Yes, I need that many, and more, exclamation marks. I’ve been waiting most of my life for movies that don’t follow the norm. You know what norm is in horror or thriller movies where the hero/heroine survives and often saves someone else while everyone else dies. The hero/heroine is generally an athlete and a scholar and blitzes everyone else’s skills. Joss Whedon looks at this and thumbs his nose at it, he puts together a movie that actually works and makes sense, he turns these conventions around and creates a truly wonderful experience.
Cabin in the Woods is his latest masterpiece, I saw it last night as a fundraiser for Nullus Anxietas 4. The movie was going to go straight to DVD but they screened it last night at the Cinema Nova in Carlton and thank goodness there are a few more screenings over the next week. I believe you can see it at The Astor in Windsor and possibly one or two other places around the country.
As you’ll know from watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel or Firefly, Whedon doesn’t do straight horror he puts in the comedic element and makes it feel as if it could really be happening. This movie is no different, it’s about five teenagers who go away to a cabin situated in the woods for a relaxing time and the events that enfold them. There are hints of the other story surrounding it but it takes a little while before we find out they are related and that every move made by these five people is being watched and celebrated.
They buy fuel on the way to the cabin and the man is less then forthcoming with both his fuel and his information. Some time later we hear him on the phone to the people behind the cameras, he’s ranting and raving and suddenly his tone changes as he asks if he’s on speaker phone, he’s told he isn’t so he continues ranting, he’s supposedly taken off speaker phone and continues his ranting until he realises he’s been conned and is still on speaker phone. Just one gem of a scene in this movie.
I can’t write too much more about the movie without giving too many spoilers so I won’t. I can’t tell you if there is a hero or a heroine as that’s spoilers and I can’t tell you who this could possibly be. I will tell you it was well worth the price I paid and I now can’t wait for the DVD as I really need to see it again to get the full impact of the music and sound effects and I’m also intrigued to see what extras Whedon has put on. There’s the opportunity for so many side stories and it’d be lovely to see them and see how he turns things on their heads.