Part of me wonders when it’s appropriate to start ranking the year’s films. I say that, because I’ve just had the pleasure of catching The Cabin in the Woods, which is easily one of the best films of the year so far, and the best horror movie I’ve seen in a long, long time. I know those sound like trite clichés, but Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s exploration of the horror genre just bristles with a raw energy that sweeps up the audience.
It’s a rare horror film that has you laughing when it wants you to laugh, while keeping you anticipating shocks that you know it knows you know are coming. In many ways, it seems like Cabin in the Woods comes from a very raw and personal place from both director and writer, one conflicted over the genre as a whole. From the outset it’s clear that Whedon and Goddard truly love the conventions and the thrills, while loathing the inherent voyeurism and nihilism that is almost inseparable from those aspects. It’s a weird dichotomy, and Cabin in the Woods is a weird film, but weird in that most brilliant of ways.
Who is afraid of the big bad wolf?
Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, Bradley Whitford, Cabin in the Woods, chris hemsworth, criticism, deconstruction, Drew Goddard, film, Goddard, horror, Horror film, joss whedon, meta-fiction, Movie, review, Richard Jenkins, self-awareness, voyeurism, Whedon, Woods | 5 Comments »
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