Watch The Cabin in the Woods

Five friends decide to spend their vacation in a remote cabin, and soon fall into a series of horrendous events that feel a little too much like a cliche slasher plot. But is a predictable, scary time really all that is happening to the group, or can they only see the tip of the much less predictable iceberg? The answer lies in the 2012 horror film The Cabin In the Woods.

Telling a story crafted in less than a week by the veteran team of Drew Goddard and John Whedon, best known for working together on the hit series Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Cabin In the Woods is part slasher film, and part satire of your everyday slasher film. The duo wrote the film in hopes of refreshing a genre that has been cluttered up by cliches and predictable endings.

It's hard to give away much of the story's plot without spoiling what turns out to be anything but a cliche series of events, but the story features a variety of mysterious creatures and a hero who cares more about the well fare of her friends than looking like the bravest one in the room.

Upon its release, the film received high praise for its ability to both scare the audience and lampshade the common 20th century tropes in horror films. The film manages to be a true addition to the horror genre and a parody at the same time, throwing many laughs into the mix that only fans of the genre will fully appreciate.

Despite the film's short writing time, The Cabin In the Woods appears anything but rushed. Thousands of talented staff were involved in the making of the film, and the meta-horror film survived the economic downfall of MGM to finally be released by Lionsgate in 2012.

The Cabin In The Woods is not a film intended for viewers new to the horror genre, rather a love letter to the fans of a genre that the writers feel has fallen into a cliche mess of shallow stories with more blood and gore than actual scares.