I decided, because we’ve already discussed fail secure locks and security in horror movies and where they fail, I may as well point out a movie where the movie makers got it right—Cabin in the Woods.

Have you watched it yet?

If not, you need to and you probably shouldn’t read any further because this post is going to contain a whole lot of spoilers.

If you have, read on!

Fail Secure Locks and Cabin in the Woods

In the movie, we eventually learn the characters are all part of a sacred ritual where, in order for the world to continue to turn, they have to die.

(Terrible for them, great for the rest of the world.)

However, the characters refuse to go down without a fight and, as any good horror movie character should do, they break into the facility where the monsters are and set them free to wreak havoc upon the rest of the world. It’s really an “all of us or none of us strategy.” I can’t blame them.

What I did notice in this movie is the correct use of their fail secure locks. They worked correctly! Hooray for doing research, Hollywood! Hooray for your fact checker, Cabin in the Woods!

In the facility, the cage doors where the monsters are kept are both access controlled and equipped with fail secure locks. The electricity is going a little bonkers in the film as the main characters are being chased by the scientists who want them dead and yet the monsters and demons and ghouls remain locked behind their doors. That’s all thanks to fail secure locks.

Even without any sort of power, fail secure locks will remain locked. This is perfect in case of a power outage due to a storm, a transformer malfunction, or any other random event that causes your facility to lose power. In buildings where you’re housing nothing but deadly monsters, this is definitely what you want.

But what if you want those locks to disengage and you don’t have power?

Thankfully, they have an override switch and this is exactly what happens in the movie. The two survivors make their way into the control room and while the rest of the lab is running around trying to hunt them down, they simply flip the override switch to disengage the locks and unleash one of the wildest (and goriest) monster massacre I’ve ever seen. (There’s a merman, people! And a deadly unicorn! Can’t say you see that every day, now, can you?)

Can you think of other horror movies where they got the security right? I know there’s more out there. Let us know! We’d love to hear from you!