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.