The meaning of the film The Cabin in the Woods: explanation of the plot and ending. In 2012, the film “The Cabin in the Woods” directed by Drew Goddart was released. For true connoisseurs of the horror genre, it has become a real discovery. What is the thriller with a mysterious title about and what is the meaning of the film “The Cabin in the Woods”?
Description of the story
The plot of The Cabin in the Woods is, as expected, interesting and unpredictable.
On a note! To hide the true plot of the thriller until the end of filming, Drew Goddard specifically filmed scenes with actors who were not in the script.
A group of scientists use hidden cameras to watch as the frivolous blonde Julie, her boyfriend Kurt, the well-read student Holden, the eccentric Marty and the sweet modest Dana spend a joint weekend in a lonely forest cabin. Young people are unaware of surveillance.
Scientists are doing everything so that the heroes are killed, and their blood is shed. To achieve their goal, they use horror killers, set various traps, influence the minds of participants with the help of chemicals, change the air temperature, and the type of lighting.
Experimenters place bets on what type of killer will result from certain actions of the victims.
It is interesting! The Cabin in the Woods script was written by Drew Goddart and Joss Whedon in 3 days. Whedon is also the director of the famous films “The Avengers”, “Mission Serinity” and the TV series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.
In the evening, in the basement of the hut, Dana draws the attention of friends to the diary of a girl who writes about her father’s brutal abuse of his wife and children. Dana then recites a spell in Latin for raising the dead. The type of killers is selected – zombies crawl out of the ground not far from the house. Among scientists, those who bet on “zombies” are celebrating their victory.
The resurrected dead kill Julie and Holden and drag Marty away. Kurt crashes into an invisible wall when he tries to ride his motorcycle over a cliff.
Scientists rejoice – the plan was a success, the blood of four was shed. There is only one virgin Dana left – it is not necessary to kill her. Let the girl only be slightly tormented by zombies.
But unexpectedly for everyone, Marty is alive, which upsets the experimenters. The guy helps Dana – they run away to the hut, come to the “black room”. Marty shows the elevator that the zombies used to get up to them.
On the elevator, the heroes descend into the dungeon, where at each stop they see killers from various horror films through a transparent wall: werewolves, zombies, alien monsters, water, etc. The entire dungeon is a collection of rooms filled with monsters and moving relative to each other.
The elevator opens. Dana and Marty find themselves in the laboratory building, where they learn that they must be sacrificed to the Gods as their friends. Dana presses the buttons in the control booth – all kinds of monsters appear from everywhere and kill all the laboratory staff.
Ending and hidden meaning
It seems that the Happy End of the picture has arrived – all the enemies are killed, 2 goodies survived. But does this really happen? How did The Cabin in the Woods end?
A powerful woman appears and explains to the heroes that for the good of mankind, Marty, the fourth victim, must be killed. Otherwise, the Gods will be angry, and the end of the world will come. The lady is eaten by a huge snake, and Dana and Marty humbly await the end of the world. In conclusion, a huge hand tears the Earth apart.
Now you need to figure out what the meaning of the film “The Cabin in the Woods” is.
Drew Goddard not only gave the world a new horror, he created a different format for the genre. The picture contains the ideas of all horror films – to the taste and color of any fan of thrillers.
On a note! The Cabin in the Woods won the 2013 Saturn Film Award for Best Horror/Thriller.
The beginning of the meta-horror is similar to the standard slashers so beloved by the modern audience. Five young people (a girl, an athlete, a clever man, a jester and a virgin) go to have fun in a place far from civilization. Then they are killed in turn, starting with a frivolous person and ending with a jester. The positive heroine often stays alive.
Everything is so, but this time the heroes themselves choose their killer, and the course of events really depends on them. In a word, horror gets out of control of the “puppeteers”, and then develops as it wants.
As a result, an extra living hero appears – the eccentric guy Marty. And he does not want to sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity, which is ready to sacrifice several people each time to the Gods. The surviving heroine agrees with him.
How to understand the idea of the author? On the one hand, the picture is created in order to simply enjoy it. Thriller lovers have something to see here: an interesting, unhackneyed plot, numerous bloody scenes, beautiful special effects, and an unexpected ending.
On the other hand, by the end of the horror, it becomes clear that the Gods are the audience themselves. They require a certain system of plot formation from the director – 4 out of 5 characters must kill.
Thriller lovers are bloodthirsty, they calmly watch bloodshed on the screens, they feel a little sorry for only some characters. Watching the murders, they can safely chew popcorn and wash it down with Coke. This is reminiscent of the behavior of scientists while watching a “reality show”.
If the horror comes out of the usual framework established for it, the dissatisfaction of the Gods-viewers is quite expected.
The hidden meaning of the film “The Cabin in the Woods” also has the right to exist. Perhaps the author is considering here the global problems of mankind:
- cruelty of representatives of the ruling “elite”;
- calm attitude to the death of ordinary people;
- peremptory elimination of some citizens for the sake of well-being and improvement of the well-being of others.
Newly appeared brave men do not want to obey the existing system. Better to have nothing left on Earth. A society that is ready to constantly sacrifice people to meet the needs of the “higher worlds of this world” has no right to exist. This is confirmed by the ending of the film “The Cabin in the Woods”, where Dana says: “After all, you were right. Humanity… It’s time to give someone else a chance.”
People often mistakenly define thrillers in the category of “watching with pleasure and nothing more.” Few people think about the depth of the idea of paintings of this genre. “The Cabin in the Woods” is a film with meaning that breaks stereotypes and provides an opportunity to look at horror from the other side.
