The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A group of college students at a remote cabin are manipulated by an underground facility to serve as part of a ritual to appease ancient deities.
The story
A group of college students retreat to a remote cabin in the woods for the weekend. While they are there, they fall victim to a variety of monsters. Unknown to them, technicians in an underground facility are manipulating events and the students' behavior using mind-altering drugs to fulfill a global purpose.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In an underground laboratory, technicians Gary Sitterson and Steve Hadley manipulate a group of college students at a remote cabin using drugs and remote controls. The students, including Dana, Jules, Curt, Holden, and Marty, find themselves in a cellar containing bizarre objects. When Dana reads from a diary, she awakens a family of zombies. As the group is hunted by monsters, the technicians realize their site is 'humanity's last hope' after a site in Japan fails. The students are eventually separated and hunted; Curt dies, and others are incapacitated. Dana and Marty eventually discover the truth: the entire experience is a staged ritual to appease 'the Ancient Ones,' a group of cruel subterranean deities. The ritual requires the sacrifice of five archetypes: the whore, the athlete, the scholar, the fool, and the virgin. In the final confrontation, the facility's director tries to force Dana to complete the ritual by killing Marty. Instead, they decide that humanity is not worth saving and share a drink as the temple floor collapses. A giant hand bursts from the ground, destroying the facility and the cabin, bringing about the end of the world.
- First release year
- 2012
- Runtime (minutes)
- 95
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Drew Goddard
- Writers
- Joss Whedon · writer; Drew Goddard · writer
- Cast and characters
- Kristen Connolly; Chris Hemsworth; Anna Hutchison; Fran Kranz; Jesse Williams; Richard Jenkins; Bradley Whitford
- Genres
- science fiction; comedy; horror
- Themes
- sacrifice; meta-fiction; deconstruction of horror tropes
- Tone and mood
- satirical; dark; tense
- Premise and plot tags
- horror; sci-fi; satire; mystery
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its screenplay, tone, and performances.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 72 · scale: 100 · review count: 40
- Production trivia
- The script was written in three days.; The production used monsters from the video game Left 4 Dead 2.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…