60 Fun Facts About The Cabin in the Woods

Who directed The Cabin in the Woods, in his feature directorial debut?

Goddard had written for Buffy, Angel, Alias and Lost, and penned Cloverfield, before stepping behind the camera here.

Goddard and Whedon famously wrote the screenplay in how long?

They described the script as an attempt to revitalize the slasher genre and a critical satire on torture porn.

Which student is designated 'The Virgin' by the facility?

Kristen Connolly plays Dana; the archetype is required to die last or survive for the ritual to work.

Marty, the eccentric stoner played by Fran Kranz, is slotted into which archetype?

Marty's survival is exactly what breaks the ritual, since the Fool was supposed to die before the end.

Which student is the facility's 'Athlete'?

Curt is a sociology major, a detail the film uses to undercut the dumb-jock label the chemicals push him toward.

Holden McCrea, 'The Scholar', is introduced as Curt's what?

Jesse Williams, then of Grey's Anatomy, plays Holden, the newcomer to the group.

Which future Thor actor plays Curt?

Filming wrapped in 2009, so the film sat on a shelf while Hemsworth became a Marvel star.

Sigourney Weaver's character is credited only by what title?

Her unnamed leader of the facility appears only in the final act to explain the ritual.

Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford play which pair of facility technicians?

Critics singled the two veterans out; The A.V. Club said they 'clearly delight in the verbose script'.

Amy Acker, a Whedon regular from Angel, plays which facility employee?

Lin is the technician who runs the chemistry side of the operation.

Mordecai, the gas station owner who works for the facility, has which designation?

Tim de Zarn plays him, and his ominous speakerphone call to the control room is one of the film's best jokes.

Tom Lenk, Andrew from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appears as which facility character?

Lenk appeared in 27 episodes of Buffy and two of Angel before this reunion with Whedon.

Dana awakens the undead killers by reading aloud from whose diary?

Jodelle Ferland, Alessa from Silent Hill, plays the Buckner girl.

Who kills Jules after she and Curt wander outside?

Chemicals released into the woods nudge the couple outside, which is exactly what the technicians were betting on.

How does Curt die?

The jump across the ravine looks like the classic action-hero escape until the barrier reveals the whole valley is a cage.

Holden is killed while the survivors try to flee in what vehicle?

The vehicle then crashes into the lake, leaving Dana to struggle ashore alone.

What are the 'Ancient Ones' the ritual is meant to appease?

The Lovecraftian reveal reframes every slasher cliché as a rule of the sacrifice.

Which country's operation unexpectedly collapses, leaving the American team as humanity's last hope?

The Japanese scenario, a classroom of schoolgirls versus a ghost, fails when the girls turn the spirit into a frog.

What decides which monsters get unleashed on the students?

That is why the technicians can only wager rather than choose; the kids pick their own doom.

While the friends explore the cabin, what do the technicians do among themselves?

The betting-pool whiteboard, listing every creature in the facility, became the film's most-paused frame.

How does the facility nudge the students into their horror-movie roles?

Marty, whose heavy weed use makes him resistant to the drugs, is the one who sees through it.

In the temple beneath the facility, what is Dana urged to do to complete the ritual?

Because the Fool survived, the sacrifices are out of sequence and the ritual is incomplete.

What mortally wounds Dana before she can decide whether to save the world?

Marty kills the creature, and the two decide humanity does not deserve saving through endless ritual murder.

How does the film end?

A giant hand smashes up through the cabin in the very last shot.

Where was the film shot?

Principal photography ran from March 9 to May 2009.

In which year was the film actually shot?

It reached cinemas three years later, in April 2012, after MGM's collapse.

What was the film's estimated production budget?

It went on to gross more than double that worldwide.

Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide?

About $42.1 million of that came from the United States and Canada.

Which studio eventually picked up distribution after MGM shelved the film?

Goddard called it 'a dream', noting most of the films that inspired Cabin were released by the same company.

Why was the finished film shelved indefinitely in 2010?

MGM's new chiefs later tried to sell both Cabin and the Red Dawn remake, the last films from the previous regime.

The release was pushed from February 2010 to January 2011 so the film could be converted to what?

The conversion never happened; the film was released flat in 2012.

On what date did the film finally open in US cinemas?

It was a Friday the 13th, a fitting date for a film about slasher rules.

The film's surprise first screening in December 2011 was at which Austin event?

BNAT was Harry Knowles's 24-hour birthday film marathon; the film then played SXSW in March 2012.

A cancelled tie-in with which video game left its monsters in the cells at the end?

Valve let the studio borrow its creatures even after MGM's money troubles killed the downloadable content.

Roughly how many different monster types did AFX Studio create for the film?

David LeRoy Anderson estimated close to a thousand people were turned into creatures across those designs.

Whedon and Goddard framed the film as a critical satire on which horror trend?

Whedon called it a 'loving hate letter' to horror and said the pendulum had swung too far toward sadistic comeuppances.

Which real location stood in for the underground facility in several wide shots?

Production designer Martin Whist wanted the elevators to feel like glamorized freight lifts with no controls.

Author Peter Gallagher sued in 2015, claiming the film copied which 2006 novel?

The suit sought $10 million and named Whedon, Goddard, Mutant Enemy and Lionsgate; a court dismissed it five months later.

With 290 reviews counted, what approval rating did the film hold on Rotten Tomatoes?

The site's consensus called it 'an astonishing meta-feat, capable of being funny, strange, and scary'.

Despite great reviews, what CinemaScore grade did opening-night audiences give it?

Marketing had sold a straight horror film, and viewers expecting one were baffled by the meta ending.

Which prize did Whedon and Goddard collect for the screenplay in June 2013?

They were also nominated for the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation but lost.

Which category did the movie win at the 2013 Saturn Awards?

The Avengers, also from Whedon, took Best Science Fiction Film the same night.

Fran Kranz won a Fangoria Chainsaw Award for the film in which category?

The film swept four Chainsaw Awards, including Best Screenplay and Best Makeup/Creature FX.

Before this film, Goddard's first feature screenplay was which 2008 monster movie?

Cloverfield made $168 million on a $25 million budget and won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.

Goddard later earned an Oscar nomination for adapting which Andy Weir novel?

He originally planned to direct it himself before leaving for the never-made Sinister Six.

Kristen Connolly went on to play Christina Gallagher in which Netflix series?

She also starred in the found-footage horror The Bay the same year Cabin came out.

Anna Hutchison, who plays Jules, was earlier the Yellow Ranger in which Power Rangers season?

The New Zealand actress started out on the soap Shortland Street.

Fran Kranz was already known as Topher Brink in which Whedon TV series?

Kranz later starred in Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing and directed the acclaimed drama Mass.

Jodelle Ferland, who plays the diary-writing Buckner girl, first found fame as Alessa in which 2006 horror film?

She had already been praised for leading Terry Gilliam's Tideland the year before.

The Blu-ray extras include a cast Q&A recorded at which 2012 convention?

The disc also carries a Goddard-Whedon commentary and a making-of documentary.

Where did the film finish at the North American box office on its opening weekend?

It took $14.7 million from 2,811 theaters that weekend.

Outside North America, which country was the film's biggest market?

It took $8.5 million there, versus $2.4 million in France and $2.3 million in Russia.

The remote cabin is said to belong to a cousin of which student?

The 'my cousin just bought this place' setup is one of the clichés the film is deliberately ticking off.

Goddard and Whedon had previously worked together as writers on which shows?

Goddard also wrote for Alias and Lost before moving into features.

Roughly how many people did AFX Studio's David LeRoy Anderson estimate were turned into monsters for the film?

The workload forced the effects house to rent a much bigger workspace and start weeks before its official date.

How much in damages did author Peter Gallagher seek in his 2015 copyright lawsuit over the film?

The case, which also named Mutant Enemy and Lionsgate, was dismissed five months later.

How much did the film take on its opening weekend in North America across 2,811 theatres?

It finished third that weekend and closed in July 2012 with $42 million domestically.

Which festival, also in Austin, screened the film on March 9, 2012, before its release?

Its surprise first showing had come three months earlier at Butt-Numb-A-Thon.

Which director did production designer Martin Whist cite as a reference for the facility's high-tech look?

He wanted the elevators to feel like glamorised freight lifts with no controls at all.

How did Joss Whedon famously describe the film's relationship to the horror genre?

He said he and Goddard felt the genre's pendulum had swung too far toward 'sadistic comeuppances'.