Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Woods starts off as the typical scary movie in which college students go away for a mini vacation in the middle of no where.  Watching this movie, the immediate reaction is that they are all going to get intoxicated, party too hard, and die.  But the plot is completely different and refreshing.  Having the cabin controlled by other humans shows how people's morals and principles can be so twisted when it comes to saving themselves.  The workers who are behind it all have almost no emotions or regrets when coming to kill these innocent people, in fact they enjoy it so much that bets are placed.  When America is in competition, these Americans are portrayed as the very monsters themselves, purposely releasing monsters and traps just for the pleasure of seeing innocent people die.  Being the top country is their number one priority, even if it meant killing people.  Although it was an act of sacrifice, the people behind it knew it was not right yet they went ahead with the plan to save themselves.  When people are put in a situation where their lives are in danger, they are willing to do anything to help themselves.

The Cabin in the Woods

I really liked this movie because although it started out as a typical horror movie with a few comical moments, there was a huge twist in the end. The end made me think a lot and how it feels like people have no control in their lives as if they were controlled by something supernatural. In this movie, it was human beings controlling their own race into doing things just to please the Gods by giving them their sacrifices. Even though there were some parts in the movie that were pretty ridiculous and hard to be considered as a horror movie, I liked the movie as a whole.

Cabin in the Woods

The film we watched in class, Cabin In the Woods is about six young travelers visiting a cabin to have fun for few days, but end up getting killed as a sacrifice to ancient old gods. It depicts the horror that comes from people not being able to have control of their own body, but being played by others as puppets do. It is a movie that references a various horror films. The creepy old man that warns the death of six young travelers is a reference of the film The Harbinger. The film The Evil Dead is clearly referenced by setting where the horror happens as a cabin in the middle of the woods. The directors use many methods to highlight the scenes such as use of metafiction and different lightings. It is a combination between horror and comedy and this is to make the gory and scary scenes more sudden and apparent. However, personally I could not take the film seriously because of this mix between genres. It just felt like it is neither comedy or thriller.

Cabin in the Woods: Free Will

While Cabin in the Woods had many terrifying, anxiety ridden moments, one such moment of extreme discomfort was when the characters went into the basement and were looking at all the little trinkets that had seemingly been left behind by past residents. This is the scene in which, as later noted by one of the characters, they essentially chose how they died, this was the one part of the movie when the characters were given a choice as to what was to become of them. In all other parts of the movie the characters were manipulated and controlled by hormones released into the air, by remote controlled doors, and by whatever other aspects of human behavior the scientists running the show knew how to control. What makes this moment in the basement even more terrifying is the music. As the characters are looking around in the basement, fiddling with whichever object caught their eye first the music became excessively creepy and innerving, and yet the audience was still at a loss as to what terrifying thing was about to happen. Even after the Latin text is read and the monsters are brought to life it is still somewhat unclear what all the trinkets had to do with anything. And then later, you find out that each trinket was connected to one of the many monsters designed to kill the characters, making that moment in the basement even more twisted and disturbing. Ultimately the characters had a choice in how they died, this was the only real free will or decision the characters were allowed to make the entire time, and they didn’t even know that they had that choice.

To the writers of The Cabin In the Woods

I am totally baffled by this film. I understand the entire tongue in cheek caricature of the horror genre as a whole. I understand the clever joke of having the most typical characters spend a weekend partying in a cabin  in the woods. I get metafiction. But I don't understand how the people who wrote this film could come up with such a clever premise for a film, attract legitimate stars and make a pretty well made film but create such completely cheesy dialogue. "I'm living in a world of reefer!" Are you serious?

The Cabin in the Woods

During the film, I believe one of the characters said that the monsters were the things nightmares were made from. I think that quote seems to put this film definitely into the supernatural realm like the monsters were always there. Considering that nightmares didn’t just start happening I guess the film suggests that the monsters have existed for a very long time. To see humans be able to use the monsters and manipulate them does give humanity a sense of power over the creatures, but it’s clear that they can’t be controlled. Maybe the message of the movie is that nightmarish things are out of our control. It could be saying that no matter how strong we believe we are, nightmares will prevail or something like that.

The Cabin In The Woods

When watching this film, I couldn't help but notice all the elements that were used to make a horror film. One of the main elements I recognized was the music and sound throughout the movie. The viewers know when something is about to happen because the music is different. The sound is higher and more eerie and makes it a scary atmosphere. Another element in this movie was the camera angels. The way the camera follows certain people and when the camera angels towards something also suggests that something bad is going to happen. Overall, I think this movie was really good and the overall story is different and unique to other stories that I've seen. The ending was a little disappointing because I expected a happier ending for the two characters. I think I would only suggest this movie to horror movie lovers because I think the movie was pretty frightening.

The Cottage in the Forest

A tongue-in-cheek smörgåsbord of horror film archetypes and tropes, "The Cabin in the Woods" takes everything the viewer expects from a scary movie and shoves it down their throat. While this initially sounds terrible, the obviously intentional heavy-handedness of the film's direction serves as perfect commentary on the genre as a whole. The movie comically highlights the genre's formulaic approach to storytelling, drawing attention to both stereotypical circumstances (no escape, increased libido) and characters (athlete, whore, scholar, fool, and virgin). The clichés of horror movies are all present, which makes the genuine anxiety induced all the more impressive. Despite the constant hokiness, "The Cabin in the Woods" delivers scares and hopefully a reality check to the film industry.

The Cabin in The Woods



In the film The Cabin in The Woods, the supernatural monsters are tools used to perform the human sacrifice ritual and are controlled by other humans.  This gives a critique of whether sacrificing one for the good of many is the right way for the world to be.  The fact that the people who were controlling the rituals show that the concept 'for the better good' turned into something like a reality show so that the controllers are entertained while working.  Turning people's pain and suffering into what appears to be normal entertainment supports the character, Marty's thoughts about society taking a turn for the worse and a change is necessary.  At the end the change for humanity appears to be the complete destruction of all civilization and human life by these ancient gods. Whether or not what is left to restart the world is better than what was destroyed remains for interpretation.

Cabin in the Woods

After watching “Cabin in the Woods” in its entirety it’s hard for me to not simply discuss what a terrible movie it was. I appreciate the idea of the satirical references to common themes from horror films in the past, but I also found this film predictable and uninspired. As far as the use of cinematic techniques, sound and camera angles were heavily relied upon to create suspense. Viewers are reminded of the surveillance of the characters by the underground authorities controlling their experience by filming characters from behind. This creates a tension and feeling of being watched without their knowledge or that something/someone could sneak up on them at any time catching them by surprise. Music and sounds that start soft and crescendo to a climax when something terrifying pops out create fear and tension for the audience. I feel that if it weren't for the over-the-shoulder camera views and sudden loud noises to catch the audience by surprise there would be very little suspense or terror in this film. The blood and gore was so unrealistic it was more comical that frightening. Maybe this was the point of the movie, to show how most horror films are simply spin-offs of things that have been done before. In my opinion this just groups “Cabin in the Woods” into the same boring, repetitive horror movie genre it’s supposed to poke fun at or pay homage to. Overall I didn't find the film enjoyable or very entertaining because one was able to predict almost every twist and turn thrown into the film. I guess that is kind of the point, being that the film is commentary on overused horror tropes but I feel it makes it just as unoriginal as these films and therefore not worth watching. 

Revolt of the Monsters

I found the use of Metafiction in Cabin in the Woods interesting in that it both played to and played against the viewer’s prior conceptions of the technique. One of the most common manifestations of metafiction is ‘breaking the fourth wall’, in which a character shows a level of awareness that they are in a film (or in a play or book). It is usually played for comic effect, often pointing out plot contrivances or overused tropes. 

Cabin in the Woods plays with this idea- There is a ‘fourth wall’ present, but it is not between the audience and the film, rather it is between the two sets of characters- The sacrificial victims in the cabin and the shady organization observing them. Throughout the film, the organization are aware that they are viewing a predetermined series of events- they are in the place of the audience watching a film. When the cabin’s residents start to become aware that there is more going on than simply a trite horror story, the fourth wall shows its first signs of cracking. It is broken when Marty and Dana enter the underground facility, and completely shattered with the release of the hordes of supernatural monsters.

This idea of the audience observing a staged narrative within a film is not a new one. However, Cabin in the Woods makes use of this technique to provide an added critique of the horror genre. The film concludes with what can be read as a ‘revolt’ of monsters against the shackles of the horror genre.

Cabin in the woods

Cabin in the woods began as a very stereotypical horror film but transformed as the movie progressed. As we discussed in class, the film ended up resembling a satire and critique of horror films. Near the film's conclusion, all of the horror icons that haunt us were unleashed; this was especially the case with the controller and the merman. I believe that this film is a critique on horror films because it makes the audience question their society and question the factors that create horror because the controllers dictated the main characters and the gods dictated the controllers.  We discussed that these horror subjects may be the extremes of our worst nightmares and the stark opposite of our cultural norms. I also thought that the very ending was strange and a little unsatisfying when the main characters ended up being buried alive and the idea of sacrifices to gods turned out to be a reality.

Cabin in the Woods is a horror film about horror films. There are five archetypes that are featured and their deaths are linked with their archetype. The archetypes are the following: whore, athlete, scholar, fool, and virgin. The five young adults are punished by death in a controlled environment. For example, Jules isn't killed until she is engaging in sexual acts in the forest. The purpose of having five tropes and then a roulette type of set up for the monsters show that essentially horror films have the same foundation. A mash up of five teenagers and then monsters will entire the scene.  

First Impression of Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Wood first appeared me to as a regular horror movie with scary background music, young people adventuring into an isolated area, and the creepy man at the gas station. However, the movie is very unique in the form that people, who I assume work for the government, are in control of the horror that happens to the young people. After I figured that the government was playing Big Brother I no longer saw the movie as a horror film, but instead I saw it as a film addressing how things are not supernatural because the government is controlling everything. The first half of the movie we watched in lecture was very interesting and I cannot wait to see the ending.  

Cholk full of tropes.

The athlete, the promiscuous one, the nerd, the harlequin, the virgin. From the introduction of the characters, this film seems to embrace every single possible trope in every horror movie before it. Even the generic "five friends go out to some unknown(the gps cannot find it...surprise) place that is VERY shady and ends up being the hiding ground of some villain" plot is used. With such blatant use of tropes, this movie would most likely be either a parody or a deconstruction of the entire genre. Most likely, this will be a deconstruction, as the role of the mastermind is somewhat twisted(scientists instead of psycho).

Cabin in the Woods

There were several ways “Cabin in the Woods” both subtly and obviously mirrored horror movies. For example, they made sure to include cliché monsters, such as zombies or werewolves and cliché characters, such as the innocent, big-eyed girl or the jock guy. I think that this movie pokes fun at the whole horror genre in order to get the viewer thinking about what actually makes a horror movie, a horror movie. If anyone can employ these techniques, then what makes these movies so terrifying? Perhaps it’s not the context, but rather the underlying implications. In the film, the inhabitants of the cabin were ultimately brought there to be sacrificed to some demonic god that ruled the Earth on which they lived. The protagonists had to be killed for the greater good, and therefore should have just allowed themselves to be sacrificed. To me, this was disturbing. I would not want my life to be sacrificed for the “greater good,” especially since the characters had no say in who was chosen. The fact that humanity can do such horrible things to each other in order to benefit the majority is terrifying. It makes me question if they care about an individual’s life at all. 

I like how the greatest clarity comes from the character whose mentality is supposed to be distorted by his constant intake of weed. Although this is a remake of a much older version, the idea is the same: a group of young adults take an isolated cabin in the woods thinking that it would be a great place for a vacation away from their normal lives. the scary aspect of this movie comes from the notion that no matter what these characters do, they are trapped and bound to the terrors of the cabin. the feeling of imminent doom seems to prevail throughout this film. i think the only bright side is that the zombies here do not infect the living, unlike the previous zombie stories we have read/watched. What is equally terrifying is that the horror implemented onto these vacationers are controlled by other human beings like themselves. the twisted reality of the situation is disturbing because there seems to be a whole business community, as well as customers, who find entertainment in seeing their greatest fears attacking people they dont even know. the way there are multiple scenarios set up for the vacationers is ultimately demented in that there seems to be a way to make a fear out of anything that is supposed to be relatively normal, like a merman.

Critique from Within: Cabin in the Woods portrayal of the Horror Movie industry

      In his film Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard uses a film within a film narrative to expose and critique the repetitiveness, stagnation, and seeming lack of care towards characterization that seems to have taken over the Horror Movie industry.  Throughout the film the viewer is presented with a dual narrative, one story focuses on the officials who are trying to preform some kind of ritual to please an offscreen entity known as the Director, and the other narrative follows the group of college students that are selected for this ritual, only crossing over when the officials preform certain actions or pull certain strings to move the other narrative in the direction they want it to go.  Through this structure, Goddard presents the viewer with a story about the creation of a horror film, it is a narrative about the Director and the people under him/her using various techniques to create a pre-formatted ritual, the ritual being the creation of a horror movie.  It is here that Goddard begins his critique,starting with the lack of characterization or character design that Horror movies use.  The cast is always the same: the demure, innocent protagonist (the virgin), the druggie or idiot (the fool), the overly-sexy beautiful girl (the whore), the sports jock or strong man (the athlete), and the smart, bookish man (the scholar).  Both in the film within the film, and outside of it permeating the entire industry, this very same cast can be seen perpetuated again and again, only varying genders or maybe throwing in a couple more characters with the same traits.  Some films don't even go so far as to do that, instead just relying on a large cast of bland characters to get killed in various gruesome ways (see the Saw franchise, or Final destination franchise).

      As the movie gets underway, Goddard introduces his second critique of the industry, the repetitiveness of the plot and pacing within almost every movie.  The plot of the meta-narrative in the film follows a suprisingly linnear path as laid out by the "producers" of the meta-film: the cast takes off, they are warned by the Harbinger (gas station attendent) that the place they are going to is evil and that they will die, they ignore him and go anyway, they spend the first day, and most of the night partying, then the horror strikes in the night.  Beyond this, there are the various ways that each of them die, all of which also follow convention:  there is the person that dies before/during/after a shower/sex scene (Jules), one that dies while trying to escape (Kurt), one that dies while in the middle of a realization (Marty, although this is subverted in the film), and one that dies saving the main character (Holden), while the main character is left to either live or die.  Again, this same narrative structure is increasingly prevalent in most slasher films or horror films in general, and the times that the characters die have become almost industry standard.  By subverting this, Goddard disrupts the standard film narrative, and it is from this disruption onward that he begins to develop his film as a completely separate narrative evolving on its own, combining the outside producers and the students turned  "actors."  At the same time, by showing this kind of ritual as a successful procedure, he critiques the industry as following this preset plan or ritual, and so long as all the elements are present, that is all they care about, thus encouraging repetitiveness and bad, soulless movies.

      The final critique that Goddard makes of the industry is in its stagnation and lack of creativity in regards to the horror, or what serves as the driving antagonistic force.  In the film, the "producers" have a large studio -wide betting pool on what kind of creature the "actors" will bring about, and all the possible results are listed on a standard size whiteboard.  While not given very long to look at it, the whiteboard contains three distinct categories of creatures, creatures that have been used before in previous successful horror films, creatures that are very slight alterations of ones that have been used and have been successful, and creatures that are references or tributes to other movies or that might have inspired Goddard.  In the first category,  the list of creatures includes such standbys as Clowns (It), Zombies (Night of the Living Dead), Werewolves (heck if I know), Vampires (Nosferatu), and so on and so forth; all recognizable, all famous, and all already used to death.  In the second catagory there is a small attempt at innovation, but most monsters vary little from what they are based on; Fornicus Lord of Bondage and Pain (Pinhead from Hellraiser), Zombie Redneck torture family as opposed to just Zombies, ect.  Finally, there are the references to other movies, such as the Evil Raping Trees from the Evil Dead, Various infected from Left 4 Dead, and Twins that look very similar to those from Kubrick's The Shining.  Through this, Goddard critiques the stagnation and repetitiveness of the creatures used in films, where the horrors are all ones that have been used before, or ones that are very slight variations of famous ones.  All possible creatures are listed on the board, there is no deviation both in the meta-film or in the industry, you will always see the same creatures, with very little innovation.

Cabin in the Woods: The Fool

I found Marty's character to be the most interesting. The two men referred to him as the "fool" of the group, and I couldn't think of a more appropriate description of him. The fool was used for entertainment purposes, but in order to successfully entertain his audience, he would have to have had a great deal of information on them. This information would then be turned on its head in order to poke fun. The fool is no longer the fool. He uses his knowledge in order to remove and place the title onto the audience. Marty is no different. While we laugh at some of the things his character says, there's no denying that he is the most insightful--partly because the drugs have made him immune to the chemicals altering the others behavior (weird). Marty tells Dana and the others that she shouldn't read the Latin out loud, and is the first to mention the idea of puppeteers (poptarts!) to Dana. All in all, I enjoyed his character. He possesses a deep understanding of the game, but is also hilarious.

Cabin in the Woods

Let me just start off by saying, I really love this movie so far! and the reasons why are as followed:
Cabin in the Woods seems like it would be like any other traditional scary movie that's set in a cabin in the middle of no where; something absurd is going to happen, either supernatural or psycho pathological and everyone who went on the trip who are usually young and beautiful will die horrible deaths. In this movie; however, they not only have the supernatural aspect of it with the redneck zombies breaching from the ground and killing everyone, but they also have a very sickening plot alongside it: people are controlling these monsters and setting a stage for these young people to be slaughtered. It is unclear why they are doing this, but it is definitely set up with a purpose to kill all of them and to not let them escape. Everything is recorded, stimulated, and programmed to run in a specific way. It is unclear who the audience is that these governmental type officials are doing these acts for, it has not been explained yet. However, there are hints to Egyptian elements in the latter part of the movie. Cabin in the Woods is supernatural yet can still be explained and rationalized which makes it even more thrilling and illusive. In this movie, these zombies are mindless and killing these people, but the true monster are the people running the system.

Warm bodies vs. Danger word and 28 days later

Typical zombies we usually see in movies and books do nor have individuality or humanity. They do not feel any complex human emotions other than hunger and anger. They most of the times roam around in groups and attack humans, infecting them. These typical zombies are often portrayed as humans losing their identities in the society, conforming in groups. Some say that they reflect people with disabilities, as they are often mistreated.
Zombies from Danger word and 28 days later are two stories that go quite with typical zombie stories. First of all, although it is rage-not some kind of pathogen- that people are infected with, infected people lose their mind as soon as they become infected (whether or not they are alive). They do not seem to think rationally and the only one thing they care about is to infect other human being. In Danger word, the zombies are a little more sophisticated than the ones from the 28 days later. They know how to speak few words, remembering the language they knew before. However, they too, cannot think anything except hunger. As soon as they become infacted, nothing matters (even families do not matter).
Warm bodies very different from typical zombie stories from the fact that zombies except the bonies can feel more than hunger and even help humans against bonies. Although they are not fully functional  they can act like humans and feel as humans do (guilt, sadness, happiness, love, and so on). Compare to other zombie stories, Warm Bodies depict zombies more close to human beings than simple carnivorous monsters.

Humanity in Warm Bodies

The things separating humans and zombies are very different in Warm Bodies than they are in most other zombie texts. "Humanity" is what seemingly separates the two, but the definition of that humanity is what is ambiguous. Many other works seem to imply that society and community is what makes people human but in Warm Bodies the zombies have the semblance of a society. They seem to be going through the motions of human societies. This includes "marriages", giving each couple one boy and one girl, church services, and watching "sports". They have fallen into cycles of what humans are "supposed" to be doing. However, the humans are also just a shell of their society. They are in compounds doing jobs but there is no creativity and life and joy in the people. Humans in the compound are merely going through the motions of being human, just like the zombies. I personally believe that what the novel intends to display is that the difference between life and zombification is the embracing of the emotional side of the world. Though some read the novel as purely a love story, I think that all the emotions R experiences up to the culmination in his love for Julie are essential to his ascension into something beyond both zombie and human. Simply the desire for life and the curiosity in their pursuit of truth is enough to push both Julie and R beyond the "zombified" lives they've been living.