Poster © Lionsgate. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
|
GenreHorror, Mystery & Thriller
RatedR
Runtime1 hr 35 mins
ReleasedApril 13, 2012
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorDrew Goddard
StarringKristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison
|
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The Cabin in the Woods's Details | |
| Genre | Horror, Mystery & Thriller |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 12/11/2011 (Butt-Numb-A-Thon); 04/13/2012 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 35 mins |
| Budget | $30M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States, Canada |
| Language | English |
| The Cabin in the Woods's Interests | |
| General | RVs, creepy gas stations, two-way mirrors, dusty cellars, old diaries, a wall of security monitors. |
| Music | David Julyan, with a score that keeps you guessing just like the plot does. |
| Movies | The Evil Dead (1981). The cabin that started it all. |
| Television | Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard both wrote for it. |
| Heroes | Marty. Everybody laughs at him, but he is the one actually paying attention. |
| The Cabin in the Woods's Crew | |
| Director | Drew Goddard |
| Writers | Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard |
| Producers | Joss Whedon |
| Cinematography | Peter Deming |
| Music | David Julyan |
| Edited By | Lisa Lassek |
| Production | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Mutant Enemy Productions |
| Distributed By | Lionsgate |
I’m not allowed to tell you the good stuff in The Cabin in the Woods, so here’s the bad. If you came for real scares, you won’t get many. The movie is so busy winking at horror that it rarely bothers to be frightening, and the five friends are stock types on purpose, which is still stock types. Audiences gave it a C CinemaScore, so plenty of people walked in expecting a normal slasher. But if you love horror enough to be sick of it, this thing is a gift. Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford are hilarious as two guys treating a very strange workday like an office pool, and Fran Kranz’s Marty is the only character who seems to notice anything is off. The last act goes so wildly big it plays like a horror fan’s whole bookshelf falling off the wall. An 8.4 because it’s a love letter and a roast in 95 minutes flat. $35.14 says the next time a friend picks up an old book in a basement, you tell them to put it down.
What works: The script is sharp and funny about horror rules, and Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford steal every scene.
What doesn’t: It’s more clever than scary, and the five friends are deliberate stock types who are hard to care about.
Who it’s for: Horror fans who have seen every cabin movie and want one that’s in on the joke.
Spoilers
The technicians work for an organization that stages horror movie deaths as a ritual sacrifice to keep ancient gods asleep. Dana and Marty break into the facility, release every monster in storage, and in the end refuse to finish the ritual, letting the gods rise.
Five college friends pile into an RV for a weekend at a cabin far off the grid: Dana (Kristen Connolly), Curt (Chris Hemsworth), his girlfriend Jules (Anna Hutchison), his teammate Holden (Jesse Williams) and Marty (Fran Kranz), who is pretty sure something about this trip is off. Meanwhile, somewhere in a very bland workplace, two technicians named Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) are getting ready for a big day on the job. The less you know going in, the better. Drew Goddard directs, from a script he wrote with Joss Whedon. Ninety-five minutes, one very strange cellar.
Horror fans who think they have seen every trick. Do not read anything out loud in the cellar.
| Kristen Connolly | Dana Polk |
| Chris Hemsworth | Curt Vaughan |
| Anna Hutchison | Jules Louden |
| Fran Kranz | Marty Mikalski |
| Jesse Williams | Holden McCrea |
| Richard Jenkins | Gary Sitterson |
| Bradley Whitford | Steve Hadley |
| Brian White | Daniel Truman |
| Amy Acker | Wendy Lin |
| Sigourney Weaver | The Director |
| Tim de Zarn | Mordecai |
| Tom Lenk | Ronald the Intern |
| Dan Payne | Mathew Buckner |
| Jodelle Ferland | Patience Buckner |
| Dan Shea | Father Buckner |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 7.0 / 10 (497,665 votes) → 7.0 / 10 (497,735 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $70M; Domestic box office $42.1M; Opening weekend $14.7M; Profit / loss (est.) -$10M; Rotten Tomatoes 92%; CinemaScore C; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 92% (290 reviews); Metacritic 72 / 100; CinemaScore C; IMDb users 7.0 / 10 (497,665 votes); movie.guru score 6.6.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.