"The Blackening," "Scream," and More Meta Horror Movies

"The Cabin in the Woods," released in 2011 and directed by Drew Goddard, is like a puzzle box. Five friends go to a cabin in the woods and find themselves in a slasher film — but this is a slasher film unlike any other. The entire experience is being controlled by scientists, who are dictating the friends' experiences — and deaths. It's a scary send-up of the classic slasher film tropes.