In preparing for the paper I’m presenting at the Joss in June conference at the end of the month, I’ve run across a bit of a phenomenon. To wit, about 14 – 15 months ago there appears to have set upon the internet commentariat a desire to craft “top” lists of horror movies that featured cabin scenarios. This phenomenon isn’t unexplained; on the contrary, it is quite apposite to their appearing roughly within a month of the release of Cabin in the Woods, the critically and popularly acclaimed genre deconstruction written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard and directed by Goddard.
By way of “research” (Read: procrastination on finalizing my paper), I have managed to collect a number of these lists and catalogue the movies listed. Below, in separate sections, I have listed both the movies listed as well as the lists themselves. What use this may have to anyone remains to be seen.
Cabin Movies
Since many of these movies appeared on multiple lists, I’ve ordered them by the number of mentions. It’s curious that Cabin Fever received so many mentions – possibly because it has the topic of the lists in its title. Cabin in the Woods likely did not receive as many mentions because these lists were in reaction to the release of that movie.
14 mentions
- Cabin Fever (2002)
12 mentions
- Friday the 13th (1980)
11 mentions
- The Evil Dead (1981)
6 mentions
- The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
- Evil Dead II (1987)
- Wrong Turn (2003)
5 mentions
- Antichrist (2009)
4 mentions
- The Blair Witch Project (1999)
- Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2011)
3 mentions
- The Burning (1981)
- Dead Snow (2009)
- Sleepaway Camp
2 mentions
- I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
- The Last House on the Left (2009)
- Pumpkinhead (1988)
- Secret Window (2004)
1 mention
- The Breed (2006)
- Campfire Tales (1991, 1997)
- Deliverance (1972)
- The Descent (2005)
- Evil Dead (2013)
- Fargo (1996)
- Friday the 13th (2009)
- Funny Games (2007)
- Grizzly (1977)
- Hatchet (2006)
- The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
- The Howling (1981)
- Severance (2006)
- Silent Voyeur (2004)
- The Strangers (2008)
- Straw Dogs (2011)
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
- There’s Nothing Out There (1991)
- Timber Falls (2007)
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
- The Village (2004)
- The Woods (2006)
The Lists
Here are the lists from which the above data was compiled:
Angus, Kat and Leah Collins. “Top 5 Scary Cabin Movies.” Dose.ca. 11 April 2012.
Colebank, Jeff. “Top 10 Horror Films About Camping.” Horror News. 3 Aug. 2011.
Dickson, Evan. “10 Top ‘Cabin in the Woods’ Movies.” Bloody Disgusting. 18 March 2012.
Evry, Max. “Our 5 Favorite Cabins in the Woods.” 13 April 2012.
Gibron, Bill. “The Top 10 ‘Cabin’ Movies of All Time.” Pop Matters. 11 Sep. 2012.
Koenig, Abby. “Top 10 ‘Cabin in the Woods’ Movies.” Art Attack Blog. Houston Press, 16 April 2012.
Lemire, Christy. “5 classic movies set in cabins.” boston.com. AP, 12 April 2012. [n.b., I didn’t included Meatballs or Little Darlings in the compilation for, hopefully, obvious reasons.]
Marvel Guy. “Top Ten Cabin Movies.” n.d. Web. 12 June 2013.
MTV Movies Team. “Five More Cabins in the Woods.” MTV Movies Blog. MTV.com, 13 April 2012.
Rawson-Jones, Ben. “Evil Dead, Antichrist, Cabin Fever: 10 best cabin in the woods movies.” Digital Spy. 23 April 2012.
Taylor, Drew. “To Get Ready for ‘Cabin in the Woods,’ Here Are The Top 5 Cabin Movies.” The Playlist. Indiewire, 10 April 2012.
“The best cabin horror movies for May 2-4 viewing.” The Scope. 18 May, 2012.
“Top 5 Cabins in the Woods.” Metamovies. Metacafe, 16 April 2012.
“Top 5 Creepy Cabin Movies.” Tr3s. 10 April 2012.
“Top 5 Scary Cabins in Movies.” Female First. 20 Sept. 2012.