The Cabin in the Woods - Post Release - Page 4

Bitch!

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Originally Posted by Dalyn 

I don't think I have ever went from enjoying a movie so much to just absolutely hating it so fast.  Once they got in the elevator and were treated to a rogues gallery of Sci-Fi Channel movie of the week baddies, my excitement started to wane.  Once they were trapped in a room, surrounded by guys with machine guns, and there was a convenient purge all the baddies button, they lost me.  I wanted the movie to win me back over, but once Weaver showed up in the cheap secret celebrity cameo gimmick and tried to explain the characters and rules of horror movies that was more entertaining when Scream did it, not only was I completely done but was pissed.  I was pissed that a movie that I was really into totally fell apart so utterly completely in the third act.  Then I come in here and everyone totally loved it.  I feel like I was smoking pot that made me immune to whatever it was that convinced everyone that this was one of the greatest horror movies in years.  And since I am the only one who didn't like it I will probably be called a hater and you know, there's always going to be one of those guys.

I know everyone (on here) has universally praised the third act, but I agree that it's divisive:  while most people seem to really like it, I can definitely understand really hating it too.

Man, the more I think back on it, the more I love this movie. Just so many great moments. I want to watch it like 5 more times, and I desperately need some screenshots of that board, and the mayhem at the end. Just so much goodness packed on the screen. Also...

- The telescoping coffee mug/bong. Amazing. If that doesn't show up as a secret weapon in some future horror FPS, I'll be extremely disappointed.

- Everyone is doing great work here, but Bradley Whitford is absolutely killing it.

- "Good zombie hand"

Easily my favorite movie of the year so far.

So can I, absolutely.  I'm just really really glad that a lobby full of howling monsters absolutely eviscerate a swat team is awesome to me, and not annoying. 

Lol I LOVED the Lassie zombie hand gag.  I was waiting for the hand to flick the dead guard in the face with a finger.

I'm starting to believe the rumors that Reed fell asleep during the film, because that's just not the plot at all.

Devin has said he's personally seen Reed fall asleep during screenings for films he later reviewed, so that's pretty plausible.

...What?

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Originally Posted by Engineer 

If Hemsworth thought he had a cousin who bought the cabin but didn't really have a cousin, how did the Company make him think he had a cousin?  A hired impersonator or actor like the Harbinger?  A gas that makes you imagine family members?  Just how long have these kids been on the Company's radar, anyway?  

 

The Company Men (Jenkins and Whitmore) make a lot of references to "Guys Downstairs."  (The Ancients)  But when the Red Danger Phone rings, I remember someone saying "It's the guys Upstairs."  Did I hear this wrong, maybe?  And if I didn't hear it wrong, who are the "Guys Upstairs?"  

I read it that they'd been groomed for sacrifice for a while-- note the agent on the roof of the house. So yes, all sorts of manipulations to keep them 'on script', including 'let's split up' gas and 'I'm a virgin' beer. Although the Harbinger is likely a full-time harbinger.

Re: the phone call. What happens is that the guys in the control room hear from Maintenance that the wiring for the tunnel detonation was compromised 'upstairs', i.e., the cabin. We can deduce that it was Marty, messing around with that override panel. Then the phone rings, and it's the bosses (downstairs) telling them that the sacrifice isn't complete-- there are still two kids left alive. Cut back to Dana getting thrashed on the dock by the lake, and enter Marty with his zombie-bashing bong.
 

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Originally Posted by Whiteboy Jones 

So... NO ONE saw what Tom Lenk intern wrote on his board? I can't just casually see the movie again, people; the closest theater showing it is an hour away. Pleeeeeease heeeeeeeelp meeeeee.

Pretty sure it's something like "I'm just an intern".

   Letting all the monsters loose was my favorite part.  I'll admit that the snake and bat were clearly CGI; not bad CGI, but CGI never the less. I agree with the chewer who was scared by the clown as he closed in on that woman. Speaking of the clown, it was good see Pennywise referenced.

  There should be consequences to Reed' referencing something that wasn't in the movie. I'm not saying he should lose his job; just admit his mistake. That and he should pay better attention to whatever movie he is watching.

Yeah, if the reveal of the monsters and the release of them in the compound didn't make you giddy with glee then this just wasn't the movie for you. I couldn't imagine a better third act, personally.

Dalyn was clearly enjoying the movie up until that point, so I think it's not as simplistic as "If you didn't like the third act exactly as I did, this movie just wasn't for you."

That's kind of pushing any dissenting views about the movie, especially its most potentially divisive parts, right out of the door.

I think in a lot of ways this movie is a Rorschach test for horror fans.

The hardcore fans who grew up watching horror movies, like Devin, see it purely as a celebration/reminder of how great the tropes are and how in some way we need them, while the more casual fans who came to the genre older kind of see it as an indictment of the tropes, which is how I felt about it. When they say and show repeatedly how every scenario in every country has failed this year, it just reads to me as stating 'the tropes are no longer working. They will not satisfy.'

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Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

Yeah, if the reveal of the monsters and the release of them in the compound didn't make you giddy with glee then this just wasn't the movie for you.

Especially when one of the elevators just starts gushing blood. EVERYTHING IS REAL!

Just got back from this, and loved it.   One of my favorite parts is them all having their victory party, and the whole time virgin girl is getting thrashed around by the zombie on the docks.  I couldn't pay attention to most of the party, because I'm trying to catch glimpses of her and the zombie on the monitors as the shot changes.  Every time they moved the shot, the first thing I'm looking for is a monitor.  And all them them not paying attention to her struggle at all.  Just happy to have staved off the Ancient ones.

Just because I need to see this again some time soon and I'm still fuzzy on some details, is there any reason given why the five, at least on the American side of the sacrifices, have to be put through the elaborately concocted horror scenarios?  OK, so they have to be offed in a specific order, with the "virgin" either being left to live or die so long as she is the last standing, but the organization could simply have five kids "disappear" every time a sacrifice is needed, bring them down right away while they're drugged, and slit their throats in the order that they would have died in.  Much less of a margin for failure right there.

I know that would pretty much invalidate the symbolic meaning of the organization, but I can't help thinking about those technical details and how they do raise questions...because the movie does poke fun at "plot holes" in how stock horror characters act.

If there was a God, I'd have to believe that the only reason he allows Rex Reed to keep living is to humor him and entertain us.

I liked it quite a bit and I'm confident the film celebrates and indicts the tropes (but probably the latter, more than the former). I know I could do better than eating re-heated cheesy bread at 2:13 am, but goddamn, it tastes so good and they're right there in the fridge. The film ultimately says what I've been feeling for a while. Why I've rejected the stupid Piranha shit that everyone seems so impressed by, why I'm no longer phased or even remotely interested in the rebranding of films I grew up with. I'm older, more sophisticated (if I do say so my motherfucking self), and I need more.  A few hiccups aside, Cabin in the Woods is more.

Also, I don't think my favorite gag from the movie has been mentioned (on here, at least):

Marty discovering that his room is all wired up and coming to the conclusion that he's on a reality television show - shortly before he's pulled through the window and presumably taken out for good.  His "What the fuck?" as he keeps pulling the equipment out from the walls got my audience.

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Originally Posted by Draco Senior 

Just because I need to see this again some time soon and I'm still fuzzy on some details, is there any reason given why the five, at least on the American side of the sacrifices, have to be put through the elaborately concocted horror scenarios?  OK, so they have to be offed in a specific order, with the "virgin" either being left to live or die so long as she is the last standing, but the organization could simply have five kids "disappear" every time a sacrifice is needed, bring them down right away while they're drugged, and slit their throats in the order that they would have died in.  Much less of a margin for failure right there.

 

I know that would pretty much invalidate the symbolic meaning of the organization, but I can't help thinking about those technical details and how they do raise questions...because the movie does poke fun at "plot holes" in how stock horror characters act.

The Ancient Ones were watching. Going through the tropes is, from the beginning, intimated to be part of the ritual, not in excess of it. It's like the pageantry of Catholicism or any thing else. As for the other countries, outside of a glimpse of what's going on in Japan, we only need to know every culture has their own tropes, like they have religions or any other belief system.

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Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

The Ancient Ones were watching. Going through the tropes is, from the beginning, intimated to be part of the ritual. As for the other countries, outside of a glimpse of what's going on in Japan, we only need to know every culture has their own tropes, like they have religions or any other belief system.

 

Ah, OK.  Aside from the victims fulfilling certain "stock" roles and being killed in a certain order, I wasn't sure if the "ritual" required them to actually be in those scenarios so long as the results were the same.  It certainly seems convoluted enough for there to be a significant margin for error, which is why I was surprised when it was so easy for everything to get fucked up when their easy-to-infiltrate main base was, well, infiltrated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draco Senior 

Just because I need to see this again some time soon and I'm still fuzzy on some details, is there any reason given why the five, at least on the American side of the sacrifices, have to be put through the elaborately concocted horror scenarios?  OK, so they have to be offed in a specific order, with the "virgin" either being left to live or die so long as she is the last standing, but the organization could simply have five kids "disappear" every time a sacrifice is needed, bring them down right away while they're drugged, and slit their throats in the order that they would have died in.  Much less of a margin for failure right there.

Free will has to be involved. The Organization cheats things by manipulating the kids' behavior and controlling their environment, but the kids still have to choose their deaths and 'earn' their punishments.

Seems like an easy way to go around the issue with a half-assed nod to 'free will', but thanks for clarifying that they do at least explain it.

I understood that to be the point. Which is why the apocalyptic ending is dramatically correct.

 I enjoying reading all the intellectualizing of Cabin in the Woods. However the best reason I can give for someone to see it is that they will have a blast watching the movie.

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Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

I understood that to be the point. Which is why the apocalyptic ending is dramatically correct.

Right. Dana and Marty choose not to murder each other, and they die with clean souls.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draco Senior 

Seems like an easy way to go around the issue with a half-assed nod to 'free will', but thanks for clarifying that they do at least explain it.

It's supposed to be half-assed. The Organization's 'solution' to keeping the 'voluntary' sacrifices happening is proven to be an unstable construct. They've protracted the Reign of Man beyond its expiration date, out of a desperate fear of death. In a way, CITW is an inversion of Buffy/Angel, where the heroes consistently rationalize doing horrible things to preserve the world as they know it. Dana and Marty decide that serving the 'Greater Good' isn't worth even one moral compromise.

It really depends on how far you're willing to leap to buy into what's supposed to be symbolized here.  The circumstances that lead into the Organization's unraveling, given its history, became a little too contrived for me to make a point, even if I could understand what the movie was trying to say when it went into that territory.

On a narrative level, the organization falls apart because of complacency and an incredible lack of humility. On a metaphoric level, you can only rely on the same shit working for so long before it gets familiar, stale and just plain doesn't work anymore. 

That also works on a filmmaking level. Note that ------'s character is named "The Director".

Indeed. The layers are nicely delineated. Yeah, I guess the film could be "scarier" or more tense or whatever, but it won me over with its self-confidence.

AMAZING film.

Not the biggest horror fan, but a huge Whedon-ite (I personally feel a level headed one, but Whedon-ite nonetheless.)

Such a satisfying slow burn till the insanity of the third act.  I know geeks everywhere will love this, but I wonder what the teen age PARANORMAL ACTIVITY types will think of this.  I feel like they will be totally let down and clueless as to where the third act goes.

I agree with earlier posters that the third act will be really divisive and probably get a lot of hate from most of the dilweed teen audiences that ruin most of my theater experiences.

Post-release or not, I'm not going to spoil who played "The Director". When I heard their voice, I geeked, when they showed up, I was floored.

A chick making out with a wolf head has no right being hot, but I guess it can be. If done right.

It is possible to like, and root for the jock in a horror film. Wow!

It is possible to like, and root for the stoner in a horror film. Double wow!!

I was hoping for some "end of mankind" footage, but the giant had was a great suprise.

The Little Nemo bit was a lot of fun and I really did enjoy the "stuff of nightmares" dialogue.

The end credits alone are worth noting for mid-nineties NIN fans. All around this movie rules.

AICN has a partial screenshot of the board:

"If they were creative, they wouldn't be maintenance."

Haha I guess Maintenance ended up winning?  My favorite is they have Witches and "Sexy" Witches.  Interesting that a Wendigo is the same thing as a Yeti.  Also, I really really want to know what a "Kevin" is.

OH!  And Deadites!!

Freddy, Jason, Michael...Kevin. That's my guess anyway. A slasher archetype of some kind.

Reptilius!

"Dismemberment Goblins," which somehow no one put money on.

Rex Reed seemed to believe the organization was broadcasting the kills to paying audiences. Clearly the dude left or fell asleep halfway through the movie.

Of course, the biggest asshole has to be the dude from the Village Voice, who spoiled the last shot of the film in the first sentence of his review, then said, essentially (paraphrasing), "That's not a spoiler because this movie is for assholes."

If I was an asshole, I'd tell that dude from the Village Voice to EAT ME! That is if I was an asshole.

Seeing this for the second time today, I was really struck by how much the film has an actual, honest heart to it.  Thinking primarily of the moment in the elevator where Marty and the Virgin are holding eachother, but there's a ton sprinkled throughout.  Yes, the film is pretty much non stop laughs interspersed with horror geek intensity, but there is a sadness about the inevitability of it all (both what the company wants to happen and then when it goes wrong).  Jenkins and Whitford put in incredible work to sell the gravity of the situation.  The scene when Jenkins gravely intones that prayer after the whore is decapitated is deeply powerful to me on some strange level. 

There's also a great deal of uncomfortable philosophical questions being posed to individuals, humanity at large and even art itself at play in this film.  Have we run our course?  Is technologically banding together merely the road to Orwellian groupthink and ultimate insignifigance as a species?  Is there anything left to say in the stories we tell or even about WHY we tell stories?  A lot of -end of the line for the human race- stuff going on, cleverly covered in comforting genre chocolate sauce to make it go down smooth and get us all giddy.  Trojan horse think piece if ever there was one. 

And those Planet Terror looking dudes ceaselessly vomiting on that guy?  Nightmare fuel. 

EDIT:   Reading through this thread, I'd like to say, as someone who doesn't post a great deal and hasn't been here that long, this is an excellent film discussion board.  The quality and tenor of the conversation going on here should be commended.  Interesting, intelligent things being bandied about and in a respectful fashion to boot. A rarity on the net to be sure. Cheers.

Now, more than ever, I want a story where some disaffected person somehow has the power to literally destroy the world, and uses humanity's supposed inhumanity as justification, and gets righteously beaten for it while being called out as a myopic, solipsistic, overdramatic dumbass that he/she is.

This film isn't really advocating that kind of nihilism, but I'd still like to see it.

I fucking love this movie. And so did everyone I went with, and everyone in the theater. You guys said it all better than I could. 

As someone who once loved the horror genre, and as someone who grew apart from it after growing weary of the tired cliches and tropes and predictability... this movie means a lot to me. I'm glad it exists, and in such perfect execution. 

I agree that the film isn't advocating anything near that level of nihilism, Whiteboy.  It's a bit problematic, but it works better if you see the film more or less symbolically.

Oh yeah, it's totally symbolic. I'm on a mostly unrelated tangent, but I'd love someone to take on the full implications of that line of thinking.

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Originally Posted by Whiteboy Jones 

Now, more than ever, I want a story where some disaffected person somehow has the power to literally destroy the world, and uses humanity's supposed inhumanity as justification, and gets righteously beaten for it while being called out as a myopic, solipsistic, overdramatic dumbass that he/she is.

 

This film isn't really advocating that kind of nihilism, but I'd still like to see it.

There's a difference, though. I'm as tired as anyone of posturing Fuck-The-Unwashed-Masses narcissist nihilism, but there's a big difference. The protagonists in this movie aren't choosing to damn the world just for the hell of it because they don't like humanity. They're basically living out one of those sick, contrived scenarios that someone who wants to make you admit to the nonexistence of morality will come up with, where every time you look for a way out that doesn't involve being a horrible person, they come up with some new "but no, that won't work because X, you've got to be a monster" bullshit.

The characters in Cabin in the Woods are living this on a cosmic level; the whole crew underground have inured themselves to it through various means (most of them distract themselves with a betting pool, one woman just drinks, the guard wrestles with it but ultimately can't be assed to do anything about it.) It's only the survivors from the victim pool who finally call the whole exercise out as contrived bullshit, and make the decision that if satisfying the sadistic things threatening the world means resorting to treachery, well, fuck it. It's basically the whole point of the movie as a deconstruction of the slasher film.

I agree, but how would the dismissive "Humanity..." from Dana fit into that?  They both seem to have a general fuck-you attitude not just about the contrived exercise, but of what backing out of it means too.