13 comments on “Every Reference in The Cabin in the Woods”
Cristiona on said:
Great video, Cecil.
I picked up on a lot of these while I was watching it the first time, but I didn’t try to catalog them all, so it was nice to see it here.
I think the Hell Lord was actually kind of a double reference, or at least his summoning item was. While he’s clearly a Cenobite, in the carnage scene, he’s using the summoning sphere as a weapon, sort of like the ball from Phantasm.
Not sure about the tie in with Phantasm. I think they just went for the sphere because if they went with a cube it may have been too close to the Lamant configuration.
Shit…I have to see this film again. I like it a lot because of the monster zoo element. “Evil Dead” meets “Cube” was the same thing I was thinking. The unicorn…WTF in a funny way.
You missed the most obvious reference, which surprised me: “Scooby Doo”, due to the five main characters.
I also liked the chemistry between Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing”) and Richard Jenkins (“Little Nikita”) as the manipulators/zookeepers. Those two should work together again.
Great work, Cecil. Halloween may come once a year, but GBF makes the holiday seem like it happens every day. 🙂
I thought about the reference to Scooby Doo, especially since Joss has an affinity for the “Scooby Gang” from Buffy. Aside from Marty wearing the green shirt and being a sort of Shaggy stoner, and Curt being a sort of Fred, the rest didn’t really fit. Jules was blond and not a redhead. Dana would have been the Velma but she was way too pretty and it seemed (at least from the start) that Jules was actually more of a bookworm. That would have left Holden to be Scooby. Holden was a jock, not a stoner, and not really friends with Marty. That was just how it felt to me, I could be completely wrong. I’ll have to ask Joss next time I see him. (I did see him! When I was on the set of the Avengers! Well…I was about 30 feet away but I did see him!) 😛
Putting in the movie references added a great deal to my enjoyment of the film which, although had a lot of comedy in it was also quite nasty. I did notice that like other such films, the cabin is quite small when shown from the outside but somehow is HUGE on the inside.
Question….Do American teens really go to scary, filthy, run down cabins in the woods, miles from anywhere to have ‘fun’? Or is this just a cinema thing?
My family had a cabin on an island in Minnesota once, but it wasn’t really run down; it just didn’t have indoor plumbing (cough). But that was for family vacation. I can’t say that I’ve ever had the urge to spend a weekend in a creepy cabin in the middle of nowhere. Certainly never felt the urge to read from a damned book in a creepy cabin in the middle of nowhere.
So , you are talking of a holiday at a lake with swimming and boating and family stuff. Where as movie folks have given us folks outside the U.S., the impression that mismatched groups of teens like nothing better than to go to the most out of the way places which have lots of bugs, poisonous plants, no phone signal, no Wi-Fi, no modern amenities/comforts, just to get drunk, smoke weed and have sex outdoors. Odd.
As stupid as it may sound, I have some fond memories of going to some out of the way places just to be young and stupid. Nearby where I grew up there were some deep woods that have long since cleared away to make room for more houses. Anyway, we used to travel into the woods to a clearing that was do far away from town all you could see was trees in any direction. We had an area that we would just sit around and do whatever. Talk, drink, smoke pot (although I never did, it was never my thing. Always hated the way it smelled and how stupid my friends acted while high) and just go on about anything. No one ever bothered us.
I was getting into filmmaking back then so I had this ultra cheap video (Fisher Price!) camera I would bring to film whatever was going on. I guess it was the early version of kids doing dumb shit and filming with their phones.
When I was a teen we used to go places that we weren’t supposed to go. There was an empty reservoir, an abandoned house, and a few other locations. The abandoned house was creepy as all hell. I would only go there during the day because I hate ghosts and going there at night was too much for my chicken self. I swear that place was haunted.
So yes, teens do go to scary places. Often to drink alcohol.
Great video Cecil, thanks for putting in the individual monsters shots that fly by so fast in the actual movie.
I found out just a few years ago that the original cabin where the original Evil Dead was shot is in east Tennessee really close to where my grandfather was from (just a few miles actually). The last time I was up there I tried to find the location. It’s on private property and the cabin isn’t there anymore. It apparently burned down or was torn down. I think maybe some of the fireplace is left but the property owners don’t seem too appreciative of people looking for the site. there are no trespassing signs everywhere. If I owned the frickin’ original Evil Dead cabin site, I’d be hanging signs and running tours. Some people don’t know what they have I guess.
When I saw the movie, the first thing that came to my mind was angel, the buffy´s spin off, the whole vibe of an evil corporation manipulating paranormal stuff, so it was a surprise for me that it wasnt a reference in your video. Saludos, keep up with your good work.
I’m writing an article on the film. Of course, I will be citing you and your video; it’s absolutely wonderful. Do you have a written list I could refer to? Or, do you know how many references you catalogued? If not, no worries.
If I did I’d give it to you but I usually write them all in notebooks and I have no idea where I put this one. Its from over a year ago and I packed it up somewhere.
follow:
Great video, Cecil.
I picked up on a lot of these while I was watching it the first time, but I didn’t try to catalog them all, so it was nice to see it here.
I think the Hell Lord was actually kind of a double reference, or at least his summoning item was. While he’s clearly a Cenobite, in the carnage scene, he’s using the summoning sphere as a weapon, sort of like the ball from Phantasm.
Thanks!
Not sure about the tie in with Phantasm. I think they just went for the sphere because if they went with a cube it may have been too close to the Lamant configuration.
Shit…I have to see this film again. I like it a lot because of the monster zoo element. “Evil Dead” meets “Cube” was the same thing I was thinking. The unicorn…WTF in a funny way.
You missed the most obvious reference, which surprised me: “Scooby Doo”, due to the five main characters.
I also liked the chemistry between Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing”) and Richard Jenkins (“Little Nikita”) as the manipulators/zookeepers. Those two should work together again.
Great work, Cecil. Halloween may come once a year, but GBF makes the holiday seem like it happens every day. 🙂
I thought about the reference to Scooby Doo, especially since Joss has an affinity for the “Scooby Gang” from Buffy. Aside from Marty wearing the green shirt and being a sort of Shaggy stoner, and Curt being a sort of Fred, the rest didn’t really fit. Jules was blond and not a redhead. Dana would have been the Velma but she was way too pretty and it seemed (at least from the start) that Jules was actually more of a bookworm. That would have left Holden to be Scooby. Holden was a jock, not a stoner, and not really friends with Marty. That was just how it felt to me, I could be completely wrong. I’ll have to ask Joss next time I see him. (I did see him! When I was on the set of the Avengers! Well…I was about 30 feet away but I did see him!) 😛
Awwww thanks ^^
Putting in the movie references added a great deal to my enjoyment of the film which, although had a lot of comedy in it was also quite nasty. I did notice that like other such films, the cabin is quite small when shown from the outside but somehow is HUGE on the inside.
Question….Do American teens really go to scary, filthy, run down cabins in the woods, miles from anywhere to have ‘fun’? Or is this just a cinema thing?
My family had a cabin on an island in Minnesota once, but it wasn’t really run down; it just didn’t have indoor plumbing (cough). But that was for family vacation. I can’t say that I’ve ever had the urge to spend a weekend in a creepy cabin in the middle of nowhere. Certainly never felt the urge to read from a damned book in a creepy cabin in the middle of nowhere.
So , you are talking of a holiday at a lake with swimming and boating and family stuff. Where as movie folks have given us folks outside the U.S., the impression that mismatched groups of teens like nothing better than to go to the most out of the way places which have lots of bugs, poisonous plants, no phone signal, no Wi-Fi, no modern amenities/comforts, just to get drunk, smoke weed and have sex outdoors. Odd.
As stupid as it may sound, I have some fond memories of going to some out of the way places just to be young and stupid. Nearby where I grew up there were some deep woods that have long since cleared away to make room for more houses. Anyway, we used to travel into the woods to a clearing that was do far away from town all you could see was trees in any direction. We had an area that we would just sit around and do whatever. Talk, drink, smoke pot (although I never did, it was never my thing. Always hated the way it smelled and how stupid my friends acted while high) and just go on about anything. No one ever bothered us.
I was getting into filmmaking back then so I had this ultra cheap video (Fisher Price!) camera I would bring to film whatever was going on. I guess it was the early version of kids doing dumb shit and filming with their phones.
When I was a teen we used to go places that we weren’t supposed to go. There was an empty reservoir, an abandoned house, and a few other locations. The abandoned house was creepy as all hell. I would only go there during the day because I hate ghosts and going there at night was too much for my chicken self. I swear that place was haunted.
So yes, teens do go to scary places. Often to drink alcohol.
Great video Cecil, thanks for putting in the individual monsters shots that fly by so fast in the actual movie.
I found out just a few years ago that the original cabin where the original Evil Dead was shot is in east Tennessee really close to where my grandfather was from (just a few miles actually). The last time I was up there I tried to find the location. It’s on private property and the cabin isn’t there anymore. It apparently burned down or was torn down. I think maybe some of the fireplace is left but the property owners don’t seem too appreciative of people looking for the site. there are no trespassing signs everywhere. If I owned the frickin’ original Evil Dead cabin site, I’d be hanging signs and running tours. Some people don’t know what they have I guess.
When I saw the movie, the first thing that came to my mind was angel, the buffy´s spin off, the whole vibe of an evil corporation manipulating paranormal stuff, so it was a surprise for me that it wasnt a reference in your video. Saludos, keep up with your good work.
Hey Cecil,
I’m writing an article on the film. Of course, I will be citing you and your video; it’s absolutely wonderful. Do you have a written list I could refer to? Or, do you know how many references you catalogued? If not, no worries.
Best,
Nathan
If I did I’d give it to you but I usually write them all in notebooks and I have no idea where I put this one. Its from over a year ago and I packed it up somewhere.