Theater of Memory: The Cabin in the Woods

Drew Goddard's brilliant homage to horror, The Cabin in the Woods, is out on DVD and Blu-ray today, so I thought I'd revisit what was one of the best movie-going experiences I've ever had the pleasure to partake in.

Since my freshman year of college, I've been deeply immersed in the world of free early screenings.  When I discovered Gofobo, my time on the Internet changed, as every visit to Facebook or e-mail check became accompanied by a survey of all the screenings coming to Columbus, making sure to catch every update as soon as possible, to ensure I could get some passes.

Every once in a while, a movie I'm really excited about pops up on the docket, and I'd never been as excited to see an early screening announced as when The Cabin in the Woods appeared.  The screening was taking place about two and a half weeks before the movie opened, and I was incredibly excited and grateful.  After the MGM debacle that caused the film to be shelved for years, it was finally seeing the light of day, and I was lucky enough to be seeing that light a little bit earlier than expected.

I got passes for me and seven of my friends, and I told them to meet me pretty early so we could make sure to get good seats, and all together.  These screenings tend to fill up, and with all the pre-release buzz (which started in earnest at SXSW and was starting to reach deafening levels in the world of online film fanaticism), I knew this was going to be big.

Then, the morning of the screening, I got an e-mail concerning the screening.  An unusual occurrence.  I barely had time to read it before I had to head to class, but I was glad I gave it that extra minute.  The e-mail announced that Goddard and star Kristen Connolly would be in attendance at the screening, and that, thus, we should plan to arrive even earlier than usual.

Which we did.  Camped out in the lobby hours before the screening started, eating pizza and playing cards, we waited to be let in.  I had a disc of Buffy Season 7 and a permanent marker in my pocket, dreaming of the chance to meet one of the writers of my most beloved pop culture icon.

Even without all the extra treats, the screening was a blast.  The audience just got it.  Everyone was on the right wavelength, cracking up at the endlessly witty humor, cringing at the slasher-esque gore, unhinging jaws as the various plot twists were revealed.  The Cabin in the Woods is a movie best enjoyed in a crowd of horror fans, and that's exactly the make-up of the audience that night.  The excitement for the film was palpable before, during, and after, when Goddard and Connolly took questions, before doing a short meet-and-greet until the theater was needed for its regularly scheduled showing.

I managed to keep relatively cool while I talked to them and told Goddard what a huge Buffy fan I was and how much I loved the movie, sentiments I heard echoed many times by others.  He signed my DVD and I got a picture with the two of them (that fuzzy one right over there), and as my friends and I left the theater, we were handed free posters and t-shirts.  Celebrities and swag: early screenings don't get much better than that.

Attending screenings with the creators of a film is something normally reserved for the hallowed cities of cinema, so it was a rare treat indeed to be rubbing elbows with the director and star of such a magnificent movie in humble Columbus, Ohio.  It was a truly memorable night, as much more the company as the movie.  When a movie fires so completely on every level, it creates a sort of supernatural connection between those in attendance (it's the same sensation I felt when I saw (500) Days of Summer for the first time).  And The Cabin in the Woods hits every right note.