Cabin in the Woods, NOT the Horror film You’re Expecting

Cabin in the Woods is one of those movies people are going to either love or hate.  The reason why some people may hate this movie has to do with the way the film was marketed.  Lionsgate (the studio that released the film) marketing department pulled a bait and switch on moviegoers.  Those darn marketers, how could they?  Well, I’ll get to that part in a minute.  Based on my discussions on Facebook and at the office this morning, some people thought this was a horror movie in the tradition of Evil Dead and Friday the 13^th.  Heck, the movie even opened on a Friday the 13^th, which makes the movie even more scary right?  Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not a horror movie, it’s a horror comedy and at the very least it’s satire of the horror genre, particularly of horror movies like the Evil Dead and Friday the 13^th. 

 

I know what you’re thinking based on the TV commercials, it looks and feels like a horror movie, so it must be a horror movie?  Well that’s where the marketing switchroo comes into play.  Cabin in the Woods is an extremely difficult movie to market without revealing too much of its twisting and turning plot.  So the Lionsgate’s marketing department decided to market the film as a horror movie with very familiar themes related to the horror genre.  A move that netted them $14 million in opening weekend box office returns.  Not bad for a horror movie or horror comedy.  Don’t get me wrong this movie has a lot of horrific moments and there’s a ton of blood spilled, but it’s also got a lot of funny parts too. It’s just not a horror film.  I don’t like to see people go to a movie thinking it's something it’s not.  This can totally ruin the experience for some viewers.  

 

Now I bet your wondering what I thought of Cabin in the Woods, well I liked it.  After the first scene in the movie I knew exactly what kind of film this was.  Also producer and writer Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series) has a track record of turning genres upside down.  So armed with that information, I knew this film was going to be something different than what was being advertised.  One of the things, I really enjoyed in this movie is that fact it was so unpredictable.  I mean I didn’t see the final shot coming at all and if you did you’re either lying to yourself or you read the script online somewhere.

So if you’re in the mood for a horror comedy, then Cabin in the Woods is the film for you. 

Here's me standing next to a large piece of movie marketing.