Welcome to this week’s edition of the Nerd Review!  Every week the Nerds give you their take on a different classic from the Nerdosphere.  This week Dave and Patrick review the 2011 horror comedy classic Cabin in the Woods!

The Flick:  Cabin in the Woods

What’s it About:  A group of twenty somethings are unknowingly being manipulated by a mysterious organization to head into a cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway.  The group encounters a all kinds of classic horror movie tropes, all directed by this organization.  When the kids discover a room full of strange objects int the cabin and touch one, the strange organization sends monsters after the group to kill them all.  As the mayhem increases one of the group, a woman named Dana, unravels that there is much more to this sinister plot than meets the eye.

Metacritic Score: 72

The Nerds’ Take on Cabin in the Woods (2011):

Patrick:  We missed out on a Halloween Nerd Review last week, so we decided to make up for it with a fun little horror comedy from the minds of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard called Cabin in the Woods.  What I find fascinating is that we likely have The Avengers to thank for this little gem.  You see, Cabin in the Woods was sitting about in film limbo waiting to end up in theaters someday maybe or, more likely, direct to video.  Then this little action flick directed by one of Cabin’s writers and starring some dude named Hemsworth came along, and boom!  Theatrical release.  Little did anyone know at the time that this was more than some cliché horror movie.  What audiences saw was a clever skewering of the horror film genre.

The movie begins with two corporate looking shlubs played by Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins walking through what appears to be an office building discussing mundane tasks like baby proofing a house before they are confronted by a coworker warning the two to take their upcoming weekend task seriously.  Cut to a group of twenty somethings packing up a van and heading to a cabin for a weekend getaway.  As the audience follows this group on their trip, they also are taken back to this office setting where Whitford and Jenkins are watching the group on their trip and orchestrating various encounters for them.  From these corporate guys we learn that the group is having their behavior modified in various ways to fundamentally change their personality.  No one seems to notice this except for the eccentric pothead Marty played by Fran Kranz. Every encounter fulfills some sort of horror movie trope such as reading from ancient texts to party out of control.  Eventually, virginal protagonist Dana reads from a text found in the cellar causing an undead family of backwoods zombies to rise and start killing the group.

But wait, there’s more!  Every time a zombie makes a kill, the two guys watching and controlling the action say a prayer of some sort, pull a lever, and take some of the blood of the victim to fill a strange symbol.  Eventually the audience learns that the corporation must fulfil a sacrificial prophecy in order to appease an ancient god or risk world ruination.

Cabin in the Woods is such a creative little flick.  The idea that horror movie tropes are all part of some ancient ritual to prevent ruination is a great deal of fun.  That the whole thing is orchestrated by two working stiffs just adds to the appeal.  Whitford and Jenkins really sell their role well.  The scene where Jenkins races through the building to orchestrate a cave in is hilarious.  He’s just a harried worker trying to meet his quota.  The real highlight of the movie though, is when Dana and Marty figure out that there is more to what is happening and make their way to the headquarters.  If you haven’t seen the flick, you know why.  If you haven’t I am not going to ruin what is some terrific mayhem and an all time great cameo.  The script is smart and filled with the macabre humor that is a trademark of Joss Whedon’s. The cast is solid with Chris Hemsworth’s Avengers fame being the catalyst for the movie’s release.  Fans of Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer television shows will spot some popular former cast members as well.  All in all, Cabin in the Woods is a fun little horror comedy with a twist that definitely satisfies.

Patrick’s Rating:  3.15/5

Dave: Those of us who grew up in the 1980’s generally like to consider that decade the “gold standard” for horror movies. It saw the launch of hugely popular franchises such as Friday The 13^th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Child’s Play, along with a slew of other memorable films and franchises. So it is common for children of the 80’s, such as me, to throw significant shade at the spate of modern horror movies as being largely unoriginal, quite forgettable, and something akin to splatterpunk without substance. There are, however, notable exceptions to this rule. The Cabin In The Woods is such an exception.

The Cabin In The Woods is an immensely entertaining, unique, and refreshingly different sort of horror movie. The general plot involves five individuals who are going to a cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway. That is pretty standard for many horror movies, such as Evil Dead. That might seem very tropey but it is balanced out by the knowledge, right off the bat, that there is something else going on. You know this because there are two guys in suits who look like they are producers of a television show or, perhaps, a scientific experiment of some sort. As it turns out, that is exactly what is going on, but in a way you don’t really expect. This is what makes the movie so much fun. On the one hand, you have the five persons in the cabin ending up in a basement amidst all sorts of odd items that are, in reality, a means of choosing their own specific manner of doom. Zombies end up attacking the group and much of that is rather paint-by-the-numbers. But the big reveal comes in the final third of the movie when we realize that the victims of this night of terror are really lambs being led to slaughter in a modern variation of ritual sacrifice.

Therein lies the brilliance of this movie. It takes the concept of sacrificing a group of individuals, including a virgin (or possibly two) and a fool, among others, to appease the ancient gods of the earth, and gives it a modern coat of paint by portraying the sacrifice as a reality TV show. People are placing bets on which horror the group will unwittingly unleash upon themselves. The fool of the group (Marty) discovers that something very strange is going on and he and the virgin, Dana, end up in the unenviable position of sabotaging the best laid plans of the puppet masters but are also faced with the difficult choice of sacrificing themselves for the sake of humanity or being seemingly selfish and bringing about the end of the world. It is all done so very well. I cannot remember another movie quite like The Cabin In The Woods where what is happening to the victims is so relatively irrelevant to the bigger story being told. Once you start to realize that there is something going on that does not make sense, you find yourself completely immersed in the movie and wanting to find out exactly how everything fits together.

The cast is rather good and it features Chris Hemsworth as Curt. Hemsowrth would be better known for his portrayal of Thor that same year, but he was quite good in this movie as well. A cameo by Sigourney Weaver as The Director in the closing moments was also done very well. There are other good, solid, performances but nothing that will really stand out to anyone as notably memorable. That being said, The Cabin In The Woods is somewhat of a rarity: A really well done, well-acted, entertaining, unique, and original modern horror movie with a twist. It is easily worth the investment of 90 minutes and is the type of movie that you will likely have to watch more than once in order to catch all the little things you probably missed the first time through. It is perfect for a date night or for really any night of the week. This one is easily one of the better horror films to have been released in the past decade. Highly recommended.

Dave’s Rating: 4/5

Overall Nerds Rating on Cabin in the Woods (2011):  3.55/5