'Cabin In The Woods' Gets A Puzzling Poster

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by Ryan Sartor
December 2, 2011 11:37 AM
5 Comments

If feels like just yesterday “Cloverfield” was a big hit and the film’s writer, Drew Goddard, got together with Joss Whedon (“The Avengers”) to announce that his next project would be the horror flick “The Cabin in the Woods.” Everybody said, “That sounds cool,” and waited for Obama to become president.

Four years later, “The Cabin in the Woods” is finally being released. There have certainly been cases of a film’s release date being pushed back (“Titanic,” for example, was originally supposed to be hit the iceberg on July 4th, 1997). In the history of modern mainstream film distribution, it is quite difficult to recall a film outside The Weinstein Company that has had a legitimate poster up in theatres advertising one release date (In the case of ‘Woods,’ February 5th, 2010) only to have the film stay on the shelf for another two years.

It’s easy to assume ‘Cabin’ will be a dud, but we shouldn’t get too tough on Goddard (who also directed the movie). He’s been dealing with MGM's bankruptcy woes that also delayed "Skyfall" and "The Hobbit." The fact that ‘Cabin’ is being released theatrically at all feels like a bit of victory at this point, with Lionsgate now taking on the film and giving it some fresh life.

With that in mind, a poster for the film has dropped and it features a vaguely “Saw”-tinted white background with a floating house at the center, fragmented and turned like a Rubik’s cube. A small credit block takes up the bottom portion of the poster with “From the…writer of ‘Cloverfield’” in tiny letters. You know why? Because four years ago, nobody really cared about ‘Cloverfield’—it was a circus attraction; audiences looked behind the curtain and shrugged their shoulders. If there was any time to exploit that shrug, though, it was four years ago.

We’ve still got a bit of hope for this project though, especially with top quality actors like Richard Jenkins and…well, just Richard Jenkins, attached to this thing. We’ll find out how it all goes down when the film hits theatres on April 13th, 2012. [AICN]

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LA2000 | December 2, 2011 8:57 PMReply

While the poster is an accurate, if arty, reflection of the concept behind "Cabin in the Woods", I don't think Lionsgate is doing themselves any favors by being this oblique with the key art. If you are driving past a billboard with this image, you won't even have time to figure out what it is (wooden spaceship? weird levitating Hellraiser style Rubik's Cube?) before you're on to the next billboard. Too clever by half.

They would be smarter to market this as a straight up edgy slasher and let audiences discover on their own that there is more to the story than machetes and babes running around in the middle of the woods at night in their underwear. Encouraging the surprise factor that would allow it build on word of mouth a la "The Sixth Sense" or "Scream" seems a smarter, more efficient way to go if they really want this to succeed.
NameLA2000 | December 2, 2011 9:01 PM

(I do however love the tag line and think it would work well with a more "Saw/Friday the 13th" style key art)
Jacque DeMolay | December 2, 2011 1:25 PMReply

Cool poster. Reminds me of The Lament Configuration from Hellraiser. Probably doesn't mean the movie will be anything like Hellraiser, though. Which is a shame... Hellraiser 1 and 2 are among my favorite horror movies ever.
kure | December 2, 2011 12:24 PMReply

really?? no love for hemsworth playlist???? wow!!!
Ryan Sartor | December 2, 2011 3:18 PM

@Kure I had no problem with Hemsworth in "Thor," "Star Trek," or "A Perfect Getaway," but I don't think he's had an opportunity to prove himself yet as a "top notch" actor. Was he really good in something else I haven't seen?