Coyote Cinema: Cabin in the Woods

[cyrano]

I'm gonna try to do this pretty spoiler free, but if you plan to see it soon then skip this for now. And I do recommend you see it before somebody spoils it for you.
Yes, you can tell by the cast alone that this is a Joss Whedon project, but the dialogue and the weird ass plot will also do it. It's kind of a horror movie, but it's really about the horrific things going on behind a horror movie. And I laughed a lot, although of the dozen or so people in the house I think I was the only one. There were a couple of male gaze moments that made me uncomfortable, although it's pretty much an omnipresent trope of american horror films.

This film has a great premise, and it went some places I really didn't expect. I remember at least once looking at the screen, deflating a little, and thinking "well hell, what now?" And then they said "THAT! THAT'S WHAT!" And I was wowed.

Four wags, I paid five bucks but would not have felt cheated at ten.

Comments

[missdotti.livejournal.com]

This seals unit then. I suppose I'll be dragging someone with me to go see this.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I love auto-complete. It makes for some excellent visuals. I'm picturing a highly trained military team procuring popcorn and inserting you and them into the best seats, systematically sweeping the house, disabling people's cel phones.

[missdotti.livejournal.com]

I rarely notice that it has happened until after I've hit send and it's too late to fix. Consider yourself entertained.

[wow-hazmat.livejournal.com]

Agreed -- really good, really thoughtful exploration of the horror genre. Loved the in-jokes and meta referencing (as we're both fans of horror ourselves).

Wasn't thrilled with the ending, though, and the keen-minded spouse had some issues with the execution of the idea, BUT he also thought the idea itself excellent and original.

We were both disappointed at the lack of a stinger after the credits, though. :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

The ending is one of those places I did not expect them to go. But given the premise, I'm not sure what *would* have been more satisfying, he said, carefully stepping around the spoilers. But yeah, the meta was kind of the whole movie, so I'm glad that it was done well, and with obvious fondness.

[wildpaletz.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the ending.

There's two big plot holes, but not enough for me to enjoy the movie less.

However, folks who don't ordinarily watch horror movies (like me) should be warned that it IS a horror movie. It probably has more comedy than a normal one, and is more clever than your average one, but it still is a horror movie with all the death and gore and pain that entails.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I should probably have been more explicit about that, and in fact much of my enjoyment comes from familiarity with horror movies and their memes and how the crew tinkered with them.

[wildpaletz.livejournal.com]

It's cool. I probably would have seen it anyway (I think I saw it around when you did) even if someone had warned me, but with all the focus on its uniqueness, sometimes reviewers have left out that important fact :)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

And I've been heads-down in this project for a couple of years, so I'm all "Of *course* it's a horror film!" Because I get like that and make assumptions. (:

[spideyj.livejournal.com]

I loved it. It was almost guaranteed that I would, considering that it is a) horror and b) Joss Whedon, but it was more than I was expecting it to be. It was full of idea juice.

[reluctantgenius.livejournal.com]

I usually find this kind of thing quite icky, but the frame kept it from being quite so, um, visceral, for me and I kind of enjoyed it.