{"id":11846,"date":"2013-10-29T20:52:32","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T10:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=11846"},"modified":"2014-09-07T10:34:56","modified_gmt":"2014-09-07T00:34:56","slug":"the-cabin-in-the-woods-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=11846","title":{"rendered":"The Cabin In The Woods [2012]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Director: \u00a0<\/strong>Drew Goddard
\nWriters: \u00a0<\/strong>Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon
\nCast: \u00a0<\/strong>Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Kristen Connolly<\/p>\n

H<\/span>orror-comedies, when done effectively, are some of the most entertaining and physically draining cinematic experiences one can have.\u00a0 When it comes together the way Sam Raimi nails it with Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn<\/em> and Drag Me To Hell<\/em>, you can be flicking between tension, laughter and shock, and sometimes all three within the span of a minute.<\/p>\n

Although Raimi is the most recognized name in the horror comedy genre, Drew Goddard made a name for himself in 2012 with The Cabin In The Woods<\/em>, a twisted and imaginative film that was pitched just right with a beautifully understated marketing campaign that gave away nothing.<\/p>\n

The Cabin In The Woods<\/em> features a fivesome of unsuspecting teens who decide to spend their summer holiday at a log cabin, not unlike the one from Evil Dead<\/em>.\u00a0 In fact, its practically the same location.\u00a0 Dana, Holden, Marty, Jules and Curt barely get settled in when they begin to notice that all is not what it seems in this place.\u00a0 If they’d been paying attention, they would have noticed that a bird flying over their campervan along the way appears to hit an invisible forcefield in mid-air.<\/p>\n

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The other clue that we get that this is not your average horror film is the interspersed scenes with two lab researchers, played by the excellent Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford, who appear to monitoring the teenagers from a bunker far away as though they are a lab experiment.\u00a0 They follow and scrutinize the teenagers with great interest but we do not yet know their intentions.<\/p>\n

Thats maybe more than you need to know if you haven’t seen the film.\u00a0 Although most of this happens in the first ten minutes.\u00a0 The Cabin In The Woods<\/em> then straps the audience for a hilarious, intermittently scary and highly imaginative journey that would be a shame to spoil.\u00a0 This is definitely a film where the less you know going in, the better.<\/p>\n

The beauty of The Cabin In The Woods<\/em> is that it knows its audiences and enjoys toying with their expectations.\u00a0 You gotta know the rules to break them and Drew Goddard shows a sound understanding of horror tropes and conventions.\u00a0 Think you can guess who’ll survive to the end?\u00a0 Guess again.\u00a0 The film continues to push and pull in unexpected directions and is virtually unrecognizable in tone and atmosphere from the opening credits to where it finishes up.\u00a0 Conceptually, it reminds me of those old Road Runner<\/em> cartoons where he runs so far to the right of the screen that he clears the filmstock and lands in a different show.<\/p>\n

Horror comedies are hard work.\u00a0 Its why I suspect so few people give it a go.\u00a0 You can be too focused on humour and undercut the tension in the horror scenes.\u00a0 You can fail to build tension and scare your audience if the humour distracts or doesn’t hit the mark.\u00a0 The Cabin In The Woods<\/em> is one of those rare instances where it hits the mark on both counts.\u00a0 This is a genuinely scary and funny film.\u00a0 It has a rich understanding of horror film heritage but brings with it a fresh and interesting take.<\/p>\n