Use of conventions in 'The Cabin in the woods'

The Cabin in the woods, at first glance makes you believe that the film will be your typical cliche horror movie full of stock situations/characters (A group of teenagers visiting a creepy old abandoned cabin in the woods, where supernaturaul events occur.) While this may be true to an extent, as the film does use conventions and cliches which have become so closely engrained with the horror genre and it's respective sub-genres, the way in which 'The Cabin in the woods' uses these elements is mainly to poke fun at / parody these situations, presenting a satirical view on the genre as a whole.

Many of the sub-genres associated with horror are referenced / parodied throughout the film, most notably zombie, supernaturaul, splatter and J-horror, through The antagonist corporation known simply as 'The Organization's' wide range of iconic horror villains which are being stored underground in a secret lab, which the protagonists are supposed to be unaware of, but is later discovered by Marty and Dana (The final 2 surviving protagonists.) This also gives the film elements of sci-fi horror, due to the futuristic appearance and premise of the underground storage area.

each invidual protagonist in the story reflects a particular stereotype. (Curt = the athlete, dana = the virgin, holden = the scholar, jules = the whore and marty = the fool.) Jules, who plays the role of the whore/The dumb blonde is innevitably the first member of the protagonists to die due to her sinful lifestyle. (Sex before marraige is seen as a sin by in christian beliefs. She is victimised as a punishment for her sins.) Marty is the second victim due to his use of drugs, which is also seen as sinful. each character also plays a part as a driver of the overall plot.

 this order of deaths is common throughout the horror genre, however cabin in the woods mixes up this order through the fact that marty manages to avoid death due to his drugs making him immune to the mind control effects which the other characters are faced with. this goes against 'The Organization's' (a representation of a production team) plan, as dana (The final girl) was intended to be the only survivor, due to being 'The pure one.' (Virgin). Ironically enough, it is revealed that Dana is not even a virgin in the first place.