In the five years since its release, “The Cabin in the Woods” has already become a bona-fide horror classic with many passionate fans and dissenters. Me, I stand with the former: It’s a clever, self-conscious and effective modernizing of the haunted-cabin-in-the-woods-under-siege horror trope (with “The Evil Dead” as the most famous example of its ilk) that mixes classic horror elements with a more modern, post-meta approach that academically deconstructs the conventions of traditional horror filmmaking organically, having incorporated its thesis into the original storyline. If none of this makes sense, it’s because I’m trying not to give anything away for those who may not have seen it already, because much of its charm relies on finding out exactly what’s going on from the first few frames. Fans of Clive Barker’s novella “The Midnight Meat Train” should give this a shot if they haven’t already.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)
