DVD Of The Week: The Cabin In The Woods (2011)

The thing about many clever films is once you grok what is going on you can't help but wonder how come no-one has had this idea before.

Such is the feeling with Joss Whedon's The Cabin In The Woods, co-written by Joss and director Drew Goddard.

They have taken the classic Evil Dead, spam-in-a-cabin, horror movie set-up and not only established it as a honeytrap but layered it with deeper purpose than the mere slaughter of the helpless college students who have chosen to spend a naughty weekend there.

As well as featuring many familiar faces from Joss's oeuvre, the film - in a very real sense - is an extension of the mythology he has already established with Buffy The Vampire Slayer, even if it probably isn't operating in the same world.

It plays with, and undermines, horror stereotypes, much like the original Scream did (but in a very different way), gives friendly nods to many great horror movies, has some clever moments of Whedonesque humour (the speakerphone scene was one of my favourites) and a healthy splattering of gore as befits the genre.

I have often said on this blog that the best way to appreciate a film is to have little or no prior knowledge of it before sitting down to watch it and that goes double for this. Having seen trailers for it some time ago I thought I'd guessed what was going on and while I'd pieced some of the clues together, The Cabin The Woods works best when you're not trying to second guess it.

A brilliantly self-contained masterpiece, you don't need to be horror-savvy to enjoy it (although you will appreciate the little homages here and there) or worry that plot threads are going to be left dangling for a sequel.