Once upon a time, Joss Whedon (of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” “Angel”, “Firefly”, Serenity and Thor fame) and his friend and collaborator Drew Goddard, wrote a little horror movie called The Cabin in the Woods, said to be a “twisted and unusual take on the familiar cabin in the woods formula.” Then they actually got it made, with Goddard directing and Whedon producing.  They assembled an eclectic cast including Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford and Amy Acker as well as a pre-Grey’s Anatomy Jesse Williams and a pre-hunkified Chris Hemsworth. I’m thinking The Cabin in the Woods probably acted as his audition for Thor.

Well, since then the finished product has languished on someone’s shelf or maybe in Whedon’s garage, since 2009, looking for a distributor. Enter Lionsgate. They’ve purchased the film with plans to release it this fall. Given that the first official image has just been released and the poster that just dropped has “October 2011″ on it in big bold letters, this sounds about right.

There’s also an official website but it has very little content beyond an enticement to go to the film’s Facebook page.

It’s been quite some time since I purposefully saw a teen slasher flick. I think this one has a leg up simply by virtue of the fact that they’re acknowledging  the formula, both with the official “synopsis” and the poster itself. You go a long way to diffusing the critical snark if you’re the one labeling the stereotypical characters. Given the film’s pedigree, The Cabin in the Woods might be worth a look. I think the “Whedies” who’ve been clamoring for its release for two years would agree.