September 4

'The Five-Year Engagement' -- Directed by Nicholas Sto

Now that many of you -- or a lucky few, anyhow -- have seen 'The Cabin in the Woods,' the goofy/gruesome horror-comedy, let's assume that anyone who's going to read this has seen the film so we can talk honestly and openly.

Even more than a Charlie Kaufman brand deconstruction, ‘Cabin’ is pretty much just an illustrated term paper on genre theory. And now that the film has hit theaters and we can talk openly about it, let's grade that term paper.

Directed by Drew Goddard, who co-wrote with Joss Whedon, ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ gleefully subverts the horror genre and emerges as a giddy crowd-pleaser, easily one of the best films I’ve seen so far this year (and one of the smartest horror movies you’ll ever see). In the film, Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford play Sitterson and Hadley, co-workers on a suspicious project who … well, I’m not sure I can tell you yet.

Can Jenkins and Whitford -- tremendous character actors given the chance to sink their teeth into a unique genre – better explain how they fit into Goddard and Whedon’s intricate puzzle? We’ll give them a shot in our exclusive interview:

Jordan Hoffman: Since I just came back from a Passover Seder, the Hebrew word "Dayenu" comes to mind. "Dayenu," a sentiment expressed by the Israelites after God freed them from the Egyptians, loosely translates as "it would have sufficed." Or, as my grandmother would put it: "No, no, don't make a fuss."

If Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon had joined forces to give us a standard slasher thriller in a rote setting, it would have sufficed. If they'd just thrown in Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins as some sort of omnipotent string-pullers, it would have sufficed. But this is just tip of the iceberg stuff. I feel like Goddard and Whedon made 'The Cabin in the Woods' because they were tired of films with cool concepts left unfulfilled by halfhearted executions. This is a movie meant specifically for people who are tired of being able to predict where films are going to go.

The writer of many 'Buffy,' 'Angel' and 'Alias' episodes (as well as 'Cloverfield') has planted his butt firmly in the director's chair for 'Cabin in the Woods,' a film made by horror fans, for horror fans.  Co-written by Joss Whedon ('The Avengers'), the film was shot for MGM just in time for it to sit on a shelf while that studio roiled in financial difficulty.

After a triumphant screening last year at Butt-Numb-a-Thon and, a few weeks back, at SXSW, 'Cabin' and all of its secrets are coming to a theater near you. We had the good fortune to speak with Mr. Goddard about the film, the secrets and its inspirations.