10 Movies Utterly Ruined By Their Final Revelations

4. The Cabin In The Woods

Drew Goddard's directorial debut The Cabin in the Woods, co-written by uber-geek Joss Whedon, is in many respects one of the smartest and most entertaining horror satires of all time. From start to finish it playfully subverts genre conventions, from characters act logically (for instance, sticking together rather than pointlessly splitting up and going separate ways) through to its smorgasbord of monster types. It takes the notion of self-referential cinema way beyond the level seen in movies like the Scream series. There are a number of interesting twists scattered throughout The Cabin in the Woods which are handled brilliantly, not least the revelation that the horrors the group of teens are enduring is all part of a sinister organization which orchestrates a worldwide event in which supernatural beings of all description are unleashed on unsuspecting teens. But the final revelation, in which the purpose of these killings - to propitiate ancient gods and prevent them from taking over the world - was one twist too far for many in the audience, pushing things into over the top territory even for a film which revels in its own excesses. Maybe the end of the world was the only place left to go, but it wasn't half as smart as what had gone before.