cabin in the woods

movies:  Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard have finally released their horror movie Cabin In The Woods.  As a fan of Whedon's and therefore by extension Goddard's, who wrote on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, it was exactly what I expected.  Whedon has become, through his success on tv with Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, along with his work in comics on the X-Men, and his internet musical Dr. Horrible, a fanboy icon.  Goddard, who came to Buffy as a fan of Whedon's and ended up writing for the who, is more or less the same.  Their use of the horror genre displayed all of the being of a fanboy that one would expect from them.
The movie was a horror film yes.  But it was so much more than that.  It was almost a love letter to the genre of horror.  Two men who understand and love the genre doing everything they can to bring out what makes people love it.  It had genuine moments that made you jump and possibly even be scared.  It also had tons of humor in it, which depsite the fact that the genre is horror, creeps in to most of the genre's movies (pun definitely intended).
It is the story of a group of college kids who go to, yes its true, a cabin in the woods, for a fun party weekend filled with sex and drinking, and end up being beset by zombies and fighting for their lives in an all too typical horror archetype.  Within this archetype you even have the expected group of friends, the jock and his hot blonde girlfriend, the virgin roommate and the dude her roommate is trying to set her up with (who is black, which matters in a typical horror story.  Everyone knows you have to kill the black guy at some point.  Watch Scream if you don't know the rules.), and the stoner dude who is there despite the fact that he you don't know why he is friends with any of them.
Added to this by Whedon and Goddard to twist the genre into their own vision is the agency running the cabin from an underground compound.  This not only adds a kind of odd twist to the story, but is what allows for their commentary on the genre of horror.  As the agents watch the scenario at the cabin play out, they make jokes and take bets and offer commentary on what is going on in the movie and thus on the entire genre of horror.
I am inclined to go into detail for the sake of fleshing out my writing, but i have no intention of ruining the jokes for anyone who hasn't seen it.  Its just too damn funny.  All you need to know to be prepared is that it is Cabin Fever with a twist and a joke.  Keep in mind that despite the fact that I have spent a lot of this post talking about jokes and laughs and "what you'd expect" moments in the movie that this is not a spoof.  It is simply a horror movie made by horror fans who want to have a ton of fun.  And what's wrong with having fun.  Throw in a couple of Whedon alum cameos and you have the makings of a fanboy dream.  I feel like this is just one more reason to thank Whedon for his work.  Buffy was awesome.  Firefly was THE great joy of cancelled tv.  Cabin In The Woods is the movie he was born to make.  Thank god he found a fellow fanboy to make it with.

ps.  For more of me geeking out on Joss Whedon, The Avengers comes out May 4th.