Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Dipping My Toes in Horror: The Cabin in the Woods and The Evil Dead


I know I said that I wasn't going to review The Cabin in the Woods. But then it dawned on me that we're into October, and two months ago I promised that I'd do some more toe dipping this month. Originally I wasn't going to keep that promise, as these toe dipping months are kinda exhausting, but yesterday I realised that it was indeed October, and Halloween happens at the end of the month. Having seen both The Cabin in the Woods and The Evil Dead just recently, I decided that this was perfect timing. Plus, I've always meant to get into more horror, even though I think it is a ghastly genre. The Cabin in the Woods seems like a pretty funny way to do some toe dipping (okay, the phrase 'toe dipping' is starting to sound exceedingly dodgy), but as I said, this is kinda last minute stuff. And it had me scared shitless, so I suppose it did what it was supposed to do.


Anyway, so chances are you've seen/discussed/analysed/had enough of The Cabin in the Woods. And because of that fact, I honestly have no idea of what I can say about the film. So here's my list of scattered thoughts (spoiler-iffic, but most of you have probably seen it because you don't live in New Zealand):
-Yeah, Joss Whedon is pretty cool.

-It was kinda like the horror version of The Hunger Games. Not that the premise of The Hunger Games isn't scary enough.
-Anna Hutchison is in it. Which is weird for me, because I've always known her as the chick of Go Girls. And she's like, really popular in NZ. But I think about you Americans, and you haven't the foggiest of who she is, even now that you've seen the movie. I mean, it is just weird that the chick off Go Girls is in this movie. Just really really weird. That's not to say that she's not talented, but she is in Go Girls, for heaven's sake.
-I didn't even know where the movie was going half the time.
-Okay, I'm going to admit that this wasn't exactly the "refreshing" horror that I thought I was. But that's probably because I expected fireworks and crap to come out of that cabin. There was a unicorn, though, and I can safely say that I was not expecting that.
-IDK, does anyone else get sick of Sigourney Weaver randomly popping up in films? When she popped up here, all I could think was "wow, what an unoriginal choice". I have nothing against Sigourney, but man, they could have picked Eddie Murphy (said no-one, ever).
-The ending was pretty unexpected. Like, stuff got really weird. And unexpected. But it seemed a little familiar, even though I can't place why.
-Kristen Connolly was really cool in this movie. I just really liked her and her character.
-Well done Richard Jenkins, you've officially freaked me out yet again.
-I admit to being well scared by the end of this. Just the idea of having people control your death like that...that's the kind of stuff that gives me nightmares.
-Still, the question remains: why the hell wasn't this given a proper release in New Zealand and Australia? I mean, it is actually a really good horror film. And how often do we get those these days?


Another movie set in a cabin set amongst the trees was The Evil Dead, which I suspect started the trend that The Cabin in the Woods was trying to flip on its head. Basically, there's six friends who go on vacation in a cabin far far away, where they find a tape recording of demonic passages from a 'Book of the Dead'. Then a tree attacks one of them, and as most horror movies go, all hell breaks loose.

I also don't know what to say about this one, either. Is it scary? Yes. I've seen enough horror movies to know that things just come out of nowhere, but this film seemed to do that stunningly well. Which isn't so good when I'm the most paranoid person on Earth (just ask my friends, I'm fairly sure they hate me for it), and I'm at home alone until 11pm which means that anything can come out of anywhere. However, those genuine scares were kinda outweighed by the silly - and excessive - gore. It kinda typifies everything I tend to dislike about horrors. The gore was pretty darn bizarre, too. I mean, I don't think anyone should be an expert on the multiple ways blood can come out of people or how many ways you can dismember people. Because that'd mean testing on people. Which isn't ideal. But then again, there's people like me who look at horror movies and go "ugh, that's so fake". Which makes me really stuffed up in the head, because I think I know what dismembering people looks like in real life. Oh crap. What have I become?!

Well, that escalated quickly.

Anyway, The Evil Dead was pretty scary, but I can't say that I was all that enthralled by it. That's probably due to my aversion to 1980s films, and horror in general (which means this is going to be an interesting month). But big ups to Sam Raimi, who made this film when he was a mere 22. I wanna be at that spot when I'm 22. Just probably not dismembering people. Because I'd be way too realistic with it.

What do you think of these two films? Any horror delights you're just biting for me to see?

19 comments:

  1. I kind of loved Cabin in the Woods, especially in the way it makes fun of horror as a genre. My favourite part was when Chris Hemsworth's character gets fried :') Also I love the end- blood in movies is glorious.

    Haven't see The Evil Dead :/

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    1. Haha, that was my favourite part as well! I actually started with a little scared jump, but then started pissing myself laughing. I want a gif of that just to play it over and over again.

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  2. Horror fans love The Evil Dead with reason. It's guerrilla filmmaking at its best. Raimi's film isn't realistic or terribly scary (it really isn't these days), but it is blessed with a sort of manic energy and creativity that's hard to find. It's innovative and fun. The sequel is bigger/louder/faster/more and about 70% slapstick comedy/Three Stooges homage.

    My guess is you'd have fun with the third one, Army of Darkness. Pretty much no gore and all campy fun.

    For a fuller look at this, Nick Jobe, Dylan Fields and I discussed it on LAMBcast #99. Nick and I are both huge fans and we're pretty effusive.

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    1. Ah, I'll have to listen to that episode now! I will definitely check out the rest of the series, and try and pick up on what you said!

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  3. I'm only a medium horror fan. I loved Cabin in the Woods (it got my second highest star rating) and hated Evil Dead (it got my second lowest star rating).

    With that in mind, a few horror movies I do love:
    -Alien is horror, but in space.
    -28 Days Later is my favorite non-comedic zombie flick.
    -For something older, I suggest The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
    -The Blair Witch Project does surprisingly much with surprisingly little.
    -If you want like a psychological horror thing, I think Bug is completely terrifying.
    -The remake of Fright Night is just ridiculously fun along with all the horror.

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    1. I've seen Alien, 28 Days Later and Fright Night. Alien and 28 Days Later are two of my favourites! Thanks for reminding me about The Blair Witch Project though, I've always been meaning to see that. Next week!

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  4. I loved Cabin in the Woods. It's actually one of my favorite of this year. I guess as a horror fan, I always recommend Susperia. The soundtrack in that movie is killer.

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    1. It is one of my favourites of this year, too! Suspiria is on its way to my house as we speak, so watch out for my post on it!

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  5. I haven't seen The Evil Dead, but I should be watching The Cabin in the Woods later this week. Can't wait!

    If you haven't seen Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, or Sisters, I'd recommend those.

    Thanks for the follow by the way! :)

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    1. I have seen Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby, but haven't even heard about Sisters. Thanks for the recommendation!

      You're more than welcome. I was sure that I followed you long ago, but I'm not sure what happened there!

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  6. I found Cabin In The Woods to be more funny than scary. The "Err, that makes what sense?" line always cracks me up. People familiar with Whedon's work will recognize his brand of humour here. If anything I wished it was scarier, I don't think there really was a scene that frighten me.

    Not really a horror fan but I guess nowadays its rare to find a film that really scares me. I saw Evil Dead when I small though and it gave me nightmares. I think its been too long since I re-watched it, might as well give it a go again.

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    1. The Cabin in the Woods was pretty funny. I'm still a newbie to Whedon's work, though. Must attempt to rectify that.

      It is rare for a horror film to scare me, too. I've grown out of that stage, but I'm still as paranoid as heck.

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  7. Good to see you are willing to dip your toes into a genre you aren't a big fan of. Personally I love the genre, and The Cabin in the Woods is my favourite movie of the year, but a deconstruction of the horror genre liek TCitW is not the best place to start when you don't know much about horror. The Evil Dead however is a decent place to start and I'm disappointed you didn't like it.

    Hopefully you aren't scared away from the genre, seeing as those are some of the best. It is probably the amount of junk we sift through that makes good horror movies such gems.

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    1. I still got most of the deconstruction, since I *have* seen quite a few horror films. Just not a lot. I tend not to gouge myself on the genre.

      There's still plenty to check out, so I don't think I'm scared away just yet!

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  8. Yeah... Cabin in the Woods is not a great place to start when you're not really familiar with horror. As Darko said, it's a comedic reconstruction of the genre.. so if you're not familiar with the genre, you're not gonna get what the movie is doing or why it's such a genius film. Personally, it's my favorite film of the year thus far. And I can't push this enough, but the commentary track with Whedon and the director is a fantastic and fascinating listen.

    re: Evil Dead... basically what Steve said.

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    1. But I *did* get most of it though. I'm not a total dummy when it comes to horror. I have a mother who spoon fed me horror as a child, but I just haven't caught up with much of it lately. Whenever the DVD comes out here, I will definitely give it a listen.

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    2. Ah, sorry. Just the way you talked about it in the review made it sound like you've seen like 5 horror movies ever. :)

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  9. I was not that impressed with Cabin in the Woods but I love Evil Dead. Since you liked the latter, I recommend you check out Evil Dead II which is probably my favourite sequel of all time and one of the funniest, coolest, most engrossing horror movies in existence. Absolutely, unquestionably essential.

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    1. I will be definitely be checking out Evil Dead II! I hear it is really good.

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You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

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