Cabin In The Woods Analysis

Cabin In The Woods Analysis

Cabin in the woods is about five teenagers who decide to spend their weekend in a lone cabin in the centre of the woods. Once they arrive, they find themselves very segregated from the world around them. The door leading to the basement opens by itself, and the confused teens decide to check out what’s down there. They manage to find a load of ancient objects, one of the characters decides to open a book and read it to the rest of the group, by reading the Latin she brings back to earth a family of dead zombies. They are also being watched by a global organisation who have been given the task of offering pain and blood to ancient gods who if brought back will destroy the whole of mankind.

The film uses many well-known traditional codes and conventions of supernatural and slasher films, using elements from ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ it also makes good use of the friendship group you see in slasher films, there is a typical jock, the typical ‘dumb blonde’ that sleeps around and is known as ‘the whore’, the stoner, the boring smart girl that is timid and a virgin and has never taken drugs. However, as the storyline begins to change we realise that their stereotypes have been chosen to create a ritual.

The setting of the film is very typical for a teenage road trip sub-genre, as it is isolated and secluded, which means the area that there in will not even show up on a GPS. The lighting of the suburban area is bright and colourful until the teens start making their way and then the lighting starts to change, becoming dim and dusky.

Mid- shots are mainly used in this focusing on the characters expressions and torso to show signs of fear and distress or injuries. Also when there’s key scenes, the camera becomes choppy, it moves in fast motions and hectic to reflect the chaos of the scene.