In a recent interview with AV Club, Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett spoke about his love of The Cabin In The Woods, the 2012 film directed by Drew Goddard and produced by Joss Whedon. He also talked about how horror was a comfort during his childhood because he was able to relate to the “villains”.
On seeing The Cabin In The Woods:
…going into The Cabin In The Woods, I had no fucking idea. …I was expecting something more like a slasher film, or maybe like a haunted house sort of a scenario. But when I started watching the movie, there was no real clear indication where it was going. …And then slowly the plot is revealed, and all of a sudden you’re like, “Wow, what a great concept for a horror movie,” you know?
I like it because it’s such an original premise and it’s not what I expected, and like most moviegoers, when you’re totally off guard and surprised—I love being surprised like that. Just like totally out of the blue, a concept comes that’s so fucking different and so outrageous and I’m thinking, damn! I wish I would’ve thought of that.
But perhaps far more important and relatable to many horror fans is Hammett’s thoughts on how horror offered comfort in his youth:
I was a disenfranchised youth, and a lot of the characters in these movies are disenfranchised from culture, from society, from whatever. And there was something there that I could relate to and just kind of apply to my own life and how I felt about myself and my situation. So it gave me comfort in knowing that even though I felt like an outsider, there were other people out there who probably felt the same way I did, and probably related to these horror movies the same way I did. It was a partial cure for loneliness as a child.
I was very shy and introverted when I was a kid. I have to throw that in there. So it was a way for me… I can relate to horror movies on a lot of different levels. And it was definitely, you know, emotionally, I always felt like an outsider, outcast, and I was seeing other people in different scenarios, but it was the same sort of feelings, or so I could see.
You can read the full interview at the link above.