This movie is actually one big 4. wall break. We (the audience) are the old gods. We watch horror movies expecting some sort of recipe to be followed. The blonde dying first, people who break up are sure to get killed etc. etc. Things has to play out how we expect. And if we watch a japanese horrormovie there's got to be kid ghosts, like the Kyoto incident. But we become more and more desensitized, requiring more and more to sate our appetite. Hence so many of the rituals have failed all over the planet. And if we don't get what we want, we "destroy" the world (Change channel)
Fun fact about this movie: at 8:51, Fran Kranz playing Marty doesn't join in on swimming in the lake, and remains dressed in at least several layers throughout the entire thing. This is apparently because Fran Kranz was INCREDIBLY SWOLE at the time, and they figured that Marty being ridiculously muscular wouldn't jive with his characterisation.
I love how they got the personalities of the characters completely wrong, the guy they had as the jock was a rhodes scholar, the "smart" one was super athletic, the virgin was sleeping with her professor and the jester was a virgin.
From a screenwriting standpoint, having the facility guys manipulate them into roles that don't fit is one way of communicating to the audience just how much the facility is (and has been) controlling things. Also, given the meta-commentary of the film (that we the audience are the Ancient Ones who must be appeased by formulaic horror films and if they break the formula we get mad and destroy the world (ie, the movie fails)), putting the characters into roles that don't match who they actually are might just be a metaphor for actors. Actors are cast for a role because they look the part, regardless of what kind of person they are IRL. So, eg, Chris Hemsworth's character is a Rhodes Scholar but he LOOKS like a jock, so they cast him in that role for the sacrifice.
Why would you think Marty is a virgin ? Plus , he fits the archetype of "The Fool" quite well. It isn't about being dumb. It is a trickster archetype , like Loki.
Also funny trivia detail: the stoner did not get in the water because they couldn't have him take his shirt off because he was actually buffer than Thor and the other guy.
So, the other stories in this universe are all the other horror movies that exist. Every monster was a generic version of a villain in an existing horror movie. The sawblade-head guy was a Cenobite from Hellraiser. The masked people were The Strangers from the movie of the same name. Japanese Spirit was like the one from The Ring. Countless werewolf, vampire, ghost, zombie movies were all those creatures, etc. So when you watch the other horror movies, you're watching this universe. The people in those movies doing irrational things like acting stupid, splitting up, having sex in the woods when there's a killer around, etc. are all sacrifices to the Ancient Ones (the audience, i.e. us) and the final girl in every horror film is "the virgin" you saw in this. The artifacts were the same things you see in the horror movies that start everything, too. For example, the book is their version of the Necronomicon from Evil Dead. The puzzle ball was their version of the Puzzle Box from Hellraiser. This is a horror movie about every other horror movie! That's why it's so awesome, and you understand it more and more as you watch more horror movies and recognize where they drew all the influences from. Oh, and Kevin is suspected to be the character Elijah Wood played in "Sin City." A soulless serial killer.
If my timeline is right, this also came out shortly after We Need to Talk About Kevin, which is a disturbing little movie about a teenage psychopath (and makes another great in-joke here).
Someone else may have already mentioned it, but the film also seems to be a meta-commentary on horror movie audiences, & the need for ever more gruesome deaths to appease them. Effectively, we're the "ancient evil" 😉
Indeed. This is also why the monsters are culture-specific: the American team works with American horror movie tropes, whereas the Japanese team has long-haired scary ghost girl.
Yeah, basically it goes like: The Ancient Ones = audiences who demand formula horror movies The company = the soulless movie studio that gives them what they want The five victims = actors who are shoved into predetermined roles and forced to conform Mordecai = a supporting actor who plays the same role every time Hadley and Sitterson = the producers, stand-ins for Joss Whedon and Drew Godard Sigourney Weaver's character = literally called The Director The ending is symbolic of the entire system being broken by people refusing to go along with the formula, which is what Hollywood bigwigs fear will happen if they stop making formulaic movies - people will stop going and the entire industry will collapse.
The rituals vary based on the individual cultures running the facilities. The different "monsters" and victims are all different tropes from American pop culture. The Japanese facility would have monster choices based on Japanese folklore, the Swedish facility would have Norse folklore, etc. It's all about the metaphors, they have strong cultural meaning and that's why they matter to the Ancients.
The Ancient One's are us, the audience. We expect in a slasher film the virgin or last lady to live, but by killing all of them, we are upset. And also, she wasn't a virgin cause she said she slept with her teacher. The company underground is the directors trying to deliver a good slasher flick.
Yup ... she slept with her teacher and played the fool, while the stoner is suggested to have been a virgin ... They work with what they are given, but you have to wonder if they misunderstand who they have would the ancient ones have been pissed anyway.
@@eypandabear7483 sure, but what exactly is that archetype, and does it have to be a female? ... or just the pure at heart who is perhaps more discerning in there decision making - like "hey, let's go back upstairs", and "stop reading the incantation" which the fool, of course, continues to read ... Who knows ....
I was lucky and saw a screening of this and met Fran Kranz (Marty). He signed a poster. They were basically saying that this movie was meant to be a homage to all other horror movies. I loved it, but some of my friends didn’t.
I was going to suggest that in the film's reality, they should just ask for volunteers, but then I remembered a joke from Terry Pratchett: a law was passed stating that only condemned criminals could be subjected to human sacrifice, but the priests all agreed that refusal to volunteer to be sacrificed was a crime punishable by death.
"The Ancient Ones" The Ancient Ones can be understood as a double pun: in one side some have linked it to the idea of "the audience", the people for whom horror films are made (and, for whose entertainment, the characters are sacrificed in gruesome ways), but also the monsters in the literature of H.P. Lovecraft: ancient entities that once ruled the earth and were expelled or put to slep with complex rituals in order to give humanity a chance to live and prosper (a chance that will only last until the Elder Ones wake up and reclaim what was once theirs). "The archetypes" The film makes also an interesting statement that, while these films work with stock characters (easily identifiable, as you did as the film progressed), no person is exactly a "stock character" and there are several hints that the characters we have identified as "the virgin", "the fool", "the athlete", and so on have other interests or they don't even fit the archetype at all, which brings us to Simone's questions if this fault in the selection impacts the sacrifice. The short answer so far as been "no", Sigourney Weaver's speech at the end indicates that the organization assigns the roles, makes the killings accordingly. If the Ancient Ones don't destroy the world, it means they have accepted the sacrifices with the roles assigned, it doesn't matter if they were mistaken (so yeah, it opens the debate as if "the virgin", for example, has to be just pure in heart, or pure in body, where they can draw the limits for each archetype... or if they have never mattered at all). And that would be it, it was fun to see you discover this hidden gem of the genre XD. See you in the next one :P.
One of the reasons I love this film is that its all about hubris. The controllers have done this so many times that they no longer are as careful or precise about the sacrifices as they might have once been. They're supposed to gather up and sacrifice a bunch of young people who fit certain archetypes (the Virgin, the Whore, the Athlete, the Scholar, and the Fool). The problem is, they get the archetypes wrong. They've assigned the roles to Dana (Virgin), Jules (Whore), Curt (Athlete), Holden (Scholar), and Marty (Fool), when none of them actually fit those roles. Dana might seem virginal, but early in the movie she confesses to an affair with her professor. Jules is sexy and dresses skimpy, but she's also flighty and overly concerned with non-important things in her life; also she is in a clearly loving and utterly monogamous relationship with Curt, which hardly fits the whore archetype. Curt might seem like a jock, but his athletic skills are mediocre at best, and he's seen lugging around high-level textbooks dealing with subjects like the Psychology of the Soviet System. Holden is smart, sure, but at the same time he's clearly more athletic than Curt is, and while he has the raw intelligence, he's clearly lazy about it. And Marty... well, Marty might be a stoner but he also admits he's never had sex in his life. So... Had the controllers done the research, they would have realized that the archetypes should have been assigned with Dana being the Whore, Jules being the Fool, Curt being the Scholar, Holden being the Athlete, and Marty being the Virgin.
My take is that assigning the wrong roles isn´t the problem. ("We work with what we have.") The problem is assigning the roles in the first place. They have become too confident and lazy, relying on meds and manipulation to make their work easier, and it backfires with Marty. As you said, hubris. (Though I really like your breakdown of the archetypes. I personally had Jules as the Virgin, but this makes sense.)
The movie is trying to say that every horror movie you have ever seen was a ritual set up by these people and the tropes and cliches are all due to these people engineering the rituals to fit the ancient ones' desires. The masked people were a reference to The Purge, the sawblade guy with the puzzle was a reference to Pinhead and Hellraiser, and the twins reference The Shining. I believe Kevin is supposed to be the actual character Kevin from the movie We Need to Talk About Kevin, and the molesting tree is a reference to the Evil Dead. (Edit: It has been pointed out to me that the masked people are in reference to The Strangers and not The Purge. Also, it's not possible for Kevin to be a reference to We Need To Talk About Kevin due to when the films were filmed and released. Some have said it was Kevin from Sin City, and others have said it's just the trope of the Slasher having a common name such as Jason, Freddy or Micheal.)
"Deadites" was also reference to the Evil Dead movies. This movie is basically, every horror movie ever all rolled into one. It's making fun of, paying tribute too, and then actually becoming it's own horror movie.
It's unlikely that Kevin is from We Need to Talk About Kevin as this movie was filmed (in 2009 but released in 2012) before that one (in 2011). It is more likely Kevin from Sin City, played by Elijah Wood.
I dunno why as an elderly English man I like Canadian reactors the best, but I do. You two have kept me sane and entertained and I thank you both for it.
You and friends can be the characters and one gets to be the Ancient Ones in the following board games: 1) Betrayal at House on the Hill - the original. Search the house ad you get different monsters depending on the artifacts. 2) Betrayal at Baldur's Gate - same as above by D&D characters and monsters 3) Betrayal at Mystery Mansion - same, but Scooby-Doo themed so less gore and more dudes in costumes.
About the ballerina, around 27:20, George says "Ok... it's a girl and a moray eel..." Well, that's WRONG, George! It's a girl and a LAMPREY, of course! Pshaw! (All right! My 20-year training as an ichthyologist wasn't ALL in vain, after all!)
"Kevin" is a reference to Sin City. In that film Kevin Spencer is a badass sadistic cannibal serial killer martial arts master played by Elijah Wood. The full list of possible monsters is as follows: the Alien beast, Angry Molesting Tree, the Balding Menace, the Blob, the Boomer, the Bride, the Bullhead Phantom, Clowns, the Cowskull Giant, the Charger, the Creature with Patterend Segments of Armor on Its Head, the Creeping Shadow, Deadites, Dismemberment Goblins, the Doctors, Dolls, the Dragonbat, the Face Peeler, the Floating Leeches, the Flock of Killer Birds, the Giant, the Giant Floating Head, the Giant Snake, the Gladiator Demon, the Seductive Hell Lord, the Huron, Jack O'Lantern, Kevin, the Ku Klux Klan, the Merman, the Minotaur, the Mummy, Mutants, Rabid Dogs, the Reanimated, Reptilus, the Angry Republicans, the Sasquatch (Wendigo/Yeti), the Shogoth, the Scarecrow Folk, Witches, Sexy Witches, the Snowman, the Sugarplum Fairy (she's the ballerina with teeth), the Tentacle Thing, Twins, the Unicorn, Vampires, Werewolf, Wraiths, the Zombie Redneck Torture Family, and Zombies.
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"In that film"… nope, "in that comic". And where does that "Spencer" come from?
Fun fact, this movie was supposed to have a tie in with Left 4 Dead 2. There are several of the games monsters in the cubes, and before the tie in was scrapped, several of the locations in the movie were to be levels in the game.
So glad to see you two watching this. One of my favorites of all time. It is one of the best movies to go into with as little knowledge as possible. Felt bad for people when the tv spots started to give away stuff that you never would have expected. Saw it on opening night and went back again the next day as it was just that good.
16:03 "We're not the only ones watching...," is a comment both on the great old one watching the sacrifices within the context of the plot and the movie audience that pays to see a topless scene in horror movies.
9:55 that was a reference to Evil Dead 2, where there is a moose in the wall. The titular CABIN of this movie is 100% inspired by the one in the Evil Dead series
The Old Ones are consumers of horror movies (meaning you and me and everyone else watching the movie). The rituals are the horror movies themselves being made. The "rules" are the tropes of horror movies.
So many horror movie references in this movie! 3 of my favorites are the Evil Dead, Hellraiser(guy with blades & puzzle sphere), and The Shining(2 little girls)which you guys should definitely check out eventually.
Bonus Fun Fact: When they go down the elevator you can see many parodies of horror villains (Like Sawhead being a parody of Pinhead) and even monsters like the zombies from Left 4 Dead 1-2!
Ancient Ones is a catch all for Lovecraftian cosmological beings like Cthullu and others that reside in the cosmic void watching everything. Basically the movie is like a 21st century update of the Mythos where this cabal serves the Ancient Ones and feeds them sacrifices.
Imagine spinoffs of this Universe but in the point of view of other Countries like Japan, Italy, Spain, Sweden and so forth, that'd be really cool like having the locals of said countries be the actors, with someone like Peter Stormare in the Swedish Cabin in the Woods lol
I’m sure somebody else mentioned this in the comments but the sawblade-head dude is a reference to Pinhead from Hellraiser, and his ball is a riff on the puzzle box that movie series revolves around. Hellraiser is worth a watch, maybe around Halloween, although Simone will probably hate it because it’s gory AF.
Great video! This has been one of my favorite movies for awhile now. Hopefully another of my favorites ..High Tension....makes it into one of your polls.
4:16 “or honeytoes… He will also answer to ‘honey toes’”… One of the best lines in the film… one in which is missed by 85% of the reaction TH-camrs, but you got it. Great line… thanks for including it.
You say you want to see more stories from this universe but the trick is that you already have…every horror movie you’ve seen is a time the sacrifice has been made
Had no idea what I was getting into with this one and was pleasantly surprised. Really fun, worth at least one rewatch and then you get to show it to your friends.
The robo-scorpion is the scariest monster, imo. The movie would have been over 6 minutes after they went into the cellar if they had picked the robo-scorpion.
Most of the movie monsters are references to famous movie monsters, like the guy with the sawblades is definitely inspired by Pinhead. The whole movie is a giant homage to horror movies and their tropes. This is such a perfect movie.
While this does include many creatures and tropes from many horror franchises, one of the most notable is the Evil Dead series of films. The most recent is pretty good for a modern horror film
Part of why things go south is that they gave misidentified the victims: Marty is the virgin, Chris Hemsworth's the intellectual, the guy with glasses is the jock. Etc.
The sawblade head guy ( The Painlord ) - There are no "new" monsters. They are all ancient. They aren't based on things WE invent. They inspire things that we make in their image. For instance , the Sugerplum Fairy isn't inspired by ballerinas. The tutu outfits of ballerinas are inspired by the share3d imagination of humanity remembering or sensing that monster.
There's a theory that our modern clowns are modeled after ancient trickster beings that people have seen while on plant based psychedelics. And these beings have been reported across multiple cultures that span the world that shouldn't have been able to communicate at all in ancient times. So these plant based psychedelics are thought to allow use to see what may always be there but just barely beyond this reality. It makes sense in that even modern science states that we only see a tiny sliver of the light spectrum and a tiny sliver of sound frequencies and the rest is what science calls dark matter cause they don't know any other way to conceptualize it.
27:45 there's a tank from Left 4 Dead that raises up from underneath them, just before the scene cuts, to the left, for a split second, the Witch from Left 4 Dead is in her own box, then, during the zoom out, on the far right, there is a Boomer from Left 4 Dead in his own box at 27:46
Spoiler warning: many Buffy The Vampire Slayer references to follow... - - - - The flick seems to be hinting pretty hard that the Ancient Ones are a reference to Lovecraft's Old Ones, or Great Old One. Also, the fringes of the Buffy universe seemed to suggest similarities with some of Lovecraft's shenanigans: the various Hell dimensions, Glory in season 5, The Mayor in season 3, etc. And one more thing, in terms of Buffy/CabinInTheWoods overlap. After seeing this flick, it felt like the organization here was the version of The Initiative, from Buffy season 4, that Whedon et al always wanted, but couldn't afford at the time. I mean, wasn't The Initiative's headquarters just a shallow pit covered in mylar? These guys in the movie were definitely an upgrade.
They were going to do a tie in with the co-op zombie shooter left 4 dead, they were supposed to make a cabin in the woods themed dlc level with the cabin and the underground facility as well as have the special infected have cameos in the movie, if you look closely in the scene with all the monsters in the cube you'll spot the tank, witch, smoker, hunter, and boomer in cubes. Unfortunately the deal fell through and the level was never made however they had already put the special infected in the movie.
Te ancient ones are based off of HP Lovecraft writings. A legendary horror writer up there with the likes of Poe and Steven King. Steven King was even quoted as saying without HP Lovecraft he never would've become the horror writer he was today. The ancient ones are elder gods who are said to awaken only to destroy the planet. And these monsters are "dreams" of the ancient ones. The ones they could somewhat control anyway.
Another movie that plays with horror conventions that I suggest is Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vern. It's a lot different, and a lot lower budget, and focuses more on slasher flicks. I suggest it a lot, I think it's great. I haven't seen anyone react to it.
Was the “Kevin” a reference to “We need to talk about Kevin” or maybe Kevin McCallister from Home Alone? Also if you haven’t already, you two need to play the game “Control” if you enjoyed the weird cosmic horror aspect
Essentially, the horror movie fans are “the ancient ones” who must be placated. We are the ones who demand to see the same “sacrifice” over and over again, often at a cabin in the woods, through a variety of monsters (all of which shown can be tied to a “real” movie). The character tropes are always the same though.
![[TH] FS vs BME - VCT Ascension Pacific - Lower Bracket Final](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wnygqsR2Fig/mqdefault.jpg)
This movie is actually one big 4. wall break. We (the audience) are the old gods. We watch horror movies expecting some sort of recipe to be followed. The blonde dying first, people who break up are sure to get killed etc. etc. Things has to play out how we expect. And if we watch a japanese horrormovie there's got to be kid ghosts, like the Kyoto incident. But we become more and more desensitized, requiring more and more to sate our appetite. Hence so many of the rituals have failed all over the planet. And if we don't get what we want, we "destroy" the world (Change channel)
Fun fact about this movie: at 8:51, Fran Kranz playing Marty doesn't join in on swimming in the lake, and remains dressed in at least several layers throughout the entire thing. This is apparently because Fran Kranz was INCREDIBLY SWOLE at the time, and they figured that Marty being ridiculously muscular wouldn't jive with his characterisation.
Wow,that’s fascinating and a little sad.
I love how they got the personalities of the characters completely wrong, the guy they had as the jock was a rhodes scholar, the "smart" one was super athletic, the virgin was sleeping with her professor and the jester was a virgin.
that doesnt matter, they even say it doesnt matter, they just need to be similar to the stereotype on site
From a screenwriting standpoint, having the facility guys manipulate them into roles that don't fit is one way of communicating to the audience just how much the facility is (and has been) controlling things. Also, given the meta-commentary of the film (that we the audience are the Ancient Ones who must be appeased by formulaic horror films and if they break the formula we get mad and destroy the world (ie, the movie fails)), putting the characters into roles that don't match who they actually are might just be a metaphor for actors. Actors are cast for a role because they look the part, regardless of what kind of person they are IRL. So, eg, Chris Hemsworth's character is a Rhodes Scholar but he LOOKS like a jock, so they cast him in that role for the sacrifice.
Why would you think Marty is a virgin ? Plus , he fits the archetype of "The Fool" quite well. It isn't about being dumb. It is a trickster archetype , like Loki.
Also funny trivia detail: the stoner did not get in the water because they couldn't have him take his shirt off because he was actually buffer than Thor and the other guy.
BRAGGING RIGHTS "I looked better than Chris Hemsworth"
You can see it in the moment where he “returns from the dead”. Dudes got some arms
@@jarrodoakley6911 yeah dude is shredded
Also why they went over the top with the baggy clothes. You can still kinda tell but only after you already know
Lmao that's hilarious
So, the other stories in this universe are all the other horror movies that exist. Every monster was a generic version of a villain in an existing horror movie. The sawblade-head guy was a Cenobite from Hellraiser. The masked people were The Strangers from the movie of the same name. Japanese Spirit was like the one from The Ring. Countless werewolf, vampire, ghost, zombie movies were all those creatures, etc.
So when you watch the other horror movies, you're watching this universe. The people in those movies doing irrational things like acting stupid, splitting up, having sex in the woods when there's a killer around, etc. are all sacrifices to the Ancient Ones (the audience, i.e. us) and the final girl in every horror film is "the virgin" you saw in this. The artifacts were the same things you see in the horror movies that start everything, too. For example, the book is their version of the Necronomicon from Evil Dead. The puzzle ball was their version of the Puzzle Box from Hellraiser.
This is a horror movie about every other horror movie! That's why it's so awesome, and you understand it more and more as you watch more horror movies and recognize where they drew all the influences from.
Oh, and Kevin is suspected to be the character Elijah Wood played in "Sin City." A soulless serial killer.
I figured "Kevin" was reference to a lot of franchise horror villains having a generic boy's name like "Freddy" or "Jason"
If my timeline is right, this also came out shortly after We Need to Talk About Kevin, which is a disturbing little movie about a teenage psychopath (and makes another great in-joke here).
Someone else may have already mentioned it, but the film also seems to be a meta-commentary on horror movie audiences, & the need for ever more gruesome deaths to appease them. Effectively, we're the "ancient evil" 😉
Indeed. This is also why the monsters are culture-specific: the American team works with American horror movie tropes, whereas the Japanese team has long-haired scary ghost girl.
“Seems to be”? Isn’t it pretty explicit about that?
This was the point. Meta commentary on horror movie fans. Also why you can never tell anyone anything about this movie without spoiling it.
Yeah, when the facility technician guy says "We're not the only ones watching", who else is watching? We are - the audience.
Yeah, basically it goes like:
The Ancient Ones = audiences who demand formula horror movies
The company = the soulless movie studio that gives them what they want
The five victims = actors who are shoved into predetermined roles and forced to conform
Mordecai = a supporting actor who plays the same role every time
Hadley and Sitterson = the producers, stand-ins for Joss Whedon and Drew Godard
Sigourney Weaver's character = literally called The Director
The ending is symbolic of the entire system being broken by people refusing to go along with the formula, which is what Hollywood bigwigs fear will happen if they stop making formulaic movies - people will stop going and the entire industry will collapse.
The rituals vary based on the individual cultures running the facilities. The different "monsters" and victims are all different tropes from American pop culture. The Japanese facility would have monster choices based on Japanese folklore, the Swedish facility would have Norse folklore, etc. It's all about the metaphors, they have strong cultural meaning and that's why they matter to the Ancients.
The Ancient One's are us, the audience. We expect in a slasher film the virgin or last lady to live, but by killing all of them, we are upset. And also, she wasn't a virgin cause she said she slept with her teacher. The company underground is the directors trying to deliver a good slasher flick.
Yup ... she slept with her teacher and played the fool, while the stoner is suggested to have been a virgin ... They work with what they are given, but you have to wonder if they misunderstand who they have would the ancient ones have been pissed anyway.
Yep I'm here to say that.
The way I understood it is that “The Virgin” doesn’t need to be a literal virgin. She just has to match the character archetype.
@@eypandabear7483 sure, but what exactly is that archetype, and does it have to be a female? ... or just the pure at heart who is perhaps more discerning in there decision making - like "hey, let's go back upstairs", and "stop reading the incantation" which the fool, of course, continues to read ... Who knows ....
@@Hapsard I think it just means shes not the typical slutty teenage girl in every slasher movie
I was lucky and saw a screening of this and met Fran Kranz (Marty). He signed a poster. They were basically saying that this movie was meant to be a homage to all other horror movies. I loved it, but some of my friends didn’t.
For a wildly different meta-analysis, try "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" which is hilarious!
I was going to suggest that in the film's reality, they should just ask for volunteers, but then I remembered a joke from Terry Pratchett: a law was passed stating that only condemned criminals could be subjected to human sacrifice, but the priests all agreed that refusal to volunteer to be sacrificed was a crime punishable by death.
RIP Terry
Fear is needed.
I think it's mentioned in the film that the victims cannot volunteer, or it won't work.
My favorite author.
"The Ancient Ones"
The Ancient Ones can be understood as a double pun: in one side some have linked it to the idea of "the audience", the people for whom horror films are made (and, for whose entertainment, the characters are sacrificed in gruesome ways), but also the monsters in the literature of H.P. Lovecraft: ancient entities that once ruled the earth and were expelled or put to slep with complex rituals in order to give humanity a chance to live and prosper (a chance that will only last until the Elder Ones wake up and reclaim what was once theirs).
"The archetypes"
The film makes also an interesting statement that, while these films work with stock characters (easily identifiable, as you did as the film progressed), no person is exactly a "stock character" and there are several hints that the characters we have identified as "the virgin", "the fool", "the athlete", and so on have other interests or they don't even fit the archetype at all, which brings us to Simone's questions if this fault in the selection impacts the sacrifice. The short answer so far as been "no", Sigourney Weaver's speech at the end indicates that the organization assigns the roles, makes the killings accordingly. If the Ancient Ones don't destroy the world, it means they have accepted the sacrifices with the roles assigned, it doesn't matter if they were mistaken (so yeah, it opens the debate as if "the virgin", for example, has to be just pure in heart, or pure in body, where they can draw the limits for each archetype... or if they have never mattered at all).
And that would be it, it was fun to see you discover this hidden gem of the genre XD. See you in the next one :P.
One of the reasons I love this film is that its all about hubris. The controllers have done this so many times that they no longer are as careful or precise about the sacrifices as they might have once been. They're supposed to gather up and sacrifice a bunch of young people who fit certain archetypes (the Virgin, the Whore, the Athlete, the Scholar, and the Fool). The problem is, they get the archetypes wrong. They've assigned the roles to Dana (Virgin), Jules (Whore), Curt (Athlete), Holden (Scholar), and Marty (Fool), when none of them actually fit those roles. Dana might seem virginal, but early in the movie she confesses to an affair with her professor. Jules is sexy and dresses skimpy, but she's also flighty and overly concerned with non-important things in her life; also she is in a clearly loving and utterly monogamous relationship with Curt, which hardly fits the whore archetype. Curt might seem like a jock, but his athletic skills are mediocre at best, and he's seen lugging around high-level textbooks dealing with subjects like the Psychology of the Soviet System. Holden is smart, sure, but at the same time he's clearly more athletic than Curt is, and while he has the raw intelligence, he's clearly lazy about it. And Marty... well, Marty might be a stoner but he also admits he's never had sex in his life. So...
Had the controllers done the research, they would have realized that the archetypes should have been assigned with Dana being the Whore, Jules being the Fool, Curt being the Scholar, Holden being the Athlete, and Marty being the Virgin.
Exactly right. And the controllers are the movie makers who get lazy telling the story, thinking the audience will watch whatever they film.
My take is that assigning the wrong roles isn´t the problem. ("We work with what we have.") The problem is assigning the roles in the first place. They have become too confident and lazy, relying on meds and manipulation to make their work easier, and it backfires with Marty. As you said, hubris.
(Though I really like your breakdown of the archetypes. I personally had Jules as the Virgin, but this makes sense.)
And that would have made the events flow even better. If they had killed Dana first and saved Marty for last, they might have succeeded.
The movie is trying to say that every horror movie you have ever seen was a ritual set up by these people and the tropes and cliches are all due to these people engineering the rituals to fit the ancient ones' desires. The masked people were a reference to The Purge, the sawblade guy with the puzzle was a reference to Pinhead and Hellraiser, and the twins reference The Shining. I believe Kevin is supposed to be the actual character Kevin from the movie We Need to Talk About Kevin, and the molesting tree is a reference to the Evil Dead.
(Edit: It has been pointed out to me that the masked people are in reference to The Strangers and not The Purge. Also, it's not possible for Kevin to be a reference to We Need To Talk About Kevin due to when the films were filmed and released. Some have said it was Kevin from Sin City, and others have said it's just the trope of the Slasher having a common name such as Jason, Freddy or Micheal.)
"Deadites" was also reference to the Evil Dead movies. This movie is basically, every horror movie ever all rolled into one. It's making fun of, paying tribute too, and then actually becoming it's own horror movie.
The masked people are a reference to The Strangers, not The Purge.
It's unlikely that Kevin is from We Need to Talk About Kevin as this movie was filmed (in 2009 but released in 2012) before that one (in 2011). It is more likely Kevin from Sin City, played by Elijah Wood.
Correct.
@@DavidMeddowsTaylor Damn your right, I missed that one. Good call!
I dunno why as an elderly English man I like Canadian reactors the best, but I do. You two have kept me sane and entertained and I thank you both for it.
@@Psilocybin77 wanna swop lives and homes?! 😁
You and friends can be the characters and one gets to be the Ancient Ones in the following board games:
1) Betrayal at House on the Hill - the original. Search the house ad you get different monsters depending on the artifacts.
2) Betrayal at Baldur's Gate - same as above by D&D characters and monsters
3) Betrayal at Mystery Mansion - same, but Scooby-Doo themed so less gore and more dudes in costumes.
The Hills Rise Wild, all the players are trying to get the Necronomicon to summon the old ones. Four separate groups, all wonderfully culty/weird.
About the ballerina, around 27:20, George says "Ok... it's a girl and a moray eel..." Well, that's WRONG, George! It's a girl and a LAMPREY, of course! Pshaw!
(All right! My 20-year training as an ichthyologist wasn't ALL in vain, after all!)
"Kevin" is a reference to Sin City. In that film Kevin Spencer is a badass sadistic cannibal serial killer martial arts master played by Elijah Wood.
The full list of possible monsters is as follows: the Alien beast, Angry Molesting Tree, the Balding Menace, the Blob, the Boomer, the Bride, the Bullhead Phantom, Clowns, the Cowskull Giant, the Charger, the Creature with Patterend Segments of Armor on Its Head, the Creeping Shadow, Deadites, Dismemberment Goblins, the Doctors, Dolls, the Dragonbat, the Face Peeler, the Floating Leeches, the Flock of Killer Birds, the Giant, the Giant Floating Head, the Giant Snake, the Gladiator Demon, the Seductive Hell Lord, the Huron, Jack O'Lantern, Kevin, the Ku Klux Klan, the Merman, the Minotaur, the Mummy, Mutants, Rabid Dogs, the Reanimated, Reptilus, the Angry Republicans, the Sasquatch (Wendigo/Yeti), the Shogoth, the Scarecrow Folk, Witches, Sexy Witches, the Snowman, the Sugarplum Fairy (she's the ballerina with teeth), the Tentacle Thing, Twins, the Unicorn, Vampires, Werewolf, Wraiths, the Zombie Redneck Torture Family, and Zombies.
"In that film"… nope, "in that comic". And where does that "Spencer" come from?
Bladeface and his orb are basically Pinhead and his cube.
Fun fact, this movie was supposed to have a tie in with Left 4 Dead 2. There are several of the games monsters in the cubes, and before the tie in was scrapped, several of the locations in the movie were to be levels in the game.
You just blew my mind. L4D2 is unnecessarily fun already and that would've just given it more points
@@ILikeCHEEZ9 I remember playing an Evil Dead fan map once, was pretty great.
@@Eidlones creator content is out of this world
It's worth reading the film trivia on IMDB. It explains Kevin and even the impossible to read sign the intern was holding.
So glad to see you two watching this. One of my favorites of all time. It is one of the best movies to go into with as little knowledge as possible. Felt bad for people when the tv spots started to give away stuff that you never would have expected. Saw it on opening night and went back again the next day as it was just that good.
16:03 "We're not the only ones watching...," is a comment both on the great old one watching the sacrifices within the context of the plot and the movie audience that pays to see a topless scene in horror movies.
you are the only channel that I've seen including that scene when the old man swears to little girls. that scene never gets old lol
I’ve been watching reactions to this movie for a minute.
This is my new favorite one. So good.
it has been such a long time since i've seen this movie I forgot most of it. it was like re-watching it again. awesome.
9:55 that was a reference to Evil Dead 2, where there is a moose in the wall. The titular CABIN of this movie is 100% inspired by the one in the Evil Dead series
"Angry Molesting Tree" is a reference to Evil Dead!
This movie reminds me of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. "It changes color when it dries! It NEVER stays!! I have to keep the wall wet!!"
The Old Ones are consumers of horror movies (meaning you and me and everyone else watching the movie). The rituals are the horror movies themselves being made. The "rules" are the tropes of horror movies.
So many horror movie references in this movie! 3 of my favorites are the Evil Dead, Hellraiser(guy with blades & puzzle sphere), and The Shining(2 little girls)which you guys should definitely check out eventually.
Bonus Fun Fact: When they go down the elevator you can see many parodies of horror villains (Like Sawhead being a parody of Pinhead) and even monsters like the zombies from Left 4 Dead 1-2!
"Angry Molesting Tree" is a reference to Evil Dead 1. It is *NOT* for the faint of heart.
Ancient Ones is a catch all for Lovecraftian cosmological beings like Cthullu and others that reside in the cosmic void watching everything. Basically the movie is like a 21st century update of the Mythos where this cabal serves the Ancient Ones and feeds them sacrifices.
Imagine spinoffs of this Universe but in the point of view of other Countries like Japan, Italy, Spain, Sweden and so forth, that'd be really cool like having the locals of said countries be the actors, with someone like Peter Stormare in the Swedish Cabin in the Woods lol
Just put Stormare in everything, please.
So glad you saw Kevin on the whiteboard.
George is really good at the guessing along the way lol
The twin girls are a reference to the shining by Steven King.
I love this movie and it was great seeing others trying to puzzle out the plot like I did when I first saw it. Thank you for choosing this movie!
16:20 that's actually the metaphor that the movie sets up. We are the ones that watch: the audience.
I’m sure somebody else mentioned this in the comments but the sawblade-head dude is a reference to Pinhead from Hellraiser, and his ball is a riff on the puzzle box that movie series revolves around. Hellraiser is worth a watch, maybe around Halloween, although Simone will probably hate it because it’s gory AF.
34:28 I mean how would there be a sequel?
I think Joss Whedon was asked if there would be a sequel and he said "have you not seen the ending?"
I always liked to think the giant snake (when the monters are released) is the Midgar Zolom....
"Kevin" is the Kevin from Sin City if you didn't know 👍
Love all your videos guys. Thank you for everything you two do 👌😁👍
Great video! This has been one of my favorite movies for awhile now. Hopefully another of my favorites ..High Tension....makes it into one of your polls.
Fun Fact: BTS The Director said The Intern who wrote down the note to save me on the screen saved the world and destroyed the ancient ones, somehow...
13:15 "There's always next year"… uh, about that… ;-)
4:16 “or honeytoes…
He will also answer to ‘honey toes’”…
One of the best lines in the film… one in which is missed by 85% of the reaction TH-camrs, but you got it.
Great line… thanks for including it.
You say you want to see more stories from this universe but the trick is that you already have…every horror movie you’ve seen is a time the sacrifice has been made
2013 version of EVIL DEAD came out shortly after this. For me these two movies are like chocolate and peanut butter!
Had no idea what I was getting into with this one and was pleasantly surprised. Really fun, worth at least one rewatch and then you get to show it to your friends.
Two hours of horror movie references going over your heads. I haven't seen this many whooshes since Pearl Harbor.
Kevin the cannibal from Sin City I'm assuming. lol Love this movie.
The robo-scorpion is the scariest monster, imo.
The movie would have been over 6 minutes after they went into the cellar if they had picked the robo-scorpion.
Most of the movie monsters are references to famous movie monsters, like the guy with the sawblades is definitely inspired by Pinhead. The whole movie is a giant homage to horror movies and their tropes. This is such a perfect movie.
While this does include many creatures and tropes from many horror franchises, one of the most notable is the Evil Dead series of films. The most recent is pretty good for a modern horror film
A lot of the monsters were parodies of famous movie monsters except for the generic ones , like the werewolf and the zombies . 😅
At least he got to see a merman at the end.
Technically every alternate story that exists in this world is every single horror movie that exists in our world.
Part of why things go south is that they gave misidentified the victims: Marty is the virgin, Chris Hemsworth's the intellectual, the guy with glasses is the jock. Etc.
The Initiative didn't create monsters, a couple of scientists went rogue and made ONE.
The sawblade head guy ( The Painlord ) - There are no "new" monsters. They are all ancient. They aren't based on things WE invent. They inspire things that we make in their image.
For instance , the Sugerplum Fairy isn't inspired by ballerinas. The tutu outfits of ballerinas are inspired by the share3d imagination of humanity remembering or sensing that monster.
There's a theory that our modern clowns are modeled after ancient trickster beings that people have seen while on plant based psychedelics. And these beings have been reported across multiple cultures that span the world that shouldn't have been able to communicate at all in ancient times.
So these plant based psychedelics are thought to allow use to see what may always be there but just barely beyond this reality. It makes sense in that even modern science states that we only see a tiny sliver of the light spectrum and a tiny sliver of sound frequencies and the rest is what science calls dark matter cause they don't know any other way to conceptualize it.
@@jessecortez9449 Very interesting. Yeah , I have seen that idea expressed before , but you put it very well , and explained clearly :)
I heard someone say that this film makes all horror films canon
27:45 there's a tank from Left 4 Dead that raises up from underneath them, just before the scene cuts, to the left, for a split second, the Witch from Left 4 Dead is in her own box, then, during the zoom out, on the far right, there is a Boomer from Left 4 Dead in his own box at 27:46
Great way to re-imagine horror character tropes! This is definitely a classic.
The elevator scene always gives me thirteen ghosts vibe.
Spoiler warning: many Buffy The Vampire Slayer references to follow...
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The flick seems to be hinting pretty hard that the Ancient Ones are a reference to Lovecraft's Old Ones, or Great Old One. Also, the fringes of the Buffy universe seemed to suggest similarities with some of Lovecraft's shenanigans: the various Hell dimensions, Glory in season 5, The Mayor in season 3, etc. And one more thing, in terms of Buffy/CabinInTheWoods overlap. After seeing this flick, it felt like the organization here was the version of The Initiative, from Buffy season 4, that Whedon et al always wanted, but couldn't afford at the time. I mean, wasn't The Initiative's headquarters just a shallow pit covered in mylar? These guys in the movie were definitely an upgrade.
They were going to do a tie in with the co-op zombie shooter left 4 dead, they were supposed to make a cabin in the woods themed dlc level with the cabin and the underground facility as well as have the special infected have cameos in the movie, if you look closely in the scene with all the monsters in the cube you'll spot the tank, witch, smoker, hunter, and boomer in cubes. Unfortunately the deal fell through and the level was never made however they had already put the special infected in the movie.
Angry Molesting Tree AND Deadites. Two different Evil Dead references.
Te ancient ones are based off of HP Lovecraft writings. A legendary horror writer up there with the likes of Poe and Steven King. Steven King was even quoted as saying without HP Lovecraft he never would've become the horror writer he was today. The ancient ones are elder gods who are said to awaken only to destroy the planet. And these monsters are "dreams" of the ancient ones. The ones they could somewhat control anyway.
oh heck yeah you two are always pulling out some of the best movies. this movie is so cool
Subscribing based on this guy hearing Jules say her luggage is full of something alluring and immediately thinking, "It's all Doritos".
And also suggesting they stab the diary with a basilisk tooth
Joss Whedon's comedy/horror that pay homage to horror movies
This movie is the reason he got cast in Thor. Fun fact
I was always pretty sure Kevin was the character from Sin City.
Deadites = Hellraiser franchise.
Kevin = Sin City (I think)
Nurses likely from Silent Hill
There are soooo many more. Others will fill it in I'm sure.
One of the most unique horror movies ever!
Aww i wanted to watch George try to explain the SCP foundation
Kevin being the kid from Home Alone
Fun fact - the stoner always wears multiple layers to hide the fact that the actor was actually more ripped than Hemsworth in this movie.
lol never noticed the rubix cube in the poster, nice ob lol
Twins are from the Shining. If you don't get the reference, then you should watch it
The angry molesting tree on the white board is a call out to the Evil Dead series
Curt: Fred
Jules: Daphne
Holden: Velma
Marty: Shaggy
Dana: Scooby
16:04 The audience!
GALAXY QUEST! Galaxy Quest, and you know what?…..GALAXY quest.
Your move.
I have this theory that "Kevin" may be Kevin McAllister from Home Alone.
Another movie that plays with horror conventions that I suggest is Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vern. It's a lot different, and a lot lower budget, and focuses more on slasher flicks. I suggest it a lot, I think it's great. I haven't seen anyone react to it.
This movie is a love letter to horror fans. it's rad.
Try : Creepshow 1&2 - Cats Eye - Twilight Zone The Movie - Tails From The Darkside The Movie
Can't help but think of Tina from Bob's Burgers
Cabin in the Woods 2: This Time It's Cabiner
I hope the ancient one is Cthutlu or some other eldritch being
YES it´s about Time . . . ;-)
Was the “Kevin” a reference to “We need to talk about Kevin” or maybe Kevin McCallister from Home Alone?
Also if you haven’t already, you two need to play the game “Control” if you enjoyed the weird cosmic horror aspect
“Must’ve been the wind” random Skyrim npc-
Essentially, the horror movie fans are “the ancient ones” who must be placated. We are the ones who demand to see the same “sacrifice” over and over again, often at a cabin in the woods, through a variety of monsters (all of which shown can be tied to a “real” movie). The character tropes are always the same though.
Kevin, could be the cannibal killer Kevin, from sin city. which, comic bookwise came out before this, but i think the movie came out after.🤔
for me the ancient ones are more of a nod too Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos