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Cabin in The Woods - April 13th - Best horror film in years?

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Mully

Member
This movie is so great yet i can't get anyone to go see it. No one believes me that's its really really good.

Yeah it's been a really hard sell to people who aren't Rotten Tomato watchers. Everyone thinks it's another horror movie with a "twist." What they don't know is how intelligent and honest this movie is.
 

Voidguts

Member
This movie is so great yet i can't get anyone to go see it. No one believes me that's its really really good.

yeah, surprisingly I've had trouble selling it to my friends as well. most recently I heard "hmm, I thought it looked like a Saw rip-off" ...............
dafuk?
 

Gospel

Parmesan et Romano
I liked it a lot, though i don't think it's as amazing as a friend talked it up to be. But I sure do love great deconstruction.

I can see why some people don't like it though. When go in with
expecting to to see a mostly honest horror film with a little bit of intervention by government officials, you're more than likely to come away feeling mislead. This is definitely a movie for horror film buffs, critics, and film makers.
 
I liked it a lot, though i don't think it's as amazing as a friend talked it up to be. But I sure do love great deconstruction.

I can see why some people don't like it though. When go in with
expecting to to see a mostly honest horror film with a little bit of intervention by government officials, you're more than likely to come away feeling mislead. This is definitely a movie for horror film buffs, critics, and film makers.

Was listening to the Trick 'r Treat audio commentary last night:
"I got one comment from a test screening which was just a drawing of boobs, and an arrow pointing to it, saying 'more of these'."

YouTube comments on horror trailers are also disturbing:
"I would actually watch this film if it looked like they had hot bitches in it so you can see tits and ass."

I don't understand people who simply want to sit in front of a screen and stop thinking. What's even scarier is that a lot of these types think that it's good filmmaking/storytelling to follow stereotypical plots.

yeah, surprisingly I've had trouble selling it to my friends as well. most recently I heard "hmm, I thought it looked like a Saw rip-off" ...............
dafuk?

It actually very much is being touted in commercials and trailers as torture porn.
 

KevinCow

Banned
Was listening to the Trick 'r Treat audio commentary last night:
"I got one comment from a test screening which was just a drawing of boobs, and an arrow pointing to it, saying 'more of these'."

YouTube comments on horror trailers are also disturbing:
"I would actually watch this film if it looked like they had hot bitches in it so you can see tits and ass."

I don't understand this at all. Why would you go see a horror movie for the tits? I could understand this in the '80s and '90s, it was easier for an underage kid to get into a horror movie than it was to buy porn. But today? You go to Google, type in TITS, and bam, like magic, you are looking at tits. Generally way better tits than you'll find in these movies, too.
 
Ok, I just came back from watching it. Was pretty disappointed to say the least.

The main way how the film fails is because of the shocking lack of character development. I cared for none of the characters. I don't think that was the intention or then we wouldn't have sweeping music for certain perilous moments. When you know what's going to happen to the cabin characters, it's hard to take any of the movie seriously. The gas stuff is very lazy writing, I was expecting more Rube Goldberg/Truman Show level of staging the cabin moments. It was more like, "ok so that happened, great let's move on" even to what happens to the characters on the other side. When
Peter Jenkins
gets stabbed, I felt nothing because other than giving them quippy Whedonesque lines,
the lab characters are equally shallow
.

Maybe it's not meant to be taken seriously. The horror film of it is pretty terrible, there aren't even many jump scares. None of the cabin characters get interesting kills, which is contradictory to the whole thing being entertainment
for the ancient ones
. But when you have most of the satire played straight, and most of the comedy only being through dialogue rather than moments, it feels like a failure on most parts.

Some of the rules don't even make sense.
If there need to be 5 archetypes, how does that explain the Japanese horror with schoolgirls? Or other cultures? Is the 5 archetypes only an American thing? Sigourney Weaver popping up to give exposition dumps was regretful
, I would've liked more natural world building on their part. 90 minutes is not enough to fit in the generic horror movie and then the
fantasy underground world behind it
. I would've expected some
Cthulhu like end reveal like for The Mist or this excellent music video, but nope it ends on a generic huge hand
. Drew Goddard has proved since Cloverfield, he's really good on awfully disappointing reveals.

I love the idea of all the monsters and the mayhem at the end leaves a few chuckles (Merman and the Unicorn),
but I feel it fundamentally fails on melding the horror and satire aspects. You need the fundamental horror part to be good like Shaun of the Dead, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, or Evil Dead, that equally excel in the horror and comedic parts. You have to give a shit for some of the characters.

Or then the whole film just feels like, "cool idea, bro".
 

KevinCow

Banned
Holy crap, spoiler tag your post, not just tiny bits of it. Read the Spoiler Tag Etiquette section. Like this?

I love the idea of all the monsters and the mayhem at the end leaves a few chuckles

That's a pretty damn huge spoiler that you left untagged.

Some of the rules don't even make sense. If there need to be 5 archetypes, how does that explain the Japanese horror with schoolgirls? Or other cultures? Is the 5 archetypes only an American thing?

Different cultures have different sacrificial ceremonies, which is why they have different kinds of horror movies.
 

oatmeal

Banned
I don't understand this at all. Why would you go see a horror movie for the tits? I could understand this in the '80s and '90s, it was easier for an underage kid to get into a horror movie than it was to buy porn. But today? You go to Google, type in TITS, and bam, like magic, you are looking at tits. Generally way better tits than you'll find in these movies, too.

Because movies come out like Friday the 13th's remake and you get a front row seat to the BEST tits.

(BTW)

We should just change the thread title to "SPOILERS INSIDE"...highlighting all of this black is making me have a headache.
 

y2dvd

Member
What a movie. Thankfully for me, I forget trailers really quickly so I was just going off of good word of mouth without the details. Glad I did because holy crap at the turns this movie takes.
I was being taken along for a ride and had no clue where it was going and loved every minute of it.

Kinda wish I saw the creatures fighting each other a bit lol.
 
Holy crap, spoiler tag your post, not just tiny bits of it. Read the Spoiler Tag Etiquette section. Like this?



That's a pretty damn huge spoiler that you left untagged.



Different cultures have different sacrificial ceremonies, which is why they have different kinds of horror movies.

Sorry, changed it up. I think it's time to call this a spoiler thread because it's hard to say anything substantial about the film without getting into spoilers.
 
Eh, it was a'ight. Not really a horror as much as it is a comedy, which is perfectly fine.

It's basically
SCREAM by way of WAXWORK meets FUNNY GAMES, with a dash of MARTYRS and IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS
.

Definitely for horror fans, not recommended to noobs.
 

Prologue

Member
Why are we still putting spoiler marks a week after release? Anywho

I think the unicorn kill was the first unicorn in any sort of entertainment medium lol.

I didn't get why the guy didn't kill himself at the end lol. Kinda selfish no?.
 

JdFoX187

Banned
Why are we still putting spoiler marks a week after release? Anywho

I think the unicorn kill was the first unicorn in any sort of entertainment medium lol.

I didn't get why the guy didn't kill himself at the end lol. Kinda selfish no?.

That was the whole point of the movie.
 

Ken

Member
Just came back from seeing it.

How did the one guy pull the lever when he thought that Marty died, even though the latter didn't? Where did the blood come from?
 
Ok, I just came back from watching it. Was pretty disappointed to say the least.

The main way how the film fails is because of the shocking lack of character development. I cared for none of the characters. I don't think that was the intention or then we wouldn't have sweeping music for certain perilous moments. When you know what's going to happen to the cabin characters, it's hard to take any of the movie seriously. The gas stuff is very lazy writing, I was expecting more Rube Goldberg/Truman Show level of staging the cabin moments. It was more like, "ok so that happened, great let's move on" even to what happens to the characters on the other side. When
Peter Jenkins
gets stabbed, I felt nothing because other than giving them quippy Whedonesque lines,
the lab characters are equally shallow
.

Maybe it's not meant to be taken seriously. The horror film of it is pretty terrible, there aren't even many jump scares. None of the cabin characters get interesting kills, which is contradictory to the whole thing being entertainment
for the ancient ones
. But when you have most of the satire played straight, and most of the comedy only being through dialogue rather than moments, it feels like a failure on most parts.

Some of the rules don't even make sense.
If there need to be 5 archetypes, how does that explain the Japanese horror with schoolgirls? Or other cultures? Is the 5 archetypes only an American thing? Sigourney Weaver popping up to give exposition dumps was regretful
, I would've liked more natural world building on their part. 90 minutes is not enough to fit in the generic horror movie and then the
fantasy underground world behind it
. I would've expected some
Cthulhu like end reveal like for The Mist or this excellent music video, but nope it ends on a generic huge hand
. Drew Goddard has proved since Cloverfield, he's really good on awfully disappointing reveals.

I love the idea of all the monsters and the mayhem at the end leaves a few chuckles (Merman and the Unicorn),
but I feel it fundamentally fails on melding the horror and satire aspects. You need the fundamental horror part to be good like Shaun of the Dead, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, or Evil Dead, that equally excel in the horror and comedic parts. You have to give a shit for some of the characters.

Or then the whole film just feels like, "cool idea, bro".
Agreed mostly.

The horror movie part was just terribly bland, generic and uninteresting; and I get that that's the *point* but come on, it could have been done way more cleverly than it was here.
 

Gospel

Parmesan et Romano
Was listening to the Trick 'r Treat audio commentary last night:
"I got one comment from a test screening which was just a drawing of boobs, and an arrow pointing to it, saying 'more of these'."

YouTube comments on horror trailers are also disturbing:
"I would actually watch this film if it looked like they had hot bitches in it so you can see tits and ass."

I don't understand people who simply want to sit in front of a screen and stop thinking. What's even scarier is that a lot of these types think that it's good filmmaking/storytelling to follow stereotypical plots.

The general movie going populace wants to see their expectations met. I think it's silly but it is what it is. Not everyone wants something that goes against the grain or breaks the mold.
 

HiResDes

Member
Agreed mostly.

The horror movie part was just terribly bland, generic and uninteresting; and I get that that's the *point* but come on, it could have been done way more cleverly than it was here.

Funny Games, thanks Count, is a example of a piece that functions both as a fantastic film in it's own right as well as being a successful satire. Cabin in the Woods really only succeeds in the latter aspect, IMO.
 
The general movie going populace wants to see their expectations met. I think it's silly but it is what it is. Not everyone wants something that goes against the grain or breaks the mold.

They want more of the same. I hope we never settle for the lowest common denominator in art.
 

JdFoX187

Banned
what do you mean?

The movie is a commentary on how sad horror films, blockbuster films, Hollywood in general, (insert your movie industry aspect here) have become. He keeps talking in the beginning
about how everything sucks and it should all just end and restart. So when the time comes for HIM to be the one to make the decision whether to sacrifice himself and keep the status quo or to let it burn, he makes the choice to let it all come crashing down.

I'm really fucking tired, and other people have explained it better several pages back. But that's the general gist of it.
 

IMACOMPUTA

Member
I can't be the only one who was disappointed when they showed that board after getting the zombie redneck torture family. Zombie redneck torture family is so boring compared to some of the things they could've gotten, like Angry Molesting Tree or Sexy Witches. Why couldn't we see some of those?

Then when they go down the elevator, I can't be the only who was excited to see these other creatures, but still disappointed that we didn't get to see them rampaging around.

Then I became giddy with excitement the second that big red PURGE button appeared on screen.

Man, what a cathartic scene.

Perhaps getting the zombie redneck family was a commentary on most horror movies using boring ass bullshit such as zombie rednecks.
 

wildfire

Banned
I think Scream did a much better job of doing what this movie did, and did it in a way that regular audiences and not just geeks could "get it".


Considering Scream's schitck was directly saying to the audience "Hey. I'm a horror movie pretending to be real life. This plot point should not happen before A and C occur...." compared to Cabin saying to the audience "this is the plot. Now this is why the plot unfolds in this manner"; you really overestimate how high brow and obtuse Cabin in the Woods is.
 

3phemeral

Member
Saw it with the BF this past Wednesday expecting a horror film and totally came out loving every minute of it. Stoner dude got on my nerves in the beginning and I never did quite warm up to him, but I loved how they handled the feel for the film concerning the emotional dichotomy between both environments.

I especially loved the juxtaposition of
the "virgin" getting thrashed on the dock, to the office workers celebrating her eminent death. I simultaneously felt empathetic for the girl, but loving how everyone was partying while she was getting beaten. I felt so conflicted.
KuGsj.gif



Perhaps getting the zombie redneck family was a commentary on most horror movies using boring ass bullshit such as zombie rednecks.

I think it's also the idea that genre has been consistently popular as of late, with TV shows and movies having successful variations of it.
 

LakeEarth

Member
Why are we still putting spoiler marks a week after release? Anywho

I think the unicorn kill was the first unicorn in any sort of entertainment medium lol.

I didn't get why the guy didn't kill himself at the end lol. Kinda selfish no?.

Supernatural did it this season, but the movie technically did it first. It just was late to be released.
 

charsace

Member
Agreed mostly.

The horror movie part was just terribly bland, generic and uninteresting; and I get that that's the *point* but come on, it could have been done way more cleverly than it was here.

The first half of the movie was perfect. People that wanted them to go with the rapist tree, merrmen, unicorn, etc. are missing the point. Redneck (insert something else here) is the go to in american horror. just like the creepy ghost girl is the go to antagonist in japanese horror. If they gave you something like the unicorn as the antagonist that the college kids had to face the last half would not have the same impact. The rednecks are supposed to make viewers say, "oh man, another redneck serial killer movie," and then the kids get into the underground and shit gets crazy.
 

KevinCow

Banned
Perhaps getting the zombie redneck family was a commentary on most horror movies using boring ass bullshit such as zombie rednecks.

It was clearly an intentional commentary on recent popular horror movies.
Zombie, Torture Worshipping, Redneck Family. Three things that have been pretty common lately.

Zombies - This goes without explanation. I liked the point Bradley Whitford seems to satirically make when he explains why Redneck Torture Zombies are different from regular zombies: Movies try to "change it up" by making redneck zombies or nazi zombies, fast or slow zombies, supernatural or viral zombies. But at the end of the day, they're still fucking zombies.

Torture worshippers - Because of torture porn like Saw and Hostel.

Redneck family - Not quite as common as the other two, but you have stuff like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. Definitely not surprising anymore.

They pretty intentionally chose three of the most overused and least interesting horror movie antagonists and mashed them together, presumably to intentionally inspire that bit of disappointment I mentioned earlier.
 
Yes. Yes. The noble, mystical tune that played during the
unicorn mauling
made it all the more special.


I swear to god, if anyone gives this movie a shitty sequel/prequel I'll be inconsolable.

An instructional/introduction video for (spoilers)
working at that place would be awesome.
 
Guys, guys, we can finally put to rest the debate of who was actually the star of the film:
Werewolf or Merman.

The same guy played both monsters. Shut the fuck up, Team Unicorn, we don't want to hear it.
 

thetechkid

Member
So just came back from seeing the movie and I got a couple things to say.

1.
Best Title Scene

2.
Unless I missed something, the intern survives most of the monster attacks when they show the different screens of the purge.

3.
I need to see the movie again just to see the beginning with Kristen Connolly again.

4.
I wanted to see the tree and sexy witches but they never showed up.
 

Misfits

Neo Member
Just came back from seeing it.

How did the one guy pull the lever when he thought that Marty died, even though the latter didn't? Where did the blood come from?

this stuck out as a plot hole to me too.

they were monitoring them all and their heart rates and stuff, so how is it they thought he was dead when he wasn't. how was he able to block their reading his vital signs?
 
The first half of the movie was perfect. People that wanted them to go with the rapist tree, merrmen, unicorn, etc. are missing the point. Redneck (insert something else here) is the go to in american horror. just like the creepy ghost girl is the go to antagonist in japanese horror. If they gave you something like the unicorn as the antagonist that the college kids had to face the last half would not have the same impact. The rednecks are supposed to make viewers say, "oh man, another redneck serial killer movie," and then the kids get into the underground and shit gets crazy.

So clearly I'm meant to be bored until the last 20 minutes of the movie? Yeah, genius pacing decision there.

I'm sorry, this reminds me of how bad some parody videogames are where they make fun of the silly conventions in the genre and yet force you to do all of that stuff, therefore wasting your time and being a shitty game in the process.
 

Misfits

Neo Member
Seriously.

I've got nothing left to discuss on the matter.

I love it with the passion of a thousand suns.

I just love it too much.

Do you hear me, haters? HATE. IT FEEDS ME.

i love it also, but it doesn't stand to scrutiny on repeated viewing due to the plot holes and other plot mechanics.

it's a lot like saw in that regard, amazing the first time through, a revolution in movies but then watching it twice or three times and you start to notice things that bring down the overall movie.
 

LakeEarth

Member
i love it also, but it doesn't stand to scrutiny on repeated viewing due to the plot holes and other plot mechanics.

it's a lot like saw in that regard, amazing the first time through, a revolution in movies but then watching it twice or three times and you start to notice things that bring down the overall movie.

It's not a plot hole if you believe my
someone sabotaged the rituals to bring out the gods theory. The weed somehow blocked the chemicals, his vitals cut off somehow despite not dying, the bomb wasn't working, and the 'purge' button had a key above it ... the thing to destroy the base was just sitting there.... but why?

Just could be my brain filling up the plot holes though.


4.
I wanted to see the tree and sexy witches but they never showed up.
The
tree is definitely there. It comes out of the elevator and grabs a guy. You missed it cause there were 5 other monsters killing 5 other guards on the same screen.
 

Drakken

Member
I'm someone who doesn't watch horror movies as a general rule - images stay in my head too long, and I don't like the dark feeling that pervades them - but I'm interested in seeing this as a Whedon fan and because of everything I've heard about how different it is. A few questions for those who have seen it:

-How much gore is in it?

-Is it actually scary? Or more of a comedy (since I've heard it's a satire of horror films)?

-I saw a clown on a commercial for the movie the other day - how much time does it get? I don't do scary clowns. I think it has something to do with walking in on someone watching It when I was really young.
 
I'm someone who doesn't watch horror movies as a general rule - images stay in my head too long, and I don't like the dark feeling that pervades them - but I'm interested in seeing this as a Whedon fan and because of everything I've heard about how different it is. A couple questions for those who have seen it:

-How much gore is in it?

-Is it actually scary? Or more of a comedy (since I've heard it's a satire of horror films)?

-I saw a clown on a commercial for it the other day - how much time does it get? I don't do scary clowns. I think it has something to do with walking in on someone watching It when I was really young.

-none

-it's a comedy with horror skin

-very little
 
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