The Cabin In The Woods

My initial reaction to the plot of this film was that it was a cross-breeding between The Hunger Games, for its location much like the arena in Games, and Hostel to the tenth degree. Co-written and produced by Joss Whedon (you'd better know who he is if you're reading this blog), The Cabin In The Woods is highly entertaining, taking all of your worst nightmares and throwing them into one film. At times comical, at other times ridiculously gory, this movie's premise was original and a great thrill to see on Friday the 13th.

It's the story of five students who go off to spend the weekend at a cabin in the woods (!). You've got the typical players: the sex kitten, the jock, the brain, the good girl, and the reefer dude. Wait. Did I just describe Scooby-Doo? Anyway, while investigating the cellar they unwittingly decide their fate. One by one they start to die at the hands of... Oh, you didn't think I was going to spoil it for you, did you? You should see it for yourself, just go with the mindset that you're going to have a good time. If you go in thinking you're going to be scared out of your wits you'll be terribly disappointed. Personally my favorite parts were the Japanese school girls and the elevator ride. I know. I'm such a tease.

On another note, my co-worker told me today that she wasn't sure if she wanted to see the film and "needed" a website with a Scare-O-Meter to help her judge if certain horror movies would be too much for her to handle. I told her that was my original intent for this blog: to rate the items I blog about by "jumps." I wanted to have an illustrated icon of myself jumping out of my seat, using it to rate between 1 jump (not too scary even for the faint-hearted) and 4 jumps (reserved for incredibly scary and disturbing movies like The Exorcist (The Director's Cut). So even though I don't yet have my "jumpers," I'm going to start my rating system with this post. Ann, this one's for you: On my scale of 1 to 4 jumps, I'll give The Cabin In The Woods 2 jumps. I didn't think it was scary whatsoever, but it's extremely violent and gory which, to some, can be scary in and of itself.

Oh, and yes, there's a clown.