THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

This film is a clever and inventive horror-comedy that inverts or examines many of the stereotypes of the genre while telling its own suitably demented tale of carnage and mystery.  It's hard to discuss much of the film without giving away its secrets and deflating some of the fun of surprise.  Would it be spoiling too much to say that it actually stars Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins and that its really funny?  That sounds confusing.  This is a horror film that humorously examines why exactly we want to watch horror films.  That sounds better.

The premise is intentionally archetypal.  Five semi-stereotypical friends (I didn't recognize any of them except Thor) head out to titular locale for a weekend of booze, sex, drugs, and probably getting horribly butchered.  The previews make it clear that there is something more than meets the eye to this simple premise, but the film itself essentially announces it from the opening scene.  Lets just say this this film has numerous audience surrogates who provide commentary and analysis on the aspects of a typical horror film, right down to the audiences (not-so) unstated desire for the women to hurry up and get naked.

It's not all perfect.  If you want to get picky, the movie isn't really scary at all (despite plenty of creepy, quiet voyeurism and third act gore-splattering) and some cliches play out exactly as expected: when heroes stumble across an area they're not supposed to be in, they are still able to wander around undetected and cause lots of trouble.  And a seemingly all powerful figure with seemingly limitless resources will be reduced to rolling around on the floor struggling with a teenager for a handgun.  But these are minor gripes.  This is a horror film that you can call 'clever' or 'inventive' and how often does that happen?

~ This movie was finished way back in 2009 and has been sitting on a shelf.  The studio didn't know how to market it, they studio went bankrupt, the studio wanted to wait so Chris Hemsworth would get more famous, the studio wanted to convert it to 3D, and so on.

~ The film is a veritable smorgasbord of references to other horror films, but they are handled in a subtle enough way as to not detract from the experience whether you get them or not.

~ Richard Jenkins is criminally underrated

~ Director Drew Goddard co-wrote the script with Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed next month's superhero crossover flick The Avengers.

~ I haven't used the word yet so I'll just awkwardly drop it here: meta.

~ It's hard to say much without ruining all the fun so if you are at all interested in this film you should read nothing more about it until after you have gone and seen it.  Hurry!