What did YOU think about 'The Cabin in the Woods' movie and book?

I finally got around to watching “The Cabin in the Woods” the other day, and I thought it was one of the most unique horror movies I’ve ever seen. Just when you thought Hollywood was out of ideas, a refreshingly good movie like this comes along and gives us all hope.

Directed by Drew Goddard, this R-rated movie was released in April and stars Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz and Jesse Williams. Shot on a budget of around $30 million, it has posted gross revenues of over $65 million. The movie is 95 minutes long.

The movie begins as five friends set off for a short vacation at a remote cabin. Little do they know that the cabin is wired for sound and video, and their every move is being observed by an office full of technicians. These technicians are guiding a worldwide ritual sacrifice to appease a number of slumbering “Ancient Ones.” While each of the youngsters in the cabin does have free will, the technicians do all they can to steer them toward a bad end for the sake of mankind.

I was more than a little pleased by this movie’s Lovecraftian elements. Not only does the inclusion of the “Ancient Ones” have a very Lovecraftian feel to it, but so do a number of other things in this movie. If you were looking closely at the betting board in the control room when the technicians were taking bets on how the characters were going to get killed, you probably saw “Angry Molesting Tree” and “Deadites.” These are straight from the “The Evil Dead” films, which not only featured a secluded cabin but also Lovecraft’s fictional book, the “Necronomicon.”

I also thought it was cool that “The Cabin in the Woods” also dropped several Clive Barker references. Not only does a Cenobite make an appearance, but so does one of Barker’s famous puzzle boxes, which also play heavily in his “Hellraiser” series of films. That stuff is just creepy.

One thing that I regret about “The Cabin in the Woods” is that I passed up the chance to buy the official novelization of the movie when I ran across it at Wal-Mart a few months ago. Published by Titan Books, this mass market paperback was written by Tim Lebbon, Goddard and Joss Whedon. Whedon and Goddard wrote the screenplay for the movie. Titan Books also released a book called “Cabin in the Woods: The Official Visual Companion,” but I’ve yet to run across a copy of it locally.

In the end, how many of you have seen “The Cabin in the Woods”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? What was your favorite part? How many of you read the novelization of the film by Lebbon, Goddard and Whedon? What did you think about it? How did it compare with the movie? Let us know in the comments section below.

For more information about “The Cabin in the Woods” movie, visit its official Web site at discoverthecabininthewoods.com.