Reviews & Ratings for
The Cabin in the Woods More at IMDbPro »

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368 out of 613 people found the following review useful:
I FREAKING LOVED this movie!!!!, 15 March 2012

Author: Matt_Layden from Canada

The Cabin in the Woods is a spin on the horror genre from writer's Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, without giving away the spoilerish parts of the plot, I'll simply say that it involves 5 friends who fit the horror movie stereotypes (Jock, Slut, Party-Guy, Nerd, Virgin) who go to a cabin in the woods to party and get away from it all. Trouble is, its never really safe to go to a cabin in the woods is it?

To be honest, the less you know about this film, the more awesome it will be. I felt that the trailer gave away a bit too much of the twists and turns one can expect from the film, but at the same time the image of a bird flying into a giant forcefield is what will set this film apart from the generic horror films that hit the theatres today. The Cabin In The Woods tells you upfront "You think you know the story..." but of course you don't. This is Joss Whedon after all. Fans of Buffy and Angel will get a kick out of this, as actors from that universe make their way into this film.

It's been a long time since I've had a lot of fun at the movies and the Cabin in the Woods was a lot of fun. It's an odd movie to sell, because a lot of it has to be kept secret to make the second half of the movie exciting and fresh. It blends a few genres together, the two main ones being horror and comedy and it works perfectly. Both Whedon and Goddard worked on Buffy and Angel, which was a balancing act of genres, so they knew the right tone to get here and they nailed it. They take the clichéd aspects of every horror film and put it in here, to brilliant use. We actually get to see reasons for stupid character mistakes, which made that whole aspect of the film fun.

Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford have great chemistry together and stole every scene they're in. I would love to see these two character actors work together again, they made this film really fun and they are a joy to watch on the screen. The young actors, including Thor himself Chris Hemsworth, sell the clichéd horror characters very well. In most horror flicks I can't stand any of the characters, here I was rooting for all of them.

There are some truly hilarious moments, I am dying to talk about them, but doing so would ruin the surprises. All I can say is that I was laughing throughout the entire film, I cheered, I clapped and I enjoyed myself. There are a lot of horror references, most notably The Evil Dead, so it's fun to spot things here and there. Horror fans I think will really get a kick of of this flick and I pray it does well, cause it's the most fun I've had in a long time.

Drew Goddard's first directorial gig, he had a lot on his plate and he managed to pull off one hell of a film. It helps when you have someone like Joss Whedon in your corner, but I applaud him for being able to pull off the tone perfectly, I imagine the script to screen process was identical. This is a very clever script, with laughs, gore and surprises at every corner. When you have Goddard, whose worked on Buffy, Angel, Lost and wrote Cloverfield, teamed up with partner Joss Whedon who is one of the best writers working today, then you know you're walking into something special. I can't recommend this flick enough. When it comes out, you must go see it.

Just makes sure you don't know much about it beforehand, or it might ruin the awesome factor.

370 out of 648 people found the following review useful:
Am I missing something?, 16 April 2012

Author: bischof-alexander from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I went to the premiere of The Cabin In The Woods last Friday. Not having read any of the reviews going around prior to watching it I must say it is one of the worst films I have seen in a long time. The thing is, am I missing something? I get the fact that it is a parody or an anti-horror film or perhaps even a nod (whether positive or negative) to horror films generally, but I still don't like it.

It was predictable from the start (why did that eagle have to hit the invisible boundary to the cabin? It made the later scene with the motor bike jump completely redundant). The acting was poor and even though the film may be satirical it is still painful to watch.

The only thing I do like is perhaps the idea of an ode to all horror films and horror characters, but if it is a parody than that wouldn't make sense.

I am just so surprised that this film currently has 7.9 / 10. Am I missing something here???

381 out of 683 people found the following review useful:
This movie shows that I can't rely on the user ratings on IMDb anymore!..., 13 May 2012

Author: Josh C. Isitemiz from Thailand

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Is this some kind of a joke? Are there cameras that filming people's reactions and laughing at them or what?

It was AFWUL! It was neither scary nor funny. I hated myself that I didn't leave the theater after the first 15 minutes.

The only scary and the best scene of the movie was the guy appeared suddenly at the old gas station. The movie is that bad...

Too bad I can't rate it less than 1.

Unless you are from the new generation who loves nonsense bloody scenes and find them funny and somehow scary; STAY AWAY FROM THIS MOVIE!

My rating : -10/10

167 out of 267 people found the following review useful:
Movie Magic, 23 August 2012

Author: mightyjor from United States

Remember when Scream came out? People loved it - and not because it was the most horrifying and controversial scary flick ever released. It was a huge success because it gave fans of the horror genre something new. It made them laugh because it lovingly poked fun at a genre the fans knew by heart. Cabin in the woods takes a slightly different approach. Where Scream chose to laugh about dumb things people do in horror movies, Cabin decides instead to respectfully explain...well, everything - and making you laugh/scream while it does.

I absolutely loved this film. If you've looked at a few reviews, you'll see this film has three acts. I like to compare them to the three acts of a magic trick - something I learned from The Prestige:

1) The Pledge - Something ordinary is introduced to the audience. Five average college students go to a remote cabin in the woods where they'll spend the weekend partying it up! This is where we say to ourselves that because this is a horror movie, everyone will die, and thus we already know the ending. Am I right?

2) The Turn - There's something else happening here. It's not what we thought. This is the part where we scratch our head and say "Wait a sec...what's going on?" This story isn't keeping to the rails we set it on. It's taking a weird turn and only getting weirder. This is also the part where people give up and decide they hate it because it's different. It's also the part where your standard horror flick ends...but wait!

3) The Prestige - The resolution. The end. The explanation to everything that's been going on, and also possibly the greatest 20 minutes ever shown in horror movie history. This is the part where the audience is silent and speechless as every die-hard horror fan's dream is realized on screen. All your dedication, love, and sacrifice for this genre is justified. The credits roll, you walk out of the theater saying to yourself, "Did that just happen?" - and then you buy another ticket and watch it again.

I'm trying not to reveal anything too big, and I think everyone else will tell you the same; you want to know as little as possible about it before you watch. The movie is funny, scary, and unbelievably entertaining. If you don't like it, you're one of the people that took a turn in act two and stopped following along. I feel so sorry for those guys. Have a good time at the theater!

159 out of 258 people found the following review useful:
I loved it, but I can totally understand why people would walk out of the theater and find it terrible., 8 August 2012

Author: oldman007 from Australia

I'm a big Horror Fan. I have been since I was a young child. I've never seen anything like this movie before. It's a combination of everything. It's taken everything from every other Horror Movie and thrown it all into this movie. But what is really impressive is the fact that the movie has it's own (original) plot.

What people seem to get confused about is that this is also a comedy. If you haven't laughed within the first 10 mins, then you better walk out right now, because the movie is exactly the same all through out. I was laughing all the way through it. This movie is just bizarre. One of the most bizarre Horror/Comedies i've ever watched in my life, is fact, the most bizarre Horror/Comedy i've watched in my life.

Don't be expecting any scary scenes or anything suspenseful, because this is the wrong movie for you.

The acting was great, well written, well directed and excellent comedy one-liners and with the best twist i've ever seen! This movie is exactly where it needs to be, it's a cult movie. It's "EXACTLY" what it should be. I'm part of the cult following! A cult classic and the best movie i've seen of 2012! If you are a Horror (over the top violence) mixed in with comedy fan, I 110% recommend this one! 10/10

316 out of 577 people found the following review useful:
A film for anyone who has ever complained that they don't make good, original horror films anymore., 14 April 2012

Author: freekishndazed from United States

I would normally be leery of giving out a perfect 10 rating, but if ever there was a modern horror movie that was worthy of a 10, it's this one. "Cabin in the Woods" has done what I no longer thought was possible for a horror movie, it blew my mind and showed me something I never expected. When I first saw a trailer for this on television I thought "Oh great, another recycled, clichéd horror flick. Can't they think of anything other than putting a group of young people in a stale setting and kill them off one by one?" Well it would appear that they can. This is a film that is nearly impossible to market effectively without giving anything away. Some of the more recent trailers have included much more footage that gives a glimpse into what this movie REALLY is about. Word of mouth should be the biggest factor that helps make this movie popular. I just hope for your sake that no one spoils this brilliant gem for you. It's best to go into it with as little information as possible. I really enjoyed the pacing of this movie. They could've taken this in an entirely different direction if they simply wanted to shock you at the end. Instead, they treat the film like a slow, steady reveal. In fact, the opening scene does not even feature the group of kids that we follow on their horrific trip to the cabin. Instead, it opens with the "other" side of this story and the characters who get about as much screen time as our heroine and her pals. The result is a cinematic experience like none other. The audience is fed bits of information little by little throughout the entire film, so you're always hot on the trail of this story's secrets. You won't know exactly what's going on but you'll feel like you have a pretty good grasp on things the further you advance into it. In reality, every time this plot reveals a twist, it also introduces more brand new questions into your mind. So the twists don't just come completely out of left field and shock you, but they guide you through a very intriguing story that manages to keep expanding into something bigger and bigger. I'm so glad they wrote the script this way. I feel like 9 times out of 10 the writers of today would be too tempted to create a story that hides everything behind the curtain and focuses solely on the kids at this cabin. That way they can build up to a final payoff that no one would ever see coming. This payoff is too big to simply catch you off guard with. They got this right, a movie that isn't only original for the end of the third act, but a refreshing journey from start to finish. Go experience this film before you overhear people talking about it at the water cooler.

260 out of 476 people found the following review useful:
Pedestrian, lackluster presentation of moderately interesting ideas., 17 April 2012

Author: Pornography_and_Satori from Interzone

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This latest critical darling comes from Drew Goddard and Josh Whedon. A writer/director team with an extensive background in…television. This review is now sufficient enough to end right here, but I'll soldier on anyway.

With about a jillion comparisons to Wes Cravens criminally overrated Scream, there was no reason to have high expectations for The Cabin in the Woods. Still, I at least expected a mindlessly entertaining carnival ride of gruesomeness a la Demon Knight or Planet Terror. My expectations were too high. The reason for the Scream comparison stems from the fact that both films exhibit a self awareness of the clichés and conventions of the horror genre. This comparison however is not entirely accurate. As lame a film to ever masquerade as a horror film as Scream is, The Cabin in the Woods' brand of stupidity has more in common with tripe such as Mars Attacks or even The Brady Bunch Movie.

This is a film that looks and feels like a slightly sinister entry to the abysmal Scary Movie franchise. Another horror comedy that's never scary, and never really funny. To call it convoluted or contrived would be a massive understatement. It's flimsy excuse for a premise is like a house of urine soaked cards. The 1st act set up plays every bit as clichéd and predictable as any cut rate teen slasher movie of the past 30+ years. The only difference is the inclusion of a vast network of "puppeteers," two of which offer constant explanations (excuses) for said predictability. Basically it's all a charade. The kids are being lured into the cabin as part of some laughable ritual of human sacrifice to appease some angry ancient gods. This charade of trite horror genre mediocrity is the only thing that keeps them from rising up and destroying the world. In other words, the story is rotten because the "Ancient Ones" have wretched taste.

For reasons far too ridiculous to bother getting into, things don't quite go as planned. Two of the kids figure everything out, and to make a very dumb, bloated story short, the world ends. There's a bloody finale involving about 20 or more simultaneous references to horror icons of the past several decades, but don't think for a second that any of it's worthwhile. "Lord Fornicus," the obvious reference to Hellraiser's Pinhead, looks like something out of a SNL sketch.

Come to think of it the whole thing feels like some cut-rate comedy sketch show rather than a horror film or even a horror comedy. Watching this thing one get's the impression that everyone involved was striving for mediocrity. The acting is soap opera level. The direction uninspired. The writing an avalanche of sloppy expository dialog and dumb forced humor (people still think stoners are funny?). The camera work typical "lets film each scene from every conceivable angle and hope it all cuts together well. The Special effects barely a step above what you'd see in an Uwe Boll film.

The self-referential conceit is just an excuse to unleash a torrent of awkward, distracting exposition through each and every character's dialog. You half expect someone to look directly into the camera at any moment, throw up the sign of the horns and proclaim "Dude! It's a freakin horror movie!" This brand of lazy storytelling is no different from what the storytellers proclaim to be ridiculing. The people who defend this technique by saying "that was the point" are simply defending mediocrity. Clichés, ineptitude and lack of imagination cannot negate clichés, ineptitude and lack of imagination. Nor can they be excused. Consider films like Kill Bill and Grindhouse, which manage to pay homage to trash cinema yet still be incredibly entertaining, and original. The Cabin in the Woods is still the same boring same old same old, even with the reality-TV-show-of-the-gods slant.

All in all, the whole thing is about as clever, funny and scary as a fart joke. Some have surmised that the story is actually a kind of metaphor for the horror film industry, or horror fans expectations or whatever. If that's the case then The Cabin in the Woods isn't just lame, it's insufferably pretentious.

Merman, this single star is for you and only you.

136 out of 234 people found the following review useful:
Did you see the film I saw ?, 19 August 2012

Author: aaronoshea58-403-119530 from Cork, Ireland

I don't know why people are saying that this film was an abomination and advising others not to see it, because it has all if the element required in a fantastic horror.

For me it re-ignited the flame in what was a dying genre, being poisoned by numerous of extremely bad films. Not only did it make it's way into my favorite horrors of all time, but it makes me have faith that people can once again create a true horror. Now there are only remakes of horrors, ( Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street ....) or prequels, ( Prometheus ).

This movie is full of twists and turns you don't know what way it's going to go. It's smart, funny, gory and sexy with fantastic acting by all the cast. I was on the edge of my seat hungry for more.

Overall, I rated this movie a 10 because it deserved it. This was one of the best films I've seen in a very long time and is one that I'll be watching over and over again.

147 out of 257 people found the following review useful:
A New Horror Camp, 5 May 2012

Author: Mek Torres from Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines

The writers of this film stated that they didn't like how the horror genre has become. Full of unlikable characters that we don't care if they live or die. Cabin in the Woods sounds like a generic horror film with a generic premise and generic horror characters. When you see it closely, it's an intriguing high concept satirical horror film. It may look absurd but it's actually brilliant and smart. It has campy scares and some good laughs. Cabin in the Woods is an enjoyable horror film with an unlikely twist.

Horror movies have lost its suspense because we don't care about the characters and the characters are particularly dumb to make decisions to survive. It make sense in this film. The actors did a great portraying these clichéd characters. Chris Hemsworth and his body already makes a good jock character. Kristen Connolly is pretty likable. Fran Kranz steals the show as the pot headed dude.

Some will say it's generic but it's actually intriguing. I'm not gonna give everything away but I'm gonna say it's a bit absurd but it's smart and inspired. It's also a bit scary, though some of the jump scares didn't work but it's much better when the scares goes campy. I'm not gonna reveal the monsters either. There are ridiculously hilarious moments which lightens the grimness. The thrills and suspense are always there.

At first, you thought it's just another horror film but when you pass through the rest of the film, you will realize that this would be a remarkable experience. I have to agree with one of the critics, "The less you know about Cabin in the Woods, the better". It looks absurd but it's smart and creative. It gave substance to all generic horror movie nonsense. It's Campy, Hilarious, and Fun.

175 out of 315 people found the following review useful:
Do not believe the reviews i made this mistake, will never get that time back, 17 May 2012

Author: bob bob from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I am writing this review to help those who fall into the trap of seeing a rating of 7.9 and thinking this film must have some redeeming qualities. Believe me it doesn't. It is ridiculous and abysmal. The scary thing is the sort of individual that enjoys this film is the same individual that states scream is original. Some may find this deeply disturbing but I would be quite happy to live in a world without films such as scream, there i said it. There was only one scene that I found funny and it was when Mr athlete decided to ride his bike into a force field of some sort. I began thinking something worth while was going to happen but this moment never came.

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