Whedon's Moving to Cabin in the Woods

[Figs]

Originally Posted by Angel_Faerie

I thought it was an Evil Dead reference

It most likely was. Cabin had plenty of Evil Dead references.

[redhawk23]

Originally Posted by VOLCHKOV

No, but there was that "Robot Chicken" sketch that parodied "The Giving Tree" where the tree, (voiced by Hulk Hogan), referred the kid to go to another tree for the branches/wood/leaves, that turned out to be a "molesting tree". Since Whedon has been featured in a couple of Robot Chicken's sketches, I'm sure that's where he got it.

Have you not seen Evil Dead?

[Figs]

Here are the Evil Dead nods/references.

1. The design of the cabin pretty much looks just like the one in Evil Dead. That’s the first thing that popped in my head when I saw it at least. They could have went with a number of designs but that one was pretty specific.
2. The angry molesting tree as well as Deadites are on the list too.
3. The scene where the cellar door pops open is shot just like the scene in ED. Has a person or two in the foreground and in the background the door pops open and they all turn in surprise. Pretty much done exactly like it was in ED.
4.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

When she reads the lines in the diary is similar to when the recording in ED speaks the words form the Necronomicon and awakens the demons.

5.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

When they’re trying to leave and the road is blocked is similar to ED when the bridge has been destroyed.

Those are the ones I noticed. I'm pretty confident that Whedon is a huge fan of ED and Bruce Campbell as well. If anyone has seen Buffy, the way the character Xander is written is pure Bruce Campbell.

[Matt Mortem]

I just got back from this movie. It was not what I expected.....its BETTER. That was a fun movie and I did not see the entirety of the plot coming. Whedon is a master writer, and it shows in this movie.

[Octoberist]

Originally Posted by VOLCHKOV

No, but there was that "Robot Chicken" sketch that parodied "The Giving Tree" where the tree, (voiced by Hulk Hogan), referred the kid to go to another tree for the branches/wood/leaves, that turned out to be a "molesting tree". Since Whedon has been featured in a couple of Robot Chicken's sketches, I'm sure that's where he got it.

Evil Dead reference that was parodied in Robot Chicken. Do yourself you a favor and see them all (EVIL DEAD 1 and 2, Army of Darkness)

[PSYLENTGuardian]

Caught those Evil Dead references right off the bat and I was pretty delighted to see them; especially the cabin.

The overall execution of this movie is superb.

[Matt Mortem]

I caught the Hellraiser reference as soon as it was shown. Pretty cool IMO

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Originally Posted by PSYLENTGuardian

Caught those Evil Dead references right off the bat and I was pretty delighted to see them; especially the cabin.

The overall execution of this movie is superb.

Yeah, had a big smile on my face everytime I noticed them, what the movie does brilliantly is pay homage while being its own thing.

[Destructus86]

Originally Posted by Matt Mortem

I caught the Hellraiser reference as soon as it was shown. Pretty cool IMO

hah! Yeah, caught that too. I geeked out with all the great references in this film.

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Originally Posted by Matt Mortem

I caught the Hellraiser reference as soon as it was shown. Pretty cool IMO

Me too.

[Evil Twin]

I'll go against the grain and say that I think Cabin in the Woods is being wildly overpraised. Especially as a horror film. It's certainly not the "best horror film in years" or a "game changer" or any of the other things people are saying about a horror film that makes no investment in mood or character and has an attitude of ironic detachment and self awareness running all through it. A horror film should be scary.

As a meta comedy I think it works pretty much, although a lot of that is due to Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford. They're starring in a great workplace comedy. OTOH, I think the horror "comedy" bits are getting a very big pass. They're essentially throwing out horror cliches and winking at the audience that, hey, we know these are cliches. Essentially they're being deliberately lazy and expecting the audience to laugh at the deliberate part. If not for the running peak behind the curtain there is no real cleverness with the scenario. Shaun of the Dead and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil took the cliches and applied twists to them. Cabin in the Woods takes the cliches and says, look cliches!

To me this film is really all about the third act "twist" and its clear to me that they came up with the third act first and then slapped together the first two acts. There's no real investment into character. No building up of clues. Basically two of the characters become self aware, fueled by the completely arbitrary survival of one of the characters. And then they go behind the scenes to confront the creators. But the first two acts don't build organically to that discovery, it just happens.

I'd probably like it more if the whole thesis on the state of horror didn't feel wildly out of date. Not that there aren't still plenty of cliches around, but when your primary point of comparison is '80s/'90s slasher films you're not saying much of anything on the current state of horror. Plus you have to deal with the fact that Scream got there first, and managed to be actually scary in the process. We all have our issues with horror and the current crop of remakes, but the current state of horror has much more to due with Paranormal Activity, Saw, Final Destination, [Rec], The Walking Dead, found footage, exorcism movies, etc., than it has to do with Friday the 13th and slasher films. If we're expecting to read into the subtext, the audience is the old gods that just seems to want the old cliches, yet the real audience has rewarded the films that have broken away from the old cliches. Heck, horror might be the one genre where the audience will really reward risk taking and originality and doesn't give a damn about budget. Talk about ritual sacrifices all you want, but the thesis is flawed when given a closer examination.

Which isn't to say that I think the movie isn't enjoyable enough. Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins are terrific. The J-horror stuff is gold. And there are some clever bits. But as a horror movie, a commentary on horror movies, and as a movie that organically builds characters, I think it's lacking.

[Evil Twin]

BTW, no film titles itself Cabin in the Woods without being aware of Evil Dead. That's like a movie titling itself Bates Motel being unaware of Psycho.

[Destructus86]

I have to disagree with the overly wordy post a little ways up. I thought it was an extremely clever horror/comedy with a fantastic sense of humor and some great action sequences. It flipped the entire horror genre upside down...more so than say Shaun of the Dead (which I love)

The whole concept of the film was quite original in how things were executed especially.

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I thought that the humor was hit or miss but that's how I always feel about Whedon's brand of humor, that being said I still loved the film.

I too thought that it was extremely clever and the action scenes were fantastic. It is like, one of the most original films in the last 10 or so years.

[Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by I SEE SPIDEY

I thought that the humor was hit or miss but that's how I always feel about Whedon's brand of humor, that being said I still loved the film.

I too thought that it was extremely clever and the action scenes were fantastic. It is like, one of the most original films in the last 10 or so years.

Maybe, which says more about the state of filmmaking than anything. Frankly, I liked it better when Grant Morrison explored the concept in Animal Man well over 20 years ago. Or when it was used in Adaptation while delivering on the basic beats of the premise. Or, heck, The Truman Show which probably does a better job with the same basic concept.

There's also a bit of Funny Games in the concept.

As I said, I enjoyed the movie as a meta-comedy and affectionate wink at horror movies chock full of Easter Eggs. I don't think it works as an actual horror film though, being too self aware and ironic for that.

[I SEE SPIDEY]

The movie is named the very generic, on purpose I believe, The Cabin in the Woods. The title is so generic that it couldn't have hoped to be taken seriously in any real way. Sometimes movies just have really ****** generic titles because studios and filmmakers are stupid but that obviously wasn't the case with this film. So the title is the first clue that the movie isn't going to act as a real horror movie in any real way and then the movie starts out with the command center and that should just completely tell anyone with a decent knowledge of film that this movie isn't trying to function as a horror film because in a real horror film the command center would have been a surprise twist.

I've heard that it wasn't scary complaint before and I honestly don't understand it because you need to have surprises to be scared and the movie pretty much up front said that their wasn't going to be any horror surprises so of course it wasn't scary.

The movie has plenty of flaws that can be discussed but not being scary isn't one of them.

[Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by I SEE SPIDEY

The movie is named the very generic, on purpose I believe, The Cabin in the Woods. The title is so generic that it couldn't have hoped to be taken seriously in any real way. Sometimes movies just have really ****** generic titles because studios and filmmakers are stupid but that obviously wasn't the case with this film. So the title is the first clue that the movie isn't going to act as a real horror movie in any real way and then the movie starts out with the command center and that should just completely tell anyone with a decent knowledge of film that this movie isn't trying to function as a horror film because in a real horror film the command center would have been a surprise twist.

I've heard that it wasn't scary complaint before and I honestly don't understand it because you need to have surprises to be scared and the movie pretty much up front said that their wasn't going to be any horror surprises so of course it wasn't scary.

The movie has plenty of flaws that can be discussed but not being scary isn't one of them.

So, you're agreeing with me that people who call it "the best horror movie" in years are wrong, because it isn't trying to be scary, has no horror surprises and isn't ultimately scary?

I'll agree that we should focus on the movie itself and not the marketing or other reviews, I think it's reasonable to discuss on what levels the film works and doesn't work. To me, Cabin in the Woods works on the level of meta-comedy but isn't particularly effective as part of the genre it's commenting on. We don't praise Austin Powers as a great spy movie just because it's full of references to James Bond movies and winking at the conventions of the genre.

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Originally Posted by Evil Twin

So, you're agreeing with me that people who call it "the best horror movie" in years are wrong, because it isn't trying to be scary, has no horror surprises and isn't ultimately scary?

I suppose but I try not to pay too much attention to hyperbolic critic phrases. I wouldn't be surprised if people said that Shaun of the Dead was the best horror movie in years! Critics say stupid ****, just ignore it. It is the best satire of horror films sense Scream IMHO.

Originally Posted by Evil Twin

I'll agree that we should focus on the movie itself and not the marketing or other reviews, I think it's reasonable to discuss on what levels the film works and doesn't work. To me, Cabin in the Woods works on the level of meta-comedy but isn't particularly effective as part of the genre it's commenting on. We don't praise Austin Powers as a great spy movie just because it's full of references to James Bond movies and winking at the conventions of the genre.

I hear ya but I don't see it trying very hard to work on that level so I assumed that it wasn't trying to work on that level.

[John Locke]

That was the whole point though. It wasn't about the twist, the zombies, or even the teens. It was about Whitford and Jenkins' characters and their whole operation.

[WildcatNC]

Originally Posted by CoreyIAN

So I just saw the movie..... I think the movie would have been better if they reveal that it was a set up at the very end.

Instead we were told from the very beginning that it was a set up all along, so this took away the element of surprise from the audience. There is no shock or any plot twist to better this movie.

Also it would have been great if the teens unleased some other type of monsters instead of the usual typical zombies that we have seen in all horror movies.

The movie would have been so much better if the teens have unleased the sugar plum fairy or the merman or some monsters that we have never seen before in horror movies.

Because the entire time, I feel like I’m watching a typical same lame old zombie movie....yawn yawn.....

The monster madness at the very end....it was all too quick and fast and you don’t get to see all the monsters in action. A pity and a wasted opportunity.

Originally Posted by CoreyIAN

I’m all for originality....but not to the point where it gets totally out of this world. There is a fine line between creative original.....and simply just ridiculous and retarded

The whole monologue by Sigourney Weaver at the very end...makes me wanna cringe. Especially the part about the world coming to an end if we don’t please the eldery gods.Did a twelve years old wrote this???


And the ending sucks.....I felt cheated....it didn’t have a proper conclusion...it ends abruptly...like some sort of cliffhanger endings.....

Your either trolling or it went over your head.

[Evil Twin]

Let me add that I'm really curious about why people think that the basic premise of the film should be treated as a spoiler. The movie lays out what's going on within the first 5 minutes. Certainly within Act I the premise, if not the reasons behind the premise, is laid out.

The fact that the two threads of the film collide in the third act really isn't much of a twist either.

I'm not sure I get where the idea that the film needs great protection of its secrets is coming from, except in a general "don't ruin every twist and turn" sense.

[Ultimatehero]

EVIL TWIN, I really doubt they were trying to be scary. Tense in some scenes? Yeah. But scary? Definitely not. It's really more of a dark twisted comedy. For some reason I've always referred to it as a dark smart Ghostbusters. Unsure why since they don't have that much in common other than the third act in a sense.

[Fanticon]

i thought it was alright, cool concept but would have preferred being a little bit more surprised at the twist of the whole thing.

[Mace Dolex]

Originally Posted by WildcatNC

Did anyone else think, while they were driving to the cabin, that the only thing missing was Scooby Doo?? The whole gang was there even if it was slightly off. I almost think it was intentional.

I guess in a funny way now that you mention it yeah, the stoner guy even sounded a bit like Shaggy at times.

[Octoberist]

Yeah the Stoner was Shaggy alright!!