Maybe I was in a grumpy mood watching this or something but I found this take on teen horror films irritating a lot of the time. The "it's all a big game" twist has been done lots before - Seven Keys to Baldpate, The Game, Galaxy of Terror - and Scream deconstructed the horror movie a long time ago. The thing Scream did better too was provide a story that was really fun, scary and satisfying on it's own terms with some great twists and interesting characters, which Cabin in the Woods doesn't have.
There are archetypes, not characters, which I know is the point but makes it hard to sustain - especially when the actress who plays the virgin is bland and the guy who played the stoner is irritating. And the fact is young people are still killed violently and bloodily, which doesn't really do it for me (for all the meta-ness on display the filmmakers still can't resist having a pretty topless girl get her head chopped off). Adding to the mix is that fact it's not particularly well directed.
It is clever, sometimes extremely clever - I loved them making Chris Hemsworth dumb and suggesting to everyone that they split up - and occasionally it hits this note of delirious insanity, particularly the outbreak of monsters at the end. But I do think you can tell it was written in three days and people tell Joss Whedon he's a genius a lot.
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