Cabin in the Woods is as smart as it thinks it is. The only reason it isn’t smarter is because its tongue is so self-satisfyingly planted in its cheek that you can practically see the smirks of producer/co-writer Joss Whedon and director/co-writer Drew Goddard on every frame. Horror films are perhaps the easiest to lampoon, but I don’t think the genre has ever quite been skewered this good.

The film opens with two scientists, Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford), preparing for what seems to be the annual task of killing five cultural horror archetypes. Why do they do this? Who can say, but the audience takes comfort in knowing this is happening to unknowing groups in various scenarios around the world. Hadley frequently curses Japan, who has apparently had a string of recent successes.

Meanwhile, we have our five stock characters: Curt (Chris Hemsworth), the tough guy; Jules (Anna Hutchison), the slut; Marty (Fran Kranz), the stoner; Holden (Jesse Williams), the nerd; and Dana (Kristen Connolly), the virgin. None of them seem to fit to their roles, but as someone is quick to point out later, “We do with what we have.” After being warned by the creepy gas station attendant that doom waits down that road, the coeds drive deep into the woods for a weekend in a borrowed cabin. And so the game begins. Surrounded by the many monitors and switches in their laboratory, Sitterson and Hadley go about the task of indiscriminately killing off their subjects.

Have I spoiled anything by revealing this detail? Nothing more than the trailer or the Internet. Cabin in the Woods is made for the generation of horror characters (and audiences) who were raised on both Scream and online spoilers, and are very sure they know the rules to this game. Once the horror begins, our characters are to be slaughtered in the ways we expect. Or will they? After all, Sitterson and Hadley have many years of experience when it comes to killing unsuspecting people on videotape.

Perhaps I’ve said too much. The film’s premise is already bold, and it becomes bolder as it goes. Like the greatest of horror films, Cabin in the Woods is about escalation more than twists, the journey more than the destination. The film is smartly acted and intelligently designed, which led me mid-film to pondering the concept’s franchise potential before it ultimately rose above that as well. To be fair, a sequel would hardly placate the audience.

Having said all that, I still haven’t spoiled the film’s surprises. As the closing credits rolled, I was immediately compelled to buy a second ticket just to watch how clever it is without too distinctly rubbing the audience’s nose in it. Even with its big brain, I suspect Cabin in the Woods will play to even the occasional horror moviegoer because the film is so effectively scary most of the time that they don’t need know the tropes (or even what a “trope” is).

But those well-traveled in the genre will have an experience not unlike a box-less jigsaw puzzle, with so many individual pieces to point out and study that they won’t know until their finished that it’s a the picture of a middle finger. Yes, Whedon has called this a “loving hate letter” to horror, and I’d certainly agree. Cabin in the Woods is pretty akin to a long night of roughhousing, only to be thrown out on your ass when the sun rises. Just take comfort in that brief cuddle time.