Poor old Joss. Apart from Buffy, which ran it's course on TV, only to be continued in comic book form, all of his shows were cancelled for their time, not more painfully than Firefly. Thanks to its legion fans, Firefly got made into Serenity, Joss's first venture into directing for the big screen.

It was a big hit with the fans and discerning critics, but failed to light up the box office. Things weren't exactly looking promising for everyone's favourite geek. Turning back to the teen-horror genre that made his name, he co-wrote a film with Buffy alumni Drew Goddard, then gathered together a bunch of his faithful followers and made a low(ish) budget horror/slasher film called The Cabin in the Woods, which languished in its own netherworld for a couple of years before seeing the light of day.

When it was finally released it drew rave reviews from genre fans who understood what Whedon and Goddard were trying to do. But, like Serenity, it still failed to elevate Whedon into his rightful place of being recognised as a genius of genre films. That wasn't to happen until he was put in charge of someone else's property - one that already had a massive established fanbase - and was able to stamp his unique voice on it, to create the third largest box-office hit of all time.

What is interesting to see is that apart from Titanic at number two, the top 50, and beyond, are made up of sci-fi and fantasy films (which includes a smattering of Pixar, Disney and other animations), and yet sci-fi and fantasy remains a maligned genre, with almost everyone denying they actually like sci-fi or fantasy. So who is going to see these movies, or are they all in denial?

With Whedon's Avengers (Assemble) out on DVD/Blu-ray last week, you can get a fresh taste of Whedonesque awesomeness this week with The Cabin in the Woods. For anyone who missed it on its cinema release, all I'm going to say about is: it is very funny without making fun of the genre; clever, without being cerebral, and scary, and gory, without being distastefully brutal. Even if, like me, you are not a fan of horror films, you have to see this. It is the most fun you will ever have watching a horror movie.

It may sound cliched, but you really can expect the unexpected. There is a decent making of, a bunch of other entertaining extras and a yack track that are all as amusing as the film.

The Cabin in the Woods is out now.