The Cabin In The Woods: The Ultimate Sacrifice

In his directorial debut, Drew Goddard brings us “The Cabin in the Woods,” a tale of five friends that discover many scary truths during a rural getaway.

The primary themes I’ve identified are:

• Lack of Control
• Sacrifice
• Discovering the Real Monsters

The film also takes standard horror film tropes, pivots them for comedic effect, and uses a paranoid, stoner antihero to hold a mirror up to society.

The Cabin in the Woods: Characters

I knew I’d love this movie from the moment I saw the trailer. Its tagline got me hooked instantly:

“You think you know the story. You think you know the place. Think Again.”

The Gang

Let me introduce you to ‘the gang.’

Dana Polk, played by Kristen Connelly. The movie opens with her talking about how her much older professor dumped her via email.

Jules Loudon, played by Anna Hutchison, is a strong, intelligent pre-med student.

Curt Vaughan, played by Chris Hemsworth, is a sociology major, football player, and all-around nice guy.

Curt’s teammate Holden McCrea, played by Jesse Williams, is a quiet, polite young man whose personality doesn’t really match his football star status.

Marty Mikalski, played by Franz Kranz, is a paranoid conspiracy theorist who hides his intelligence behind a cloud of pot smoke.

Why ‘the Gang?’

I refer to them as the gang because they remind me of the Scooby Doo gang.

Fred is Curt, Velma is Dana, Jules is Daphne, Shaggy is Marty, and, unfortunately, the only brown characters emulate each other. How original…right?

The Puppeteers

That’s my own nickname for the engineers that are overseeing the ritual. While this is, as revealed at the end of the movie, a joint effort of many, there are three primary technicians.

• Gary Sitterson, played by Richard Jenkins
• Steve Hadley, played by Bradley Whitford
• Wendy Lin, played by Amy Acker

The Cabin in the Woods: Neither a Cabin nor Woods

All this talk of engineers, rituals, and vacationing college coeds probably doesn’t make much sense. But in this film’s universe, a group of cruel subterranean deities, known as The Ancient Ones, demand annual, biblical-style sacrifices.

These sacrifices may come from different regions of the world and follow the region’s local urban legends. In the United States, the sacrifices must be the five slasher film archetypes: the whore, the athlete, the scholar, the fool, and the virgin.

The engineers play a cynical role, jaded by many years’ past sacrifices, going so far as to set up a betting pool on which horror trope will spell the death of the unsuspecting coeds.

Society, Subtext, and a Cabin in the Woods

Throughout the early part of the Cabin in the Woods, the gang talks about the remoteness of the cabin, their inability to fathom being out of touch with society in such a remote forest, and their discomfort at disconnecting. Would they really sacrifice their connection to society for peace of mind and freedom? This question recurs throughout the film.

Fate or Free Will?

Mordecai, also known as, the Harbinger is the foreseer. Symbolizing voices warning of impending doom, ignored, or dismissed.

Beyond his stated role as the harbinger, Mordecai’s character is an over-the-top representation of a far-right Christian. He calls the engineers after the gang visits and he delivers his warning, demanding that the engineers “cleanse them, cleanse the world of their ignorance.”

Through these interactions, the gang’s choices, initially seeming free, are revealed to be part of a greater manipulation.

Can’t Find a Virgin? Make one!

You may have noticed the Gang doesn’t fit the archetypes. Jules is smart and strong, a far cry from the air-headed nymph that the ‘whore’ archetype represents.

Dana isn’t the lovesick image of innocence implied by the virgin trope. She’s having an affair with a professor, a romantic entanglement destined to fail.

This is where the engineers earned the nickname, I gave them: The Puppeteers. From their underground laboratory, the engineers manipulate each person to become an archetype. Curt becomes the dumb jock, Holden the bookish scholar, and Jules the blonde bimbo she needs to be.

They accomplish this by lacing the products the Gang uses and even the air they breath with chemicals. Jules’ blonde hair-dye contains a concoction to make her dumber. The engineers spray pheromones into the air to encourage Curt and Jules to have sex.

These allude to a larger implication, that we here in the real world, don’t really have control over what goes into our bodies. That’s controlled by the handful of powerful corporations in control of the world’s food supply.

Out of Control at a Cabin in the Woods

The film’s pervasive theme of lack of control prompts existential questions about human agency. Are we mere pawns manipulated by external forces, be it societal norms, government, or cultural influences?

The choice given to Dana and Marty to kill each other raises a mirror to society’s love for the illusion of control.

Sacrifice

Movies typically use the “trolley problem” to expose the hero’s true nature. The basic principle behind the trolley problem is someone must make a choice to sacrifice one thing to save many things.

However, in a twist on the hero’s journey, Dana and Marty opt out of participating in the sacrifice. Instead, choosing to sacrifice society and allow the Ancient Ones to unleash their fury. Coming out as heroes even though they destroy the planet.

We are the Monsters

A compelling perspective arises—that humans are the true monsters.

In my mind, I juxtapose the concept of a God across from these monsters. God is an omniscient, omnipotent being that shows humans the way of good. Whereas the demons and monsters in this movie are the evil within us.

The movie suggests that the fear we project onto external entities, such as werewolves, mermen, or things that go bump in the night, is often a reflection of our own fears and struggles within.

Too Long, Didn’t Read

I really enjoyed analyzing this movie, its very well-developed characters, and all the layers of meaning within. It really reinforced why I enjoy it so much.

The Cabin in the Woods peers deep into the souls of individual characters to reveal the true nature of society.