The Cabin in the Woods film faces nightmare copyright claim

A US novelist has sued the makers of the horror film, The Cabin in the Woods, claiming it infringes the copyright of a novel he published in 2006.

Peter Gallagher filed the claim at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division on Monday (April 13).

In the complaint, Gallagher claimed that there are “striking similarities” between the film and his novel The Little White Trip: A Night in the Pines.

The Cabin in the Woods was produced in 2012 by film company Lions Gate Entertainment and was directed by Drew Goddard, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joss Whedon.

All three parties are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Gallagher cited that both works involve five teenagers, three males and two females taking a trip to a remote cabin the woods.

The two female characters in his novel are called Julie and Dura, whereas the female characters in The Cabin in the Woods are called Jules and Dana.

Furthermore, the name of the cabin in the novel is called Brinkley Cabin and in the film it is called Buckner Cabin.

Both plots also involve an additional party that is unknown to the teenagers and "manipulating events" in the cabin, Gallagher said.

According to the complaint, Gallagher has filed an application at the US Copyright Office to register the book for copyright protection.

The complaint said: “Comparing the book to the film, the plots, characters, sequence of events, themes, dialogue, and incidents portrayed … in many respects, the elements in the two works are virtually identical.

“Both works display a self-referential awareness of classic horror movie tropes and insert third-party puppeteers to manipulate the characters for the fulfilment of narrative requirements and the enjoyment of others.”

Gallagher is requesting damages based on any “profits attributable to infringements” of his copyright.

Lions Gate did not respond to a request for comment.