“Power’s out in half of my town. Thought tonight’s movie would be thwarted, but I seem to have escaped the darkness. Although the clock in the living room was doing that sorta just woke up hungover flashy thing, so I think I may have gotten home just after power was restored to my building.
Cabin in the Woods (woo oooh). Multiple reasons why this makes my list. For one, it’s just a really fun film. But it also gets MAJOR bonus points for the experience I had watching it the first time. I wrote it up back then, but it was amazing. I went to a sneak that brought in cast members Fran Kranz and Kristen Connolly. Plus the place was packed with Browncoats, so even without the stars it still would have been among my top movie going experiences.
If you discount that unfair advantage, this film would still end up here on ExpDelTop100. What I love about this film is the playful mix of horror and humor. Yes, it’s scary (by definition at least; didn’t induce nightmares for me). The kids in the cabin are being chased around the woods by the zombie redneck torture family (Side note: last time I spent a weekend out in middle of nowhere Maine, I was blaming every noise and mishap on the zombie redneck torture family). But mixed in with that, you’ve got Joss Whedon dialogue. You don’t get better than that. EVER. I love how you’ve got a few of his alums in this film: the aforementioned Fran Kranz from Dollhouse, Tom Lenk from Buffy, and Amy Acker from Angel and Dollhouse. And the whole thing is just really clever. I’m prolly still within the spoiler gag order so I can’t explain how or why it’s clever. But if you’ve seen it, you know.
I enjoyed this so much that I voluntarily went for a second viewing a couple weeks after the sneak. I do repeat movies all the time, but it’s usually because somebody else wants to go. It’s rare that I decide to go see a movie again just because I wanna see it again. My to-do list for movie watching is usually too long to accomodate such things. But in this case, I really wanted to go again. I also just really wanted to support the movie since I had seen it for free the first time. Watching it a second time was great because once I knew where things were going, I could keep an eye out for more clues and such along the way.
Also, am I the only one who pauses key scenes at the end trying to get a good mental inventory of everything on screen? Just me? Hmm.”