The Cabin in the Woods

Two technicians in a sophisticated industrial facility—Richard Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Steve Hadley (Bradley Whitford)—are getting ready for an unknown operation, one of several taking place around the world, whilst joking to fellow technician Wendy Lin (Amy Acker). Meanwhile, 5 college students—Dana (Kristen Connolly), Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchison), Marty (Fran Kranz), and Holden (Jesse Williams)—drive out for a vacation to a remote cabin in the woods, while the technicians keep an eye on the students with hidden cameras. Through the cabin's design, the use of sophisticated environmental controls and the release of mood-altering drugs into the air, the technicians manipulate the environment into one resembling a fairly common horror archetype, a point which is made several times in the film itself. These changes generally reduce the students' intelligence, while enhancing sexual libido and lack of caution. At the cabin, the friends settle in and begin to party while the observing technicians place bets on which horror scenario the students will unwittingly select. Once the students find and enter the basement, they discover a number of artifacts, each of which hints at its own sub-genre of horror, ranging from a sphere which is reminiscent of Lemarchand's box from the Hellraiser series to a scarab-like pendant. Dana reads an incantation from an old diary, belonging to the dead Patience Buckner, which is the trigger for a scenario involving a family of redneck torture zombies which rise from the grave outside, though the students remain unaware of the danger they have released......