Released: April 2012
Director: Drew Goddard
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Rated R
Distributor: Lionsgate Studios
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Cast:
Kristen Donnelly: Dana
Chris Hemsworth: Curt
Anna Hutchison: Jules
Fran Kranz: Marty
Jesse Williams: Holden
Richard Jenkins: Sitterson
Bradley Whitford: Hadley
There are many things in this world that truly go together: Peanut butter and chocolate, bacon and eggs, death and taxes, politics and corruption. What about horror and comedy? Surprisingly, these two go together VERY well, yet only in the hands of somebody who truly understands both. I’ve mentioned on many occasions that horror is one of the most versatile genres in movies. Comedy’s the other one. There is a clear line between horror and comedy, but weirdly enough, the two genres are very similar in many ways. They tend to follow the same kind of beats in how to get a reaction out of people, but the intention is simply a matter of degrees. Do you want to the audience to scream or to laugh? You CAN get both, but it takes a real artist to pull it off well. Let’s go all the way back to Ghostbusters from 1984. That’s a horror movie that also worked as a comedy because of how well it was written. All the crazy situations were played straight as if it was a real situation. It also scared people because of the creature and ghost designs. Evil Dead II by Sam Raimi took the original movie and made it into a splat-tastic comedy. There were some legitimately freaky moments, but those moments were balanced out by moments of levity, which were provided by Bruce Campbell’s character. The trick in making a horror-comedy work is to make sure the horror side of it works. The comedy will come later. I’ve seen to many attempts at trying to be funny when the horror side of things fails entirely. There’s a precarious balance that has to be kept in order for the combination to work. What I bring to you today is one of my personal favorites in the genre: The Cabin in The Woods.
The Cabin in The Woods follows a group of college students as they head up into the mountains to an isolated cabin in the woods(see what I did there?)to have a good time. That is really all that I can say about the film’s plot without really spoiling it. Suffice to say, The Cabin in The Woods is one of the smartest horror movies I’ve seen in years. Everybody and their grandma should be familiar with the standard horror movie tropes about who dies in what order. It’s pretty standard across most slasher movies. What Cabin offers is a very unique and awesome explanation for WHY that is. It also explains why some of these characters make the boneheaded decisions that they do. There is a government organization that makes sure that things happen the way they do, and that’s as far as spoilers go. While horror comedies can be funny because of the situations, Cabin is hilarious because of all the ways that it pokes fun at the audience and their expectations of what a horror movie should be. While the first half of the movie plays out like any other slasher movie, it’s the last act of the film that’s batshit crazy. Again, you have to see it for yourself.
While The Cabin in The Woods was released in 2012, it was actually made in 2009, so the Chris Hemsworth you see here is actually the pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth. He’s not even the lead. Any good movie, be it a horror, action, or comedy, needs to have strong characters to drive the story. The main characters in this movie represent the stereotypical potential victims that you see in nearly every horror movie ever made: The athlete/jock played by Chris Hemsworth, the promiscuous girl played by Anna Hutchison, the intellectual played by Jesse Williams, the fool played by Fran Kranz, and the virgin played by Kristen Donnelly. These make up our main protagonists/victims. The stand-out character here is Marty the Fool. Yet, he’s actually the smartest one of the bunch, despite the fact that he’s high as a kite most of the time. Marty represents the audience’s skepticism in horror movies. At multiple times during the movie, he’s constantly making the common sense observations that most of us would like to make in those situations. In fact, one moment when it’s decided that people should split up, Marty goes, “Really?” He’s the kind of character that figures out what’s actually going on, and that makes the situation even funnier. Kristen Donnelly plays Dana like the sweet girl next door, but she’s a lot tougher than she looks. Now, Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford play the government workers who make this whole thing go forward, and they are absolutely fantastic. There’s clearly a reason for why they do what they do, but a lot of the time, they seem to be enjoying. They play off each other incredibly well.
In any good horror-comedy, you have to make sure that the horror aspect of the film works as much as the comedy, otherwise people are going to be laughing for the wrong reasons. Thanks to the deft direction by Drew Goddard and smart writing by Joss Whedon, the horror aspect of The Cabin in The Woods makes it worthy of being included as one of the best horror movies of its kind. The practical effects and stunt-work are incredibly impressive. Now, normally I would hate the idea of CGI in a horror movie of this kind, but the final act of the film kind of requires it and for the most part it holds up pretty well, but it does complement the practical effects shown in the film. The sets are incredibly impressive. The cabin itself is obviously a riff on Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead movies. The only thing missing is the Cadillac. There’s also the run-down gas station run by the creepy old guy that you see in EVERY horror movie. That scene and old man character are moments that are truly laugh-out-loud, because it’s so ridiculous and the movie knows that. Marty using his bong as a weapon is also pretty damn silly, but it works. It works because the situation calls for it. What happens to Chris Hemsworth’s character is shocking, but also incredibly funny, especially if you’ve seen Thor or any movie where Mr. Hemsworth is the lead.
No film is perfect, yet there are really no complaints that I can adequately come up with about this movie. At 95 minutes, it’s tightly paced and moves pretty fast. The humor hits fast with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The blood and gore is incredibly satisfying, and the fact that the movie takes you on a roller-coaster ride while making fun of you for it at the same time is even better. Great horror-comedies are not that common, so when they do show up I do pay attention. The Cabin in The Woods could’ve been a run-of-the-mill horror movie and still be pretty decent, but it takes the concept and flips the table. While holding a beer. Or a bong. While the film is over a decade old, it holds up incredibly well, and I would recommend it to anybody, even to people who are not avid fans of horror. It’s that good. Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon nailed it with this one.