Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like The Cabin in the Woods:
The Blackening
Tim Story‘s The Blackening is a movie that doesn’t hold back any punches, offering biting commentary on pop culture and the experience of being black. The film lacks in some technical departments, but it’s still a supremely funny effort.
Scream
Scream is an incredibly important film in horror movie history. It helped to redefine the genre and set the stage for a new wave of more violent, self-aware horror movies. The film’s impact can still be felt today, and it remains a must-watch for horror movie fans.
Barbarian
Zach Cregger‘s Barbarian is still refreshing and thrilling, and it’s easily one of my favorite theater experiences of 2022. Films try over and over again to use the schlocky marketing bit of audiences screaming in theaters only to be disappointing in actual terror when places in front of you – but Barbarian is genuinely jaw-dropping.
Evil Dead Rise
There aren’t many horror franchises able to reinvent themselves as often as Evil Dead does while still maintaining relevancy and quality. Maybe it’s because Sam Raimi holds his creation so close to his heart that only a select few are able to take on the premise, or maybe it’s because the premise seems simple and malleable enough to make nearly anything work. It can shoot for the downright zany and ludicrous with Evil Dead II or Army of Darkness, or it can strive to be like Lee Cronin’s newest spin Evil Dead Rise – a movie so sick and twisted that you can’t help but give it its dues by the time the credits roll.
Fresh
Fresh is a pointed vision from a filmmaker I’m excited to see grow and develop after a few projects. I wasn’t expecting this to blow me away, but I was hoping for some neat tricks and thrilling fun, and it delivers that. Combined with its great performances, Fresh is a fun Friday night flick. It doesn’t push the boundaries of the genre, but it does fit itself nice and snug within one.
Get Out
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut was an instant cultural and cinematic phenomenon—one of those rare films that completely redefines its genre while achieving both critical and commercial success. It was a movie that not only announced Peele as one of the most exciting new filmmakers of the decade but also proved that horror could be both socially charged and immensely entertaining. While Us confirmed that Get Out was no fluke, and Nope showcased Peele’s ability to handle blockbuster-scale storytelling, it all started with this razor-sharp psychological thriller that remains just as effective years later.
M3GAN
Don’t mistaken M3GAN as another Child’s Play. Yes, it does have a similar narrative pattern and killer doll, but aspects of M3GAN beyond that separate it from an idea done numerous times in Hollywood before. James Wan and Gerard Johnstone team up for a relatively fun start to 2023.
In a Violent Nature
In a Violent Nature didn’t blow me away, but it’s creative enough to have me intrigued with where Chris Nash will set his sights next. The movie is made specifically for the hardcore sickos out there that love to see how far a creative can go to make an audience feel queasy.
Final Destination Bloodlines
Final Destination Bloodlines is the rare horror legacy sequel that understands exactly what it is—and more importantly, what its fans want. Directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, this blood-soaked revival of the Final Destination franchise doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it absolutely fine-tunes it, delivering gory set pieces, a slickly paced plot, and just enough lore expansion to make it feel like more than a rehash. It’s self-aware without being snarky, brutal without being mean-spirited, and surprisingly clever in how it weaves its mythology into something new.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person is just as ridiculous and comical as its English-language title would suggest. The movie is a riff on the vampire genre in a similar way that What We Do in the Shadows is. They both poke fun at the blasé, mundane, and almost emo way in which we consume much of the vampire material that’s been produced this century. Because vampires have become synonymous with counterculture, often because the motifs and iconography of these monsters reflect that of the unimpressed teenage mindset.
Read our full review of Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
READ MORE: The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
