4. Stay In A Cabin In The Woods
Epitomised by The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, the cabin in the woods has become one of the ultimate archetypal horror locations. A variant of the woods-based horror subgenre and overlapping somewhat with the depiction of the American South as an essentially foreboding location (more of that in the next entry), the cabin in the woods sub-subgenre has also developed its own unique conventions. The cabin itself is usually portrayed as an inherently evil force, either attracting malicious spirits that prey on visitors to the cabin or influencing the inhabitants to commit horrific acts (also a common narrative of the haunted house horror subgenre). There is also often some form of talisman or iconic object that releases the spirits, or which symbolises the characters' encroaching madness. The cabin in the woods has become so entrenched in horror movie lore that it's usually featured self-reflexively in modern horror films, from Cabin Fever to Tucker & Dale vs Evil and, of course, The Cabin In The Woods. The exception to this might be Antichrist, which if anything takes its story of female madness and the primitive influence of nature too seriously.