Tonight (Friday, Sept. 8th), the Campus Activities Board will be hosting a screening of Drew Goddard’s 2011 horror film: Cabin In The Woods. This “Friday Night Frights” event will be happening at 8:00 p.m. outside of the Borgeson Cabin in the Arb.

In Saint Peter, it is often hard for horror movie fans to find screenings of horror movies. With “Friday Night Frights,” that’s changing. This event allows horror fans to meet people with similar interests within the Gustavus community. Most movie screenings on campus have “taken a hit attendance-wise with the rise of streaming services,” Junior and Event Runner Scott Bushard said. On the other hand, last year’s “Friday Night Fright” garnered “one of the largest crowds in terms of a movie event on campus since before the pandemic,” Bushard said. Cabin in the Woods was written by Joss Whedon, the writer and director of Avengers. This movie stars recognizable names such as Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, and Anna Hutchison. The movie description reads, “When five college friends arrive at a remote forest cabin for a little vacation, little do they expect the horrors that await them. One by one, the youths fall victim to backwoods zombies, but there is another factor at play. Two scientists are manipulating the ghoulish goings-on, but even as the body count rises, there is yet more at work than meets the eye.” 

Whedon wanted Cabin in the Woods to act as a “loving hate letter” to the horror genre, “It’s a serious critique of what we love and what we don’t about horror movies. I love being scared. I love that mixture of thrill, of horror, that objectification/identification thing of wanting definitely for the people to be all right but at the same time hoping they’ll go somewhere dark and face something awful,” Whedon said. Many reviewers have credited the movie for attempting to turn the horror genre on its head. “The cabin is, for the most part, a riot. It is funny, funny, and frightening. It is also incredibly playful in deconstructing the best-known horror conventions,” a reviewer from Silver Screen said. 

The movie takes such horror character archetypes as “The Athlete” and “The Virgin” and brings a new meaning to them. There are plenty of references for die-hard horror fans to enjoy. The movie has also been reviewed as enjoyable for people who hate horror and those indifferent to it; “You’ll have to see it, and you really have to see it if you love horror, hate horror, or have any interest in seeing how the genre can function as a playground for something completely fresh,” Cinema Blend’s Editor in Chief, Kaley Rich said.

“Friday Night Frights” is an opportunity to “hang out after [the] first week of classes and enjoy a fun scare,” Bushard said. Last year, Jordan Peele’s Nope was shown. Many of the students who attended “were happy to see a change in pace as to what is typically shown on campus,” Bushard said. Bushard was excited to be able to bring this event to fruition as a scary movie fan himself; “Many scary movie-loving students were glad to see one finally shown on campus, and as a fellow scary movie lover, I’m glad that I have been able to help bring these events to campus for two years now!” Bushard said.

So grab a friend, some blankets and snacks, and cozy up for a night of frights and fun to bring in the fall and Halloween season!