On Further Review: Cabin in the Woods (2012)

I’m at a loss to explain the wonder people find in The Cabin in the Woods. The film was released earlier this year to great acclaim which left me totally bewildered. It’s a clever idea, to a point, but once you know it’s secret it’s kind of less than the sum of it’s parts- certainly it’s not able to support a 95 minute running time.

Okay, at this point I need to warn you that I’m going to be laying everything out plot wise so if you don’t want to know don’t read on.

Seriously I’m going to dish on most of the twists….

Still with me?

Okay.

The construction of the film has a group of stereotypical kids going on a trip to the title location. Along the way they are monitored a bunch of tech guys and girls in a control room. The point of it all, after much carnage and a few too knowing jokes and references, is that the death of the kids are part of a sacrificial ritual that has to be performed exactly and in order lest the old gods are awakened and the world will be destroyed. The ritual goes wrong, monsters are released (in one of the best man vs monsters sequences I’ve seen) and the world ends. ANd it really does end. Joss Whedlon was actually asked by a fan of the film if there would be a sequel…to which he replied “you did see the end of film didn’t you?”

I don’t get the love the film has found. Yes it’s funny. Yes it has great monsters, but the film is ultimately a long shaggy dog story with a sting in the tail. It’s a long send up of the cabin in the woods genre, but beyond that there isn’t much too it, especially since once all hell breaks loose the film collapses as the internal logic is tossed in exchange for some really cool monster sequences and to move the film to its unexpectedly bleak ending.

Is it a bad film? No, but I wouldn’t say it was anything beyond it being good.

You know what it is? It’s an over long episode of something like the Outer Limits or Tales from the Darkside. In an hour (45 minutes sans commercials) or half hour this would have kicked ass but by making this 95 minutes just means its full of filler.