2012 has been a break out year for director Joss Wheddon. The release of Avengers assemble has made him one of the hottest properties in cinema but its his other release, Cabin in the woods that is first to show up on my top ten of the year list.

As anybody who read my review of Cabin in the woods a few months back will know, I loved this movie. It was a refreshing take on a genre that had long grown stale. Pulling it apart from the inside Cabin in the woods has helped redefine what it is to be a horror movie in the 21st century.

Smart, self referential and actually relatively scary Cabin in the woods proved a surprise hit with critics and fans alike. Sick of seeing Paranormal activity sequels and cheap Exorcist remakes horror fans were pleased to see something refreshing, something that proved that originality could still exist in the horror genre and to be quite honest I felt exactly the same.

Cabin in the woods meta horror style was always going to be a risk, often I find myself discussing the movie with people and get told that it was a load of rubbish, that it wasn’t scary and that it made very little sense. Those people are missing the point of the movie all together. Wheddon’s movie was both a love letter and a death sentence to the genre.

It’s references will please fans for years to come, is it a nostalgic movie, referencing the state of horror with love and admiration or is it a satirical take on the genre, highlighting its flaws and above all its predictability.

If this movie is anything its unpredictable, for those of you who’ve not had the pleasure of watching it yet I won’t spoil it but the direction the movie heads in is one full of twists and turns and ultimately one that the trailers and promotional material would not suggest.

Cabin in the woods was for me the biggest surprise of 2012. Intelligent, witty, dark, satirical: this movie was a revelation and is one you should all take the time to watch and enjoy. Rating: ****