It’s been three years since Joss Whedon sent half the Empire staff – and a great deal of our readers – into a frenzy with his sci-fi Western, Serenity. And since then, we’ve been waiting patiently for him to make another movie.
And we’ve waited. And waited. And waited as, for example, Wonder Woman got stuck in development hell. But, while Whedon has been showcasing his wondrous dialogue and razor-honed twists in comic books, not to mention prepping his new TV show, Dollhouse, there was always the possibility that his dark thriller, Goners, would make it to the big screen.
Well, that seems to have had the kibosh put on it as well. But in its place comes Cabin In The Woods, a brand-new, bright and shiny Whedon movie that sounds, to us, anyway, simply aces. First off, we love movies about cabins in the woods (hello, Evil Dead II). Secondly, it reunites Whedon with Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard, who started out under Whedon's wing on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
“There’s a reason the title is so straightforward,” Goddard, who co-wrote the script with Whedon, told MTV. “It’s its own sub-genre, the cabin in the woods, and this is sort of our take on it. It’s fresh and new.”
At the moment, it looks likely that Goddard might be the one to direct this, not Whedon. But that didn’t stop Goddard from waxing lyrical about what the creator of Buffy and Angel would bring to the table.
“It’s genius, it’s funny,” Goddard said. “It’s got a harder and darker edge, but it’s also got classic Whedon qualities. It’ll rip your heart out and be heartfelt at the same time.”
Sounds good to us. And, as for Goners, a dark horror fantasy about a young woman acquiring fantastic powers (familiar territory, of course), Whedon revealed that it “had been backburnered… I still have hope for it, though.”
What do you think, readers? Goddard proved with Cloverfield that he’s good at turning existing genre tropes on their head, so reteaming with Whedon to breathe new life into a sub-sub-genre that has become stale of late, would seem to be pretty exciting. Of course, given Whedon’s luck with movies, we’ll never see it, but are you looking forward to this?