This could have gone really wrong. Been too smug, too nudge-nudge, and so on. Instead, it's a wonderfully satirical mediation on the current state of a genre that also manages to be wickedly funny and extremely clever in its own right. Beautifully-shot, with some seriously excellent, unique set pieces.

Neither as smart or fun as it think it is. But always mildy amusing and entertaining.

Even by the end, I couldn't tell if this was a comedy or a horror.

Some good and shitty ideas come together with a mediocre execution

If Scream dissected the horror genre, Cabin in the Woods chops it up into little pieces and throws it in the air like confetti. Its perfectly obvious why the internet and critical community adores this film: because they're the only people who will care about all its self-referential, masturbatory premises and twists. The irony is most of the audience won't care they're being made fun because they're too caught up in patting themselves on the back for understanding everything.

at first I was "The hell is this?" But I didn't expect it to be THIS funny

Surprisingly good with some great, original and fun ideas. The perfect movie to watch with a group of friends. Oh, and "husband's bulge" -lol.

If you don't like this movie, then it's about time you kill yourself.

Best comedy since Hot Fuzz and best horror comedy since Shaun of the Dead. From mermen and unicorns to saw blades and boobs, this has something for everybody. Cliches abound as a necessity and then are turned into something more. The movie then steps it up a peg by taking a hard line stance on blond women reading at the very beginning.

this is an extremely fun and entertaining movie, however it simply doesn't live up to it's potential. it nods here and there to it's forebears, but it fails to fully take it to the next level. if whedon simply tried just a little bit harder then this movie would have been as good as everyone says, even as is it's still a pretty awesome movie.

Very nice

Scream toyed with the conventions of horror in a smart manner, this movie flips those conventions on their head. It's impossible to explain to someone without seeing it, so just go do that. You won't be disappointed, but just don't expect your typically horror film, with a cabin... in the woods.

Funny Games, but without the director scolding you for enjoying it.

Good zombiance

...fuckin eh. That's honestly just the best way I can summarize the amazingness that is "The Cabin in the Woods". From the 70's style title screen and its perfect placement, to the movie's epic concept and equally-epic execution, I found absolutely nothing to hate about this self-aware masterpiece. Casting is spot-on, writing and dialogue is unbelievable, monster design is top-notch, and at the end of the day it's one of the most enjoyable watching experiences you'll have all year and beyond.

Between this and "Tucker & Dale vs Evil", the horror comedy is truly getting its groove back. Snappy one-liners, great CGI, tongue in cheek mythology and inspired cross-cutting - cutting some scenes short, letting others go on longer than expected - more than make up for the lack of real scares. I'm pretty sure Sam Raimi approves. If you're up there, please save me, Mr. Merman!

I just wish it was longer. Another hour or so would have been nice

To steer clear of spoilers is tricky. Suffice to say that certain ideas are drawn from a 1998 flick, adding substance to what's usually brainless. Whedon and Goddard provide us with exactly the moments and elements we've come to expect. But they go one further, asking: Why is it that we as an audience need these tropes to be present and correct? Even if the deconstruction aspect isn't your thing, the finale expands and delivers more geeky awesomeness than any genre fan could ask for. I loved it.

Finally all the hours I've spend watching horrible horror movies is justified by this near perfect genre spoof, that takes the meta-horror sub-genre to its logical conclusion. It's perhaps a bit light when it comes to actual suspense/horror, but it sure is enjoyable nonetheless.

Feel about this the same way I do Tucker & Dale vs. Evil: Great premise, but I wished they'd handed the reins with a greater respect for the horror genre. Too smug by half. Also, essentially a remake of Waxwork, with a hint of Lovecraft and The Truman Show.

I had bigger expectations for this Movie than any other film in the last 10 years so I was kind of dissapointed. But it was not bad, I just think it could have been much better. They chose the Zombies for the main part which I think was a bad choice. The last 20 minutes was BRILLIANT but before that it was a pretty avrage horror movie. All in all a enjoyable movie with a Killer ending!

Pretty fun but disappointing after the hype.

This is absolutely amazing- a thrill ride through the horror genre. Do not let anybody spoil this experience for you. See it with as little information as possible and enjoy every twist and turn.

On the surface, CitW is an almost even mix of a horror film, a comedy and a mystery. As such straight forward and very entertaining in all of these aspects. But deeper down these elements are all there to serve a much greater purpose. A purpose that will undoubtedly leave you with a great smile, when afterwards replaying CitW in your head, now with its deeper layer in mind. I loved how Whedon and Goddard dare take on the entire horror genre and give their view on its many clichés. Very bold.

These self-indulgent horror satires were never clever, but this one is particularly daft and obnoxious. Jarringly, one of the movies it seeks to outwit is The Evil Dead, a creative, funny and genuinely scary masterpiece. Goddard and Whedon's deconstructionist wank is none of those things. On the off-chance that Hollywood is reading this: A $30m budget and state-of-the-art special fx are definitely better reserved for horror filmmakers of Sam Raimi's talent.

In much the same was the "Blair W.P" was the kings new clothes of scariness, this is the kings new clothes of horror/thriller/Comedy. I am not going to say this was a bad film, but it was certainly NO masterpiece, and whilst it was mildly interesting to tick off the films it parodied or referenced, it is nothing other than a sort of B movie montage of horror clips pasted together into a pretty tenuous story, with a bit of humour thrown in. Nowhere near funny, scary, clever, or thrilling enough

When does a homage become a rip off? I find it hard to give this film too much credit because it's all been done before... but that is kind of the point in it, right? Just gimme a horror film next time please and cut out all this "meta-horror" crap.

Ridiculously fun. It's much more funny than scary, but that works perfectly for this absurdly meta horror movie. From the title splash, I knew it was going to be great. I'll agree with everyone else and say that the less you know going in, the better.

An interesting experiment on the classic teen slash horror genre. Makes you wonder the ending even from the intro sequence.

The Evil Dead meets The Truman Show meets Conspiracy Theory. Yeah, it's that awesome.

The Cabin in the Woods will leave many baffled or otherwise dumbstruck but to me this was an absolute riot. It does away with the typical horror conventions and manages to do so with style and pure unadulterated comedy. If there were awards for most original concept of the year (which I'm sure exist) than this film would grab it in a heartbeat! ...And then proceed to vomit all over it, stomp it into the ground all while laughing manically and giving the finger to everyone else.

Cabin in the woods = The Hunger Games + Saw + Apocalypto + humor + originality + everything you ever feared. Loved it how they play with the conventional genre-rules of the horror pic.

Smart, funny, knows it's roots, original premise, unpredictable plot. These are traits not exhibited by many (or, let's be honest, any) other horror films in recent memory and Cabin in the Woods is for this reason and many more, by far the best horror film I have seen in years. I can't recommend it enough, but I don't want to say too much more about it as I personally found going in blind made me like it even more.

I normally am not a huge Joss Whedon fan, but this movie was very nearly perfect.

My inner child geeked out so much over this film and I thank its makers for perking up whatever's left of it. Note to penny-pinching self: buy popcorn next time.

That was excellent, intelligent, funny and just plain damned fun to watch. The last 20-30 minutes had me on the edge of my seat and the cameo at the end blew me away as well. Check it out if you get the chance, it is well worth it!

The horror genre needed this movie SOOOO badly. I totally recommend it to anyone and don't let anyone spoil anything for you beforehand. Hell, don't even watch the trailer.

One of the best horror movies in years. Funny, scary, an engaging plot, and great performances all around. This is just a blast to watch.

Epochal. First, there was horror. Then there was Scream, and it effectively created the metahorror genre. The Cabin in the Woods is the end of all things, the Omega of Horror. It puts the nail in the coffin that Scream built. SEE THIS MOVIE NOW.

84.500

And we have a movie of the year for me, one that hit me hard. Horror movies collapsing on themselves, the elevator scene being up there with some of the great scenes in movie history. Yes I went there. I'm just a fan of these satirical, love/hate "critiques" of things. This was wonderfully meta, scary when it wanted, funny when it wanted. The beginning was also great. This needs more than Criticker will allow me. My complaints are very minor. Very very minor.

It plays with genre tropes in ways that seamlessly blend comedy with horror, and it follows its central conceit down the rabbit hole and beyond. On the other hand, it's meant to mimic a lot of those tropes, so for the first two thirds you'll be all "this is crappy and unoriginal." The scares are decent enough, but there's nothing original about the movie until the end...which I'll remember as one of the most over-the-top cinematic acts for a while to come.

A clever horror tale with excellent writing, fun sequences, and extremely entertaining premise that is executed so well. A postmodern send-up that matches tone with the likes of Shaun of the Dead.

kool i guess

A very clever, 95-minute way of saying that the horror genre has run out of ideas, and I mean that in a good way. It's film criticism that just happens to be a total blast. The concept becomes more and more intriguing as it goes on, culminating in a clusterf*** of awesomeness in Act 3.

This is an interesting piece of commentary, delivering a mystery instead of a slasher via its bizarre frame story. Despite this intriguing context the film's characters lack emotional depth, and while this issue could be generously interpreted as further commentary I felt that it left the film feeling washed out. This is somewhat offset by the great dialgoue I always expect from anything associated with Whedon, but not enough to lift the experience above interesting.

Wow, this was a nice surprise. It was cheeky without being cheesy and the actual horror parts were well done too. There were so many moments that made me say "Are they out of their mind?"; for a genre that suffers from repetition that was a big plus.

Cabin in the Woods relies on a sort of hip acknowledgement by the audience of the classic troupes and cliches of the horror genre to realize it's humor and also the few points in which it flips these old standbys on their head. It's neither ridiculous enough nor brilliant enough to truly ascend above the films it satirizes, and as a result the whole thing just comes off as one big smug, masturbatory inside-joke amongst Whedon and his lackies, though I did enjoy the last 20 minutes of the film.

Metahorror!

I think I love the advertising of this as some true horror movie (as opposed to the satirical middle finger to the entire genre that it really is) better than the actual movie. What I mean is it's got great ideas, honestly admirable how far they push this into more and more outrageous territories, but I didn't think the comedy and horror worked as a whole effectively. Comes off feeling half-baked on multiple levels.

Sure, it's just retreading the same ground that Scream did. But then again, this movie is actually good.

reallly scary 10 out of 10

A whole lot of fun but it isn't always terribly original with some of its content. Kind of a screwball take on mainstream horror in some way, and not everything works but parts of it are hysterical and I had a ton of fun watching it. I knew nothing about it when I went in so I think that helped.

I have complaints, but in the face of what the movie does right, they're all pretty minor; chiefly, the movie telegraphs all its 'shock' moments way too hard, and it really says nothing 'new' about the horror genre, contrary to its own belief. Still, it's a fun party-horror movie with a pretty good head on its shoulders, and that last twenty minutes or so is (rightfully) going to go down in horror movie history.