Go see Cabin in the Woods right now! *No more spoiler tags! You've had weeks! Discuss openly!

kuddles wrote:

with the added bonus of not having dialogue that makes every single character in the film sound like representations of the exact same smug and sarcastic jackass.

And there's the Whedon part of it all.

Evidently a lot of people really big into horror movies weren't fans of Cabin in the Woods, which makes me wonder if it's appeal lies more with people that aren't huge into typical slasher horror. I agree that Hollywood horror hasn't been the same stereotypical setting for the last several years, but in the end it feels like mainstream horror still has a tendency to focus on a bunch of archetypical young kids (late teens or early twenties) being killed by something. "Redneck Zombie Torture Family" just seems to be a combination of all of the popular ones now (undead, crazy disturbed rednecks, torture porn, etc.)

But this is also from the outside looking in. What might have made more sense is taking what might have been a clever idea and beating it into the f*cking ground (OH YOU HAVE A NEW PARANORMAL ACTIVITY OH BOY).

In any event, I still dig it, and I feel like Joss Whedon is at his best when he's helping someone else that is in charge. In truth, though, you might just not be a Drew Goddard fan, who was the writer for Cloverfield and has done a lot of writing for Buffy, Angel, Alias and Lost (and evidently wrote the screenplay for Robocalypse and an untitled Cloverfield sequel).

I'm sorry, but after taking a chance on this one, I'm now going to actively avoid everything Joss Whedon is involved in, because the writing is always uniformly terrible.

The concept is clever but not as clever as the film seems to think it is. In the end, the execution feels like a dissection of horror films as presented by someone who hasn't watched a single horror film for decades, and borders on being insulting to the audience without the balls to do it properly. Movies like Paranorman (a kid's movie, for crying out loud), Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil, and Severance succeed at their similar goals in a much more intelligent way, with the added bonus of not having dialogue that makes every single character in the film sound like representations of the exact same smug and sarcastic jackass.

I liked the beginning, as it was a bit confusing to actually get what was going on.
When all the bad guys were released and people actually still survive at all...I guess that's where
it fell flat for me. But I liked it for what it was all in all.

Sparhawk wrote:

When all the bad guys were released and people actually still survive at all...I guess that's where
it fell flat for me.

People survived?

ccesarano wrote:
Sparhawk wrote:

When all the bad guys were released and people actually still survive at all...I guess that's where
it fell flat for me.

People survived?

Yeah, seriously! I don't want to ruin things, but...what movie did YOU see?

I think he's saying that the monsters that were released before the big bad guy would've or should've killed everyone, including the stoner and virgin.

See, if I were to nitpick anything, it would have been that all that blood and gore wasn't enough to satiate "the audience". I mean think of all the archetypes that were slaughtered!

...God I love the third act of this movie.

As a huge horror fan (and not a fan of a lot of Whedon's stuff), I loved the movie. I think the people who were expecting pure horror marked it down for having a lot of comedy, but that's their fault for not liking tweeners.

Yeah, the impression I got was that the folks expecting straight horror were pissed about all the meta-critical elements and, regardless of how they might articulate it, just didn't want something that spent so much time playing with tropes out in the open like that. While I didn't read spoilers or anything prior to watching the movie, I did know that there was some emphasis on that going in, and so I didn't feel like I'd been cheated or tricked. Then again, my love of horror films is based on genre literacy more than seeing people get killed in grisly ways, so I'm probably in the camp of people this movie was made for in the first place.

Yep. Randy making fun of all the horror tropes in the first Scream was probably my favorite part of the movie.

I love me a good horror movie (which seem pretty rare), and have some pretty big issues with Whedon joints, but this movie cut through most of them. I think it's the best thing he's done since Buffy and Angel's heyday.

And if you want to check out Buffy's season 4 episode "Hush", the man can do straight horror very very well.

29 minutes with no spoken words. One of the best hours of TV I've ever seen.

Stele wrote:

And if you want to check out Buffy's season 4 episode "Hush", the man can do straight horror very very well.

29 minutes with no spoken words. One of the best hours of TV I've ever seen.

Wait, is that the episode where...

Spoiler:

The dudes in suits are just floating around town with those creepy expressions and sh*t? I didn't quite find it scary, but I was probably watching it in the daylight while multi-tasking with my job. But I can also see it being creepy as f*ck, yes.

I wonder how much Joss Whedon really did compared with Drew Goddard. I keep seeing people talk about it as if it was nothing but Whedon, but it was a combined effort on the screenplay with a different director.

That's the one. The Gentlemen are coming.

And yeah this movie was pretty much Goddard's baby. Joss helped with the script and probably a producer credit. But Goddard has writing and directing credits.

The idea was Whedon's and he also produced, wrote and shot 2nd unit, so I'm pretty sure a joint credit is due.

The merman was the best part.

Merman was the best part!

The whole movie was awesome.

I just kept hearing "let's bust some punks!" in my head.

I liked the movie alright but the end bothered me. The stoner deciding that the world was better off destroyed than having to go through the sacrifices just didn't jive for me. Not to say I know better ... but something like the stoner taking his own life in a self-sacrificing way only to have Weaver's character state that the gods hate it when we do that, then cut to the giant hand coming up. Last little twist that would have made more sense for me. Maybe I didn't catch some subtle meaning there but the end just kind of sputtered for me and tarnished what was an otherwise fun movie. Just my take on it.

I finally saw this last night and thought it was awesome. Not really that surprising since I've liked everything by Whedon that I've ever seen (except Angel, Angel's stupid).

Quintin_Stone wrote:

The merman was the best part.

As soon as they let all the monsters out I said "Whitford's totally getting killed by a merman."

I know! I was worried he wouldn't be.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Not really that surprising since I've liked everything by Whedon that I've ever seen (except Angel, Angel's stupid).

You know it is funny but my wife and I went to see Sinister last saturday night. We had to walk out after 5 minutes because the whole theatre was talking during the movie.

During the previews, they showed a trailer for the upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre film and I had to laugh because everything in it reminded me of Cabin in the Woods. It was so funny that CitW made the formula horror movies look so comically sterile.

fangblackbone wrote:

You know it is funny but my wife and I went to see Sinister last saturday night. We had to walk out after 5 minutes because the whole theatre was talking during the movie.

I don't even try, at this point. I've become a misanthrope, never leaving my house, largely because humanity stinks.

fangblackbone wrote:

It was so funny that CitW made the formula horror movies look so comically sterile.

This is the best part of the CitW experience for me. I can now rest easy that I will never take another formula-made, hack&slash, torture p0rn, gore-fest, "horror" movie seriously ever again.

TheHipGamer wrote:
ccesarano wrote:
Sparhawk wrote:

When all the bad guys were released and people actually still survive at all...I guess that's where
it fell flat for me.

People survived?

Yeah, seriously! I don't want to ruin things, but...what movie did YOU see?

Spoiler:

Sorry, more specific. When the elevator doors opened and everyone around pretty much died on the spot. Yet our main characters got to run around a bit more. Was very 'unrealistic' : P

Grenn wrote:

*Spoiler tags aren't needed.*

...

What's most implausible is the ludicrous idea that unicorns aren't anything but pure, undiluted goodness. For sham, Drew Goddard/Joss Whedon!

Pure undiluted goodness can still kill you. I imagine the people running the facility are generally severely lacking in empathy, pure hearts, or any of the other traditional unicorn-balms.

Also, it housed the ancient ones and the stone carvings, not to mention its where the Ridley seemed to hang out

The base was located on top of Norfair?

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/48/Ridley_-_Super_Metroid.png/256px-Ridley_-_Super_Metroid.png)

Sparhawk wrote:

Sorry, more specific. When the elevator doors opened and everyone around pretty much died on the spot. Yet our main characters got to run around a bit more. Was very 'unrealistic' : P

I was a little bothered by a single button that unleashes every nightmare they have collected in that place, and it being something one could just press. What would the benefit of that be? Why would anyone want such a thing? It made no sense, but I don't like letting myself get too bogged down in those kinds of things when I am enjoying a crazy bloodbath.

Atras wrote:
Sparhawk wrote:

Sorry, more specific. When the elevator doors opened and everyone around pretty much died on the spot. Yet our main characters got to run around a bit more. Was very 'unrealistic' : P

I was a little bothered by a single button that unleashes every nightmare they have collected in that place, and it being something one could just press. What would the benefit of that be? Why would anyone want such a thing? It made no sense, but I don't like letting myself get too bogged down in those kinds of things when I am enjoying a crazy bloodbath.

Clearly there is a third or fourth layer in this movie where someone has designed this facility to feed a different elder god's sense of humor.

*Spoiler tags aren't needed.*

True, the onslaught of nightmare beasts ripped through the strike teams with unearthly efficiency. However, the unlikely duo were hidden in the security room with bullet-resistant glass. They didn't leave until well after all the things that go bump had spread out looking for their captors. They only left when the bat creature busted through. And even then, they had to kill a zombie, avoid more, and only were spared because another techie took the hit from the bat for them. The area where they went was accidentally opened due to wall damage and where the other main characters were trying to get to for safety. Also, it housed the ancient ones and the stone carvings, not to mention its where the Ripley seemed to hang out, so its reasonable to say that where they ended up was safer than anywhere else in the compound that had people that needed killing. And don't forget that the wall that was destroyed that allowed them to get there was just outside of the elevator bay they came out of in the first place.

What's most implausible is the ludicrous idea that unicorns aren't anything but pure, undiluted goodness. For sham, Drew Goddard/Joss Whedon!

edit *I swear I've seen Aliens*