Cabin In the Woods Essay

The start of the 2012 horror film conforms to the codes and conventions of horror as icons such as blood and gore can be spotted straight away. The majority of the film is also set in darkness and in isolated settings created by expressionistic and shadowy lighting, which again conforms. Atmospheric suspense music can be heard on numerous occasions along with many loud screams and cries, examples of this being in the first chase scene where the first murder in the woods takes place.  Typical characters such as the Hedonistic teenagers, Monsters and The Final Girl (almost) can all be spotted – supporting Propp’s character theory and allowing the audience to easily guess the fate of each character.

Similarly to Scream, Cabin in The Woods also subverts the codes and conventions of horror by stating ‘Rules’ during the movie.  These rules of ‘not having sex’ were broken in both films and the characters that participated in this type of activity were killed early on. The male gaze can also be spotted on more than two occasions supporting Carol J Clover’s theory.  However, the main subversion in the movie is that in most horror films, the audience is lead to believe that the situation the characters face just happen to be an unfortunate series of events whereas in this film, the audience is led to believe that horror movies actually happen in real life to please the ‘gods’ and keep the world in ‘order’ which is why sacrificial themes can be spotted throughout hence the opening credits.

As well as Scream, the movie makes reference to various other films one being Psycho. References of this film can be spotted  in one of the early scenes where voyeurism takes place as a male characters spies on the ‘Virgin’ behind the large picture frame whilst in her room. This was similar to when Norman Bates was spying on Marion though a hole in the wall. Also, the animalistic imagery of the stuffed animal heads on the walls and the slaughtered ram in the painting can be considered Psycho reference's and represent the fate of some of the characters.

The typical camera work and editing such as crosscutting for suspense sequences and faster cutting for violent action can all be identified although an unusual high angle was used in the beginning of the film however this could be argued as a point of view shot for those being watched.  

More horror icons and typical narratives such as the supernatural haunting a group of people and unexplained events can all be identified within the narrative of the horror movie. Todorov’s narrative structure of equilibrium, disruption and restoration of equilibrium have all been used in one way or another as well as the binary oppositions between good and evil, life and death, supernatural and natural all leading up to some sort of resolution but this time with a twist, suggesting to the audience that all is not well and not everything has been restored back to a ‘normal’ state.

Typically, the ‘Virgin’ or ‘Final Girl’ in the movie was the main character and the audience was lead to believe that she would survive like most of the ‘Pure’ and ‘Innocent’ characters do, although this actually turned out to be false hope as even though she was reunited with the other male character, in the end, good did not triumph over evil and there were no survivors.