American Horror, Global Commons, and The Cabin in the Woods

Abstract

The Cabin in the Woods provides meta-commentary on the horror genre in the vein of Wes Craven’s Scream series. Drew Goddard’s 2012 film, made in collaboration with Joss Whedon, mixes the conventions of comedy and horror. The plot follows a group of teenagers in an all-too-familiar, and ill-conceived, weekend trip to the wilderness. Events unfold in foreseeable fashion (i.e., at least, until the final act). The sexualized characters are destroyed, the stoner character shares his critique ornamented with witty one-liners, and the supposedly virginal young woman survives her trial against a monster. The Cabin in the Woods employs these predictable elements to expose itself deliberately, in Fredric Jameson’s terms, as a tired formula.¹ By so doing, the film laments the confines of neoliberalism while evoking a weekend with different risks and rewards.