Joss Whedon amusingly deconstructs the human race’s need for frights, boogeymen and “Saw” and “Hellraiser” sequels with “The Cabin in the Woods.” It’s a serio-comic blend of “Scream” and “The Adjustment Bureau,” more clever than brilliant, more high concept than meticulously thought-out spoof.
Five college kids pile into an RV for a trek to “my cousin’s cabin” in the middle of nowhere. No, your GPS doesn’t show the backroads they have to take. No, you’re not getting cell reception there.
The kids are horror movie “types” — the libidinous blonde (Anna Hutchinson), her jock beau (Chris “Thor” Hemsworth), the jock’s sensitive, “brainy” pal (Jesse Williams), the lovelorn innocent (Kristen Connolly).
And let’s not forget the stoner, given a Shaggy from “Scooby Doo” whimsy by Fran Kranz.
“Society is BINDING,” weed-worshipping Marty preaches. “It’s filling in the cracks with concrete!”
Okaaaay.
In the best “Friday the 13th” tradition, the kids ignore the first word of warning, the redneck filling station owner.
“I been here since The War!”
Which war?
“You know damn well which war!”
They find the cabin, which is remote, rustic, and filled with creepy touches, animal sacrifice paintings, masks, puzzles and Latin phrase books out of a horror movies ranging from simple ghost tales to “Hellraiser” extravaganzas.
As the kids lurch toward their fate, the stoner mutters that they’re being watched through his smokey haze, that the “puppets” are being manipulated by “puppet masters.” And every so often, the film skips off to a vast complex where the stoner’s theories are borne out. That’s the “Adjustment Bureau” side of the story.
Whedon (TV’s “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer”) and director Drew Goddard skip back and forth between these two settings, and all I’ll say about the “Bureau” world is that it stars Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford, and its arcane technology and cumbersome chain of command provides most of this “Cabin’s” laughs.
“Cabin,” heavily hyped by fanboys and long-delayed, isn’t scary. It’s the showbiz savvy and the name-cast gloss that lifts this goof on horror cliche above the “Scary Movie” franchise, or “Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil.” Kranz is the funniest thing in it, though the seen-it-all desk jockey that Jenkins plays gives him a run for his money.
And if, by the third act, Whedon writes himself and his characters into a corner too silly to gracefully get out of without cheating, well we know why “Firefly” was canceled, don’t we?
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, language, drug use and some sexuality/nudity
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchinson, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford.
Credits: Directed by by Drew Goddard, written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard. A Lionsgate release.
Running time: 1:35
