One of the prevailing problems with films today, and this is especially the case within the horror genre, is a lack of originality. It’s gotten to a point where it becomes difficult to differentiate what horror film is which, as they all seem to utilize the same generic conventions in pretty much the same way. Once in a while a film comes a long that does things differently and grabs all of our attention, like for example Saw, but that freshness is quickly obliterated as then every other horror film subsequent to that one will appropriate the new conventions and used them to death driving us back to where we started. It’s an understandable albeit unfortunate pattern, but more importantly it reinforces the idea that at some point that original film will come. And ladies and gentleman, that film is Cabin in the Woods.

In order to not give anything away plot-wise, I’m just going to give you a fraction of what the film is about. As most people who’ve seen the trailers know, Cabin in the Woods is basically about five friends: Dana (Kristen Connolly), Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchinson), Marty (Fran Kranz) and Holden (Jesse Williams) who go to a secluded cabin for the weekend. Once there things start off relatively normal, but shit hits the fan really quickly and let’s just say that things are definitely not what they seem.

As I said before, most horror films nowadays follow a set of conventions and while the main killer figure might be different, the set up and the endgame is essentially the same. The absolutely genius thing that Cabin in the Woods does is that it takes all those conventions established in slasher films and flips them around completely. So what you get is something that looks somewhat familiar but presented in such a way that labels them different. Moreover, the mystery behind the cabin in the woods which is presented gradually throughout the film adds such a level of self-awareness to the proceedings that the experience of watching the film is both fresh and very weird.

One of the things I kept thinking to myself for the the film’s first two acts was how fuckin’ weird this film is. The what the fuck moments just kept rising and rising, and what this creates is viewing experience where you literally have no clue where things are heading. There are moments where you might think you know, but in all honestly you have no clue. Watching Cabin in the Woods genuinely felt like I was watching something new, something that did not abide by the rules we knew, something that was going to take me to a place I could never imagine. And holy shit does it do all that and more. The third act of the film is one of the most mind-blowing final 30 minutes of any film I’ve ever seen. My face was in a perpetual state of shock and wtf for the whole third act, and when the film ended I was left speechless.

Another clever thing the film does in respect to the horror film conventions is Cabin in the Woods not only presents us with an amazingly intriguing and weird story, but it also gives all the conventions we’re familiar with a set of new identifiers. What these identifiers do is place the conventions, like the slutty girl or the virgin, within a framework that is entirely its own thing. Moreover, in context of the film things happen for a specific reason and as that reason is slowly revealed it’s all put into perspective. Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard should be given an Oscar for writing such an unbelievably amazing and fresh screenplay drenched both in mythology and without ever rejecting all the horror films that came before. It’s so impressive to see how balanced Cabin in the Woods is in terms of story, characters and tone. There are constant shifts in the film but everything is assembled in a cohesive and exceedingly effective manner.

I would love to talk about the third act and the mystery of the film, but I won’t. Just as it was the case with Inception, the less you know the better. All you need to know is that Cabin in the Woods has single-handedly somewhat reinvented the horror genre in such a meta, unexpected and totally mind-blowing way that even a few days after seeing it I’m still trying to process the whole thing. Every aspect of the film is amazing from the acting to the special effects to the scares to the story. This is a horror film that uses cliches to its advantage and modifies them so that they feel fresh. I can’t stress this enough, but watching this film truly felt like I was in the presence of something really different. It’s very rare when a film is able to do that and for that aspect alone, the film deserves universal praise. You need to go watch Cabin in the Woods. This will probably be the new classic in the horror genre.

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