Use of Conventions in "The Cabin in the woods" - Themes and Sub-Text in "The Cabin in the woods"

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Using your notes from class on sub-genre and Horror conventions, write a summary of HOW the film make interesting use of the conventions of Horror and Sub-genres you have studied

In “The cabin in the woods” they used more than one sub- genre to make the horror film. One of the main sub-genres was zombie, the initial monsters were the zombies however this film combined the zombie sub-genre and the splatter sub-genre. The way the zombies were killing of the five main characters was suing the sub-genre splatter. The dumb blonde’s death was quite graphic with the zombie throwing the head of the girl (Jules) to the main protagonist Dana, who is the “virgin”.

Two sub-genres become involved in this film which are supernatural and J-horror, the men in charge are creating chaos all around the world to making the people who are being attacked a sacrifice to the “gods”.  So there is a clip which shows what other countries are doing and one of them is Japan, it shows an aspects of the sub-genres of J-horror and Supernatural because they are performing some sort of ritual to get rid of the demon. Another sub-genre that comes up in this film is werewolves, in the last scene a werewolf attacks the protagonist, but this sub-genre doesn’t go to in depth.

All the “monsters” which are contained in the lab that these men are in control of all go under one sub-genre. So the antagonists use the sub-genres of horror to be the antagonist which is interesting and unique because normally there is just one.In addition this film used the stereotypes of characters, the plot actually picked these people because they went underneath the stereotypes, the whore (Jules), the athlete (Curt), the scholar (Holden), the fool (Marty), and the virgin (Dana).


Write a analysis of how the following themes and sub-texts are raised in the film (with examples of scenes that do so) - what is the film trying to say, particularly through its ending?

a) Teen Punishment

b) Gender & Sexuality

c) Yonic & Phallic Imagery

Teen punishment is a theme that we see especially through the Dumb Blonde character “Jules” and the Jock character “Curt”. In the scene in the woods when they have sex immediately afterwards the Zombies attack them aiming first at “Jules”, the zombie stabs her hand and the blood pours out which represents Yonic imagery. The weapons that he Zombies use represent phallic imagery as they use weapons such as screwdrivers, knives etc. again with the idea of piercing the skin.


There is an aspect of role reversal with sometime the female character taking the lead, in the scene when they are in the basement trying to escape from the zombies it’s the girl who saves the life of the nerd character Holden, she in fact attacks the zombie who is trying to kill Holden and she shows no mercy by repeatedly attacking it, it counter stereotypes the role for females in a Horror Film.  The representation of the stoner character “Marty” is stereotypical, he hasn’t got anyone in the film who he is romantically involved with and is seen as the third wheel. He is slightly confused but where is differs is when he survives and helps save the final girl and figures out what is happening all because the drug he was smoking made him immune to the effects that the people in control ( Steve Hadley, Gary Sitterson Windy Lin etc.) where doing, so in this situation “drugs save his life”  

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