Menu
By Emily PowerAt the surface, 'The Cabin In The Woods', seems like your average horror film; a group of five friends venture out to a creepy secluded cabin as the viewer watches supernatural forces come out to play. However in this deconstruction of the horror genre, all is not what it seems. Please be warned: Spoilers Ahead. The films eerie opening sequence psyches up the viewer for the following 95minutes of scares they are going to endure. However we cut to two white collar workers chatting on their lunch break. This opening is in place to throw viewers off the horror scent of the film, with the creators hoping the audience would be tricked into thinking that they came into wrong screening. This is the first taste we get of how this film is going to play with the genre of horror. Now enter the group of friends we follow through the film. Dana, Marty, Jules, Curt and Holden; each representing a common horror trope, the virgin, the stoner, the whore, the athlete and the scholar. The film then begins to deconstruct it characters, as at first glance they all seem to fall into the classic horror character stereotypes but just like the overall film, not all is as it seems. Dana, who is the main protagonist, who takes on the virgin trope for this film, however it is alluded to that she had relations with her professor. Marty is the fool of the group and while that fool is portrayed as a stoner, throughout the film we see how smart and quick thinking Marty can be. Jules, who takes on the whore trope is actually in a committed relationship with Curt, the athlete, is shown to be highly intelligent as he is in college due to a full academic scholarship and even recommends books for Dana. Holden, who takes on the scholar trope is shown to be brains and brawn by demonstrating his athleticism. As the friends progress on their journey, they first encounter 'the town crazy' who warns them off their journey, in a throwback to the early Friday the 13th film. On this journey, the group travel through a tunnel in the side of a mountain as the camera pans to a beautiful bird soaring majestically in the sky until it hits an invisible barrier and this sets the tone that everything is really not as it seemed. In a nod to horror classic, Evil Dead, the friends enter this cabin that is, you guessed it, in the woods and read from a book that they most definitely shouldn't have in a creepy basement they definitely shouldn't have gone into. The group is constantly monitored by the white collar worked, Sitterson and Hadley, that we saw at the start of the film, as it revealed there are camera's in every room of the house. They and their team watch for 'scenario adjustments' as they weave their plans into the group. This can be seen in the joke about chemicals in Jules hair dye that will make her act more like a 'dumb blonde'. As bets are placed on the groups fate, we learn that they must transgress in order to meet their punishing fate which is done from their own free will. However, this free will is influenced by chemicals in the house that makes everyone fall more in line with the trope, they have been selected for. In this basement where the group is, we seen that it is adorned with creepy artefacts that all represent a horror that is awaiting them, if they chose it. However, they are interrupted by Dana who reads from that book which unleashes the Buckner family, a family of redneck torture zombies, that makes reference to zombies having their own sub genres. Jules is the first to succumb to the cabin as she fulfils her role of the whore by showing mild nudity which is a a horror genre classic. One by one, each friend is picked off leading to Dana seemingly fulfilling the end girl trope. Possibly one of the biggest subversions of this film is 'The Ancient Ones'. This is a race that roamed the earth long before the human race. The Ancient Ones are a clear homage to Cthulhu Mythos universe created by H.P. Lovecraft. This film is a great commentary the horror genre and the subversion of it. The creators deconstruct and reconstruct their new version of horror which leads to an interesting watch and a definite recommend of a film.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
UCC Film WritersEditorials and reviews by students at University College Cork. Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|