The Cabin in the Woods

Theatrical Release Date: 2009 10 23 (USA) / 2009 (USA) / 2012 04 13 (USA)

UPC: 031398156147

Studio: Lionsgate

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Graphic Violence, Nudity, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content, Gore]

Summary: Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard team up for this bloody horror satire that offers an inventive twist on the familiar stranded-in-the-woods sub-genre. As five friends pile into an RV bound for a secluded cabin far from civilization, the operators of a mysterious, high-tech control room monitor their every move while preparing an arcane ritual that dates back to the beginning of time. Shortly after arriving at the rickety cottage, Dana (Kristen Connolly) and her friends Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchison), Marty (Fran Kranz), and Holden (Jesse Willaims) venture into the basement and discover a little girl's diary from the early 1900s -- which recounts a series of horrifying events that unfolded precisely where the vacationing teens how stand. Before long, the nightmare comes knocking at the door -- murder gleaming from its putrid eyes and a rusty saw clenched in rotting hands. In the control room, everything is going exactly according to plan; Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) are taking bets, and their supervisor Lin (Amy Acker) is monitoring every detail. But just when it looks like the show is over, an unexpected glitch threatens to topple the entire system. ~ Rovi

Category: Horror

Awards: Film Presented – SXSW Best Screenplay – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Screenplay – Detroit Film Critics Society

Features: cc
Audio commentary with writer/director Drew Goddard and writer/producer Joss Whedon
We are not who we are: making The Cabin in the Woods
An army of nightmares: makeup & animatronic effects
Primal terror: visual effects
The secret secret stash: Marty's stash, hi, my name is Joss and I'll be your guide
Wondercon Q&A;

The Cabin in the Woods

Format: DVD

Release Date: 09/18/2012

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 95 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- The Cabin in the Woods
1. Weekend Away
2. Nest is Empty
3. Acquiring Targets
4. The Cabin
5. Picking Rooms
6. Control
7. Place Your Bets
8. I Dare You
9. Cellar Door
10. Read It
11. Spirits Rising
12. Acting Strange
13. Customer Satisfaction
14. Eternal Slumber
15. A Walk
16. Lock Down
17. Black Room
18. Perfect Record
19. Which One?
20. Going Down
21. Something Bigger
22. Code Black
23. Ritual
24. Fun Weekend

Jack Rodgers

The Cabin in the Woods is a fiendishly clever, constantly imaginative horror thriller that keeps springing new surprises on the audience right up until the end credits, but it also presents a large problem for any reviewer: how do you discuss a film that's built around a series of plot twists and reveals that radically reshape the movie you think you're watching, and that start with the very first scene? Make no mistake: you're better off going into The Cabin in the Woods knowing absolutely nothing, or even better, just thinking that it's another brain-dead horror flick during which you'll be yelling at the screen about how stupid the characters are.

Here's what we can safely reveal: The Cabin in the Woods does indeed center on five friends from college, each of whom appears, on the surface at least, to resemble one of the classic slasher-film archetypes. There's Curt (Chris Hemsworth), an athlete whose cousin has lent him a secluded cabin for a weekend getaway; Jules (Anna Hutchison), Curt's horny girlfriend who has just dyed her hair blonde; Dana (Kristen Connolly), a bookworm whom Curt admonishes for neglecting her social life in favor of her studies; Holden (Jesse Williams), the nice guy brought along as a romantic interest for Dana; and Marty (Fran Kranz), the requisite stoner and comic relief who is constantly paranoid that something bad is about to happen to all of them. The five pals arrive at the cabin and immediately begin to feel an ominous vibe, and when they explore the place's spooky, dimly basement, they find a number of strange artifacts. Seems pretty straightforward, but wait -- what's going on in the first scene of the movie, which seems to be set in some sort of corporate office? And why are two office drones (played by Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) talking about how sites around the rest of the world have failed and it's up to them to succeed or else face dire consequences?

Giving away anything more would be unfair, but suffice it to say, The Cabin in the Woods seems at first glance to be setting up a run-of-the-mill Texas Chainsaw Massacre knockoff, only to reveal itself as a thorough deconstruction of horror movies that skewers the most ridiculous clichés of the genre, as well as some of its misogynistic undertones. It feels at times like co-writers Joss Whedon (a geek legend and wildly prolific artist best known for creating the TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly) and Drew Goddard (a former writer for Buffy and Lost) drew up a checklist of every scene and character typically found in slasher films and proceeded to ask themselves, "How can we put a new spin on this?" Or maybe more accurately, "How can we make fun of this while still using it to scare people?"

The cast are all quite good, although special praise goes to Kranz for keeping his character from becoming annoying (never an easy task when you're playing the goofy stoner), as well as the pairing of Jenkins and Whitford for selling the humorous and mundane nature of their bizarre job. Co-scribe Goddard also directed the film, and while the picture isn't quite as atmospheric as, say, the Evil Dead movies (clearly a touchstone for The Cabin in the Woods), we should be grateful that a screenplay this smart wasn't ruined by a hack filmmaker overly reliant on jump cuts and shaky camerawork to sell the scares; Goddard knows how to put together scenes so that you can always tell who is where and what's going on (a pretty low bar that most of the directors put in charge of big-name horror franchises can't seem to clear), and while you can feel him straining against a relatively modest budget during the picture's absolutely insane climax, this is still one of the most promising directorial debuts in a long while.

From its disorienting opening to its unexpected twist ending, The Cabin in the Woods is a wild joyride that should appeal to both horror aficionados and those who find the whole genre witless and unbelievable. Perhaps more importantly, it's the shot of adrenaline that horror movies badly need after an endless parade of lackluster remakes and cheaply made found-footage spectacles; now that Goddard and Whedon have vivisected the slasher genre and exposed its inner workings, let's hope that this inspires some young turk to stop relying on the same old tropes and come up with the next big thing in horror filmmaking. ~ Jack Rodgers, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jason Clark  Executive Producer 
Joss Whedon  Producer 
Joss Whedon  Screenwriter 
David Julyan  Composer (Music Score) 
Drew Goddard  Director 
Drew Goddard  Screenwriter 
Kristen Connolly  Actor 
Chris Hemsworth  Actor 
Anna Hutchison  Actor 
Fran Kranz  Actor 
Jesse Williams  Actor 
Richard Jenkins  Actor 
Bradley Whitford  Actor 
Brian J. White  Actor 
Amy Acker  Actor 
Tim de Zarn  Actor 
Tom Lenk  Actor 
Dan Payne  Actor 
Jodelle Ferland  Actor 
Danny Shea  Actor 
Maya Massar  Actor 
Matt Drake  Actor 
Nels Lennarson  Actor 
Rukiya Bernard  Actor 
Adrian Holmes  Actor 
Chelah Horsdal  Actor 
Terry Chen  Actor 
Heather Doerksen  Actor 
Patrick Sabongui  Actor 
Phillip Mitchell  Actor 
Naomi Dane  Actor 
Ellie Harvie  Actor 
Patrick Gilmore  Actor 
Brad Dryborough  Actor 
Emili Kawashima  Actor 
Aya Furukawa  Actor 
Maria Go  Actor 
Serena Akane Chi  Actor 
Abbey Imai  Actor 
Marina Ishibashi  Actor 
Miku Katsuura  Actor 
Alicia Takase Lui  Actor 
Jodi Tabuchi  Actor 
Sara Taira  Actor 
Alyssandra Yamamoto  Actor 
Richard Cetrone  Actor 
Phoebe Galvan  Actor 
Simon Pidgeon  Actor 
Matt Phillips  Actor 
Lori Stewar  Actor 
Gregory Zach  Actor 

Country: USA