The Cabin in the Woods sits firmly among the 21st century’s most innovative horrors, and that subversive approach allows Drew Goddard’s movie to give away the ending without raising suspicion from first-time viewers. For all its witty lines and weed gags, Cabin in the Woods concludes in remarkably bleak fashion when evil ancient gods arise from underground after not receiving enough blood from teenagers who look like they’re well into their thirties.

The most surprising aspect of Cabin in the Woods‘ ending isn’t the apocalypse itself, but the movie’s attempt to find a silver lining in the destruction. As Dana and Marty accept the coming cataclysm, Dana argues that being ravaged by angry deities might be precisely what humanity needs, claiming, “It’s time to give someone else a chance,” shortly before a giant molten hand flattens her.

Oddly, this philosophy is woven throughout the entire film, starting with the opening ten minutes.

Marty Tells You How Cabin In The Woods Is Going To End

Around the eight-minute mark, just as the doomed teens set off for the тιтular cabin, Franz Kranz’s Marty embarks on a tirade against modern life, wrapping up with the line, “Society needs to crumble. We’re all just too chickensh*t to let it.” In the moment, the foreshadowing here slips by completely unnoticed.

Introduced with a cloud of smoke around his head and a mᴀssive bong in hand, Cabin in the Woods presents Marty as the stereotypical movie stoner. His beliefs about microchips and “off-grid” living come across as the meaningless ramblings of a man who makes Snoop Dogg look like an amateur. The audience is invited – nay, encouraged – to treat Marty’s remarks as simple establishment of character, not a salient clue as to how the story will ultimately end.

Rewatching Cabin in the Woods for a second time, the full meaning of the speech becomes clear. The facility workers, led by Sigourney Weaver as the mysterious Director, are the “chickensh*t” keepers of the status quo, afraid to let revolution happen. The need for change is exemplified by the horrific rituals performed to appease the gods – a parallel repeated by a far more sober Marty in the finale when he tells the Director, “Maybe that’s the way it should be if you’ve gotta kill all my friends to survive.”

The “crumbling,” meanwhile, turns out to be very literal, as the unhappy gods show little indication of leaving the planet’s surface intact.

Essentially, everything Marty says eight minutes into Cabin in the Woods comes true. It takes two courageous individuals, Dana and Marty, to break the cycle of death by being brave enough to let society crumble in the hope something better rises from the ashes.

Cabin In The Woods Makes You Doubt Marty’s Point Of View

One of many curiosities embedded into Cabin in the Woods is how the so-called villains make quite a good argument. After Marty tells the Director that a world needing rituals is a world that needs to end, Weaver’s character kindly points out that the “change” Marty expects will involve the painful deaths of every living soul on Earth.

After their quarrel is settled and Dana resigns to spending her final moments by Marty’s side, even she expresses doubt, uttering the line, “I’m so sorry I almost sH๏τ you. I probably wouldn’t have.” The “probably” does a lot of heavy lifting here, revealing some corner of Dana’s brain is wishing she sH๏τ Marty, saved the world, and lived to see another day.

The viewer is left to decide whether the Facility’s ritualistic sacrifices are preferable to the fiery alternative. Dana says it’s time for humanity to move aside and give “someone else a chance,” but will the next society rebel against their oppressors and refuse to spill blood in tribute, or will history repeat itself? Is Marty the open-minded, insightful genius he claims to be during his very first scene, or is he just an idiot with the munchies? That’s the uneasy dilemma Cabin in the Woods leaves its audience pondering.

Marty’s Speech Is Exactly Why Cabin In The Woods 2 Can’t Happen

With Cabin in the Woods going on to become a cult favorite, Drew Goddard has, from time to time, fielded questions over a sequel. While not ruling the idea out completely, Goddard has acknowledged the difficulty in following up Cabin in the Woods‘ biblical ending.

The real difficulty of a sequel isn’t working around the apocalypse. Cabin in the Woods 2 could easily reveal that the ancient gods left a small band of humans alive to continue making sacrifices. Alternatively, a second chapter could be set far enough into the future that society has rebuilt and returned to an era similar to the 2020s.

The bigger problem is that Cabin in the Woods 2 would inevitably answer which character was right in the first movie: Marty or the Director. If the sequel’s protagonists find a way to permanently end the ritual sacrifices, Marty’s “let it crumble” could be deemed the right call. But if Earth has simply returned to appeasing underground demons, the first movie’s apocalypse would become utterly pointless, proving Marty wrong.

Cabin in the Woods is an infinitely better movie when that question is left hanging in the air like the faint smell of marijuana and apathy.