The Cabin in the Woods: The Official Movie Novelization

This book is, to be blunt, something of a sexist mess. Without actually answering any of the questions opened up by the movie or adding real depth, the book manages to make the characters unlikable and, generally speaking, do an incredible disservice to the movie. It piles on sexism and racism wherever such attitudes can be shoe-horned in, and offers so many eyeroll-inducing moments that I never would have made it through if not for the fact that I'd been reading it with my book club and we were all eyerolling together. On top of that, it's overwritten to an extreme, often becoming repetitive or using four sentences when one would serve to better effect.

I have to say this is one occasion where I have to recommend sticking to watching the film. There’s nothing wrong with this novelisation but it adds nothing to the experience. I expected more depth but some character’s internal perspectives didn’t quite seem to gel with what I already had in mind, and maybe that’s the problem — had I read this before seeing the film I might feel differently so I feel a little guilty only liking this rather than loving it. To anyone who loves the film, I’d recommend the visual companion. The story itself (both book and film) is hard to categorise. Either people will see more to the story or they won’t. On the surface it seems to be a twist on a B-Movie gore-fest (though not as gory as most) show more with undertones of Evil Dead, but at heart it’s asking questions about the essence of the horror genre, why it draws interest, how far would we push to survive, and at what price. Not everyone will pick up on or agree with the underlying intent of the story and that’s why it will always have mixed reviews. show less

This was a *REALLY* disappointing read. SPOILERS:

The movie is fantastic, and if I had not seen the movie first and had read this first, I would not watch the movie. The author attributes copious amounts of sexist behavior and thoughts to the character Sitterson, racist exclamations to the character Hadley, makes Curt an ape before the effects of the puppeteers take place, makes Holden into a bit of a pig, makes Truman sound like a green recruit, adds all sorts of things that don't happen in the movie and actually changes scenes and sometimes which characters do what, and added a bunch of unnecessary sexual scenes and sexual descriptions of characters and monsters that came across as obsessive. After a point, all the added sexism and show more racism started to feel like the author inserting their own opinions into the characters.

While this could have been a great opportunity to go deeper into the lore of the Old Gods, the Ritual, etc., this book did not.

The only reason this gets a 1.5/5 is because I love the movie so damn much and because Marty's character/character traits survive largely intact. show less

It's an all-too-familiar story: five friends - the jock, the slut, the nice girl, the brain, and the clown - go for vacation to a cabin in the Middle of Nowhere, and then...well, you know. Only in this case, you don't. This one's different. Really. No, I can't tell you why. Only that there's much more beneath the surface.

I don't normally read movie novelizations but this one's by Tim Lebbon, one of the current greats, and though I've been very excited to see the film I don't know when I'll get to it. It's a real page-turner. Since I haven't seen the film, I can't say how close the novel is, but I wonder if they went with a different... but no, I can't say anything about that, either. Just read it. It turns every horror movie cliche on show more its head, and horror movie fans will have fun spotting references to other movies. show less

Some people complained that this added nothing to the movie. I wholeheartedly disagree. It added new layers to Hadley, Sitterson and the operations down below. I think I'll actually be re-reading this in the future.

For other reviews and bookish things go to http://youmaysayimareader.blogspot.com


3.75/5

"An army of nightmares, huh? Let's get this party started."

This book was a reread for me and I've seen the movie more times that I'm comfortable acknowledging so I knew where I was getting into.

But... I don't know. The first time I read it I gave it five stars on Goodreads. Ok, maybe it was more like a 4.75, but the thing is that I really liked it.

So what happened this time? Maybe my love for the movie clouded my judgement that first time and now I've been more critical.

"Ok, I'm drawing a line in the fucking sand here. Do not read the Latin!"

The book is pretty much exactly the same as the movie. The plot, the funny quotes, the amazing killing show more unicorns... But one thing it's a little bit different: we read what the characters are thinking, and it's not that interesting.

I understand they're horror movie stereotypes, but we only get that, we don't get the progression from normal people to the caricature characters in a horror movie, that's what we should've gotten, in my opinion.

"It was the pioneer days; people had to make their own interrogation rooms. Out of cornmeal."

In the movie I didn't feel that way, I understood that these people were changing every passing second, that the dudes in the office and everybody that worked in that secret company were manipulating these fools.

In the book Jules seems stupid from the beginning, even though she's pre-med. Curt, who is a sociology major, thinks like a over-sexualized dick. And Sitterson it's just creepy, I don't remember him being that creepy in the movie.

"We are not who we are... I'm gonna go read a book with pictures."

Anyway, it's a quick and fun book that maybe couldn't be perfectly adapted because the movie is really visual and that's pretty difficult to translate into a book. Who knows?

If the only good things about a book are the ones that the movie already gave you and nothing else, well... We have a problem.

"I'm sorry I let you get attacked by a werewolf and then ended the world."

For all the normal folk out there I would tell you that is probably better that you just watch the movie.

For the horror / [a:Joss Whedon|18015|Joss Whedon|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1302721520p2/18015.jpg] / [b:The Cabin in the Woods: The Official Movie Novelization|7980210|The Cabin in the Woods The Official Movie Novelization|Tim Lebbon|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333581241s/7980210.jpg|12372771] obssessive nerds like me... I'm not gonna say anything to you 'cause you're probably reading the book already.

"Cleanse them. Cleanse the world of their ignorance and sin. Bathe them in the crimson of... Am I on speakerphone?"

S. show less

I'm not sure I understand what happened. Five friends go to a cabin on the lake for a weekend. From the very beginning everything was controlled by another group of people who obviously had unlimited resources at their disposal. To say what happened was bizarre would be an understatement. Maybe the film will explain things better. I'm sure it will be one of those films where you just want to shake everyone and scream "WHICH PART OF DON"T DO THIS DIDN"T YOU UNDERSTAND?" Story really had potential but overall it's very confusing and just one, or several hundred, too many monsters.