‘The Cabin in the Woods’ is probably one of the most effective 'horror’ movies of the past decade. There are a few that comes to mind that are better. 'The Descent’ and 'The Conjuring,’ for example. But when it comes to the formula, delivery, and pay off - 'The Cabin in the Woods’ has an unique ending. Is it true 'horror’? That is debatable.
'The Cabin in the Woods’ opening credits revolves around paintings of ritual sacrifices, before rapidly cutting to two white-collar gentlemen, conversing with each other about their lives. We then cut to the lives of five 20-somethings, and their journey to a cabin in the woods (hence the name of the film). Throughout the film, we go back to the two white-collar guys, and find out that they work in a high maintenance control facility. Their job revolves around making these five 20-somethings stay at the cabin in the woods, as gruesome as possible. The movie is roughly 90-mintues long, each half-hour being an act. Once we reach the third act of the film, it goes into a completely different direction.
I myself fell in love with the film instantly, and it still holds up. Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, the masterminds behind the film, clearly knew what they were constructing: a love letter to the horror film genre.
Now, you must be curious why I am writing about 'The Cabin in the Woods’ when this is supposed to be a review about 'The Little White Trip,’ by Peter Joseph Gallagher. Well, the author sued the filmmakers and the studio for allegedly stealing his story. I read up about the lawsuit earlier this year, and that lawsuit got me curious - as I am sure it got a lot of people curious. Did they really rip off the book, or is the author full of crap?!?
Well, first of all - I don’t think anyone could read this book without thinking about 'The Cabin in the Woods.' I also think because of the lawsuit, there is a sudden interest in the book (which, quite possibly, was the author’s intention).
The book is written in first person, narrated by a character name Matthew. He and his four friends that just graduated high school, won a trip to a remote 'cabin in the woods.' Once they reach the cabin, bad things happen, but then by the tail-end, it is revealed that a filmmaker was making a 'reality’ horror film. The five teeny-boppers are in fact, alive - and their 'death scenes’ were all just an act.
Now, again - there are some similarities. But is it a knock off? No. Not at all. After reading 'The Little White Trip,’ I read the well-written official movie novelization of 'The Cabin in the Woods,’ written by Tim Lebbon (just to thoroughly compare/contrast the two). I didn’t see any strong resemblance, other than:
-five teenyboppers go in a cabin in the woods
-bad things happen
-'parts’ of it was an act
If the author wants to really nit-pick, then Stephen King should also sue 'The Cabin in the Woods,’ and the filmmakers, for 'stealing’ 'Under the Dome.' There is a scene in the film where a bird collides into an invisible barrier in the sky, similar to when an invisible dome first appears in Stephen King’s awesome book. And since we are on the topic - perhaps Clive Barker should sue because 'Hellraiser’ was lifted (Pinhead likeness, and the box). And let’s not forget 'The Evil Dead’ strong reference in 'The Cabin in the Woods.' Sam Raimi has every right to sue; those pesky trees that can’t seem to keep their branches off people, make an appearance in 'The Cabin in the Woods.'
When I think of a rip-off, knock-off - I think of 'The Lion King’ being a HUGE knock off of 'Kimba the White Lion,’ or 'Friday the 13th’ ripping off both 'Psycho’ and 'Halloween,’ or even every film involving an exorcism while being compared to 'The Exorcist.' If the author really wants a perfect description of what a knock off is: he should look up the The Asylum filmography.
Moving back to 'The Little White Trip’ - I was actually quite disappointed. For being a $10 million dollar worthy lawsuit, I expected a word-from-word rip off. Instead, the book (only being little over 300 pages) builds very slowly, and then once reaching the climax, there isn’t much pay off to be had. In fact, the 'pay off’ was boring compared to the film’s pay-off. Spoiler, a director is interviewed by a reporter, and goes into detail of how every death scene was a fake, and to preserve the surprise of the nerve-wrenching reaction of the five kids being tormented, it only seemed real to them. Having the book in first person was a clever way of keeping the realism intact, sure. But it’s still boring.
Maybe if there wasn’t a hefty lawsuit involved (and the self-published author found some other way to promote his book), the reading would be better. I mean, to be fair - the writing is good. But because 'The Cabin in the Woods’ had such an unique DIFFERENT ending, and the author proclaims the film is a straight knock-off, 'The Little White Trip’ is lackluster. I didn’t hate the book, but didn’t find it great either.
I do get (sort of) the author’s frustration. But in the world of creative writing (and this is coming from a self-published author myself), everybody lifts ideas from everyone. That is called WRITING! You take an idea that you thought was great: expand on it, twist it, and make it your own.
'The Cabin in the Woods’ isn’t the most original film on the face of the Earth, and it knows that. It takes a redundant idea, and twists it up. It’s a homage to the horror movie genre, while critiquing the genre. It is in no way, shape, or form - a rip off to this book. Anyone that says otherwise (including the author), please tell me in what part of the 310 page paperback, will I find 'an army of nightmares’ unleashing hell - and 'evil gods’ crushing a 'cabin in the woods?'
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