LOVE for a prequel of sorts. I think it would be amazing for a sort of mockumentary feature covering the inner-workings of that organization and their day-to-day operations, showing how they maintain and keep all the monsters, the logistics of planning everything, etc. That would be a freaking blast.
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END SPOILERS!
SPOILERS!!!!!
REALLY…SPOILERS!!!!
“The Cabin the Woods” came to my local movie/brew pub/pizza joint this week. Three bucks for the movie plus I can sit in a comfy armchair and drink beer and eat pizza which, I’m sorry Gregg, beats ice cream. The screen isn’t the best but they more than make up for it with a killer surround sound system cranked up to 11. Plus no trailers and hardly anyone there on a Wednesday night at 10 pm. Heaven. Or at least I hoped so.
Yup. Okay…here be SPOLIERS!!!
I knew the whole Truman Show angle going in as I had seen the first five minutes of The Cabin in the Woods weeks ago. Still, knowing that didn’t even dull the immense enjoyment I took away from this sucker. I’m so glad I watched it in a theater and not on DVD. Teen slasher movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. Ever since I saw the original “Black Christmas” with Olivia Hussey and Kier Dulea I’ve been searching them out. Most are terrible but occasionally a good one comes along to make the search worthwhile. I find them comforting in that I already know the formula. Take a sexy, bad girl, a jock, a brainiac, a class clown and a virginal woman-child, send them off to the edge of the map, cut off all escape, release the monsters and sit back and watch the fireworks.
“The Cabin in the Woods” spends the first half of the movie guiding you over familiar terrain. Spooky character foreboding. Check. Unnerving destination. Check. Bad girl dies first. Check. Everybody know the story and that’s what the producers were counting on. Then they just rip the lid off and then they rip that lid off and when you think they are done they literally dig down to where all the monsters from all the movies in the world are warehoused. The scene with the first SWAT team and the monsters is destined to go down in horror film history. You can tell the director thought so too cause he kept returning to that “red room”. Talk about “getting the party started.” Holy Magoly.
I felt a little let down at the very end with the Ancient Evil Gods turning out to be a sort of jolly green giant hand. Everyone know Ancient Evil Gods sport tentacles and not hands. Otherwise, immensely entertaining and the best thing I’ve ever seen from Joss Whedon in ages though I have yet to catch The Avengers.
This movie sent me to my happy place and kept me there for the duration. Good horror is rare these days so it’s great to see this kind of thing being made.
“local movie/brew pub/pizza joint”
That already sounded better than ice cream!
Glad you enjoyed it Scout, I couldn’t sing its praises high enough.
Spoilers!
What I loved about the stereotypical horror character fodder was that they weren’t strictly stereotypical horror character fodder. The show or corporation had affected them in some way to fit them into each one of the prescribed boxes. So the former-brunette’s blonde hair dye actually affected her mentally and ‘the jock’ had been affected in some other way I can’t remember, probably the booze. There’s that scene where Marty notes how those two were behaving really weirdly and yet, from our perspective, they were acting just how those types of characters usually act in these films! My girlfriend was half expecting Marty the pothead to be the virgin as another way of eschewing the stereotypes but it wasn’t to be.
But yeah, that scene in the foyer with the armed guards and the house of horrors being unleashed was just so damn gratifying. It’s a bit of a nerd’s wet dream. I laughed a lot throughout the film too, the dialogue in the office was fantastic. Me personally, I thought it was better than The Avengers, just for its satire, but The Avengers I found hugely entertaining and it’s yet another film of Whedon’s that’s pressed all the right buttons for me.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and find a local movie/brew pub/pizza joint. If I can’t find one, I ought to found one.
Spoilers.
I also liked the whole idea of the slasher scenario being a sacrificial ritual meant to appease the elder gods. By extension every slasher movie ever made became part of the plot. The producers cleverly co-oped an entire genre in service to their story. Also, they wisely made you care about the characters. Parts were as horrific and gut wrenching as any horror movie ever made. I drifted away from horror after SAW and it’s ilk came out. These types of movies just sucked the air out of the room so to speak. The Cabin in the Woods kicks out a wall quite nicely.
It was a good twist that the overseers were spiking the punch to get the characters to fall in line with their assigned roles. I think that went a long way towards making the characters more appealing instead of just being meat puppets for the screenwriters.
Spoilers!
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Scout, regarding the “Elder Gods” having a humanoid limb instead of a tentacle, you can interpret the movie as the audience itself being the elder gods that need to be pleased by following this slasher movie formula. Because the ritual wasn’t completed, “we” are the ones who are angered, hence the huhman looking hand. Just one way to look at it. I really want to see this again!
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End spoilers.
I forgot to mention that earlier on. At first I saw the evil gods as the film distributors controlling the directors/creators behind the show; the directors being forced to do whatever they could to appease them. But then it seems more likely that the evil gods indeed represent us, the viewers craving the same shit year in, year out, with the directors coming up with the goods. Or not so goods.
Yeah, I thought about that. They hinted at that idea in one place when someone mentioned something like how people were so used to seeing gore-crazed monsters cutting a swath through innocent victims that it barely bothered anyone, and in fact people expected it.(Watch any Game of Thrones episode for clarification.) And the pothead responds, “Yeah, but should we be used to it? Should we expect it?” Still, my first response to the big hand was “WTF, Shrek is the Ancient Evil God?” I think they could have made their point more effectively there but to be fair, after the glorious grand guginol they just served up pretty much anything would have been anticlimactic. I wold have been happy with the last shot being the couple at the end in the chamber, watching it all come down but it wouldn’t have underlined their meta point.
I want to see this again too. Definitely deserves a second and third viewing.