The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Oh where do I even start with this one. How about a confession: Joss Whedon has never written or directed anything that I've found enjoyable (except when he helped out on the Toy Story script and added Rex… possibly his greatest achievement?). I think he is, at best, a mediocre filmmaker who refuses to — or can't — dig very deep into stories or characters, always staying near the surface where it's safe and easy. The Cabin in the Woods is more of the same. Even though it was directed by long-time Whedon collaborator Drew Goddard, it has Whedon's stink all over it.

The first half is a cross between The Evil Dead and The Truman Show as we travel with a group of college students to a remote cabin for a weekend of terror-fun. At the same time we're watching them via audio and video surveillance back at a base of operations. We don't know exactly what sort of operation it is until later in the film, all we can gather is that the group is going to be — to quote my wife — "seriously fucked with."

Indeed they are. The one positive thing I can say about this movie is that's a one big metaphor for how we consume and ultimately require entertainment in a cyclical frenzy. This is a rumination on a lack of taste by the masses and how we indirectly create crap by desiring crap. Whedon is, in a way, giving a big middle finger to audience expectations and desires. But the film falls into its own trap when you discover what's really going on. As a metaphor, it's ultimately trite and boring.

I know plenty of people loved this movie and will think I'm crazy for hating it. I just feel that as an action/horror/comedy it's unoriginal and poorly written, and as a thematic statement it's shallow and forgettable.