Who directed the 2012 horror film The Cabin in the Woods?

Drew Goddard directed the 2012 horror film The Cabin in the Woods.

The film follows five college students who visit a remote cabin, apparently entering a familiar slasher scenario. Its central twist reveals that the events are being controlled by technicians in an underground facility, who manipulate monsters and circumstances as part of a ritual.

Goddard wrote the screenplay with Joss Whedon, and both served as producers. The movie deliberately uses recognizable horror conventions—such as the isolated cabin, the divided group, and the threatening cellar—before commenting on why those conventions recur in genre stories.

The film is sometimes mistaken for a Sam Raimi production because of its playful relationship with Evil Dead-style cabin horror. Raimi did not direct it. The cast includes Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, and Jesse Williams, with Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford as the facility’s operators.