4. Horror Movie Stereotypes Aren't Stereotypes At All; They're Prophecies - TheCabin in the Woods
Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods was a smash-hit because of its reverence and reinterpretation to the horror genre of film. One of the best plays the movie manages to come up with is making the stereotypical major players in a horror movie (blonde, jock, nerd, virgin, and the scholar) part of a ritual to keep the world's worst fears at bay by using their blood to feed the gods of terror that lie in the underground. It's funny, absurd, and using the device of the "twist" in the way that it's supposed to be used. It's not merely representing a character shift; it's valued on the entire narrative of the movie and changes every aspect of it. It's less "No, I am your father," and more, "Bruce Willis was dead the whole time." Inventive, fellas. Quite inventive.