Knock At The Cabin is the latest film from M. Night Shyamalan, adapting the 2018 Paul Tremblay novel, The Cabin At The End Of The World, after rewriting an initial draft from the still credited co-writers, Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. It starts off with a bang, as a young girl, Wen (Kristen Cui) is approached by a big, tall stranger who calls himself Leonard (Dave Bautista) while she is capturing bugs outside an isolated cabin currently occupied by her two dads, Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge). But as friendly as Leonard makes himself appear to be, he is not alone in the woods.
He is accompanied by three others, Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Adriane (Abby Quinn), and Redmond (Rupert Grint), a rather strange and seemingly random assortment of people, but to make it even more concerning, all of them are armed with handmade weapons, and they have every intention to enter the cabin. Once they do, the couple and Wen are held inside, and told a rather bizarre and unbelievable thing. They are there to stop the apocalypse, and the only way to do so is if the family decide amongst themselves who is to be sacrificed, and then take the painful action of carrying out that sacrifice.
Of course, as any rational people would say, these invaders are clearly delusional, there is something wrong, they are relying on weird coincidences to fit a narrative that they have ingrained in their minds through an echo chamber. But Leonard is aware of how wild this story is, and it seems to be incredibly painful for him to ensure that this mission is a success. Debates ensue, news reports are seen, and the couple are forced to consider that maybe there is something to the story, or let the world be damned while they walk the scorched Earth alone.
The premise is captivating, a Sophie’s Choice done on a biblical scale, a modern reinterpretation of the story of Abraham, who is told by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to prove his trust in the Lord. Though, the actual biblical nods more or less stop there, except for one direct reference in the third act. At least, superficially. I’m no expert on the Bible by any means, and there could be nods that flew over my head, but aside from the setup, the film is more or less vague about the nature of this apocalypse, not digging too deep into the figures or spiritual sources that these invaders are getting their visions from. No mention of Jesus or God in any meaningful way.
What makes this movie work is the suspense, it’s the kind of environment Shyamalan thrives in. An enclosed space where two groups of people are at odds, potentially supernatural stakes, it’s a great setup. And Shyamalan is really able to make the space work for him, thanks to a great collaboration with cinematographers, Jarin Blaschke and Lowell A. Meyer, who bring a strong visual panache to the film, with tight closeups, dutch angles, locked on rigs, and other tricks that are clearly having fun with the story while also enhancing the tension. The score by Herdís Stefánsdóttir is very strong as well.
Something that amusingly stands out here are the performances. This is probably the most naturalistic I’ve ever seen from an entire ensemble in a Shyamalan film. His usual awkward rhythm isn’t very present here, though there are some comedic beats that are actually well handled and timed. There isn’t anyone who feels like the odd one out in terms of how they’re approaching the material, everyone is just doing really good work here. Bautista is an obvious standout, bringing his usual manner (usual in his dramas at least) of playing things softly and understated, and merely using his physicality as an unspoken threat. I also loved the dynamic between Groff, Aldridge, and Cui.
However, I do have a problem with this film that is oddly similar to what I took issue with in Shyamalan’s previous film Old, which I still enjoyed enough to be apart of my Top 50 of that year. I don’t think I totally vibe with the ending. I did look it up, and the book does end a bit differently from the film, but I can’t say for sure having not read it whether it would have worked better or not. Like with Old, I felt the ending of this film brought the stakes of the film to a far more literal conclusion when to me, what made the film so effective up to this point was the more metaphorical undertones that the story explores subtextually. I won’t give it away here, but I honestly didn’t find the ending as egregious as the one in Old, but it was underwhelming, considering how fantastic the buildup was.
At this point, I think M. Night Shyamalan has entered the most fascinating and compelling phase of his career. He’s experimenting with his style more, he’s ventured into television, working in more modest budgets that force him to be creative, it actually feels like an evolution from what we’ve seen from him before, and it still manages to be just as thrilling, exciting, and also really fun to watch it all unfold. Knock At The Cabin is no different. It is a thoroughly engaging psychological thriller that keeps you on your toes and guessing where it’s going to go up until the very end. Granted, the satisfaction of where it does go may vary from person to person, but it ultimately didn’t hurt my overall experience with the film, and I think the performances and the craftsmanship alone are worth the price of admission. The way it explores a specific way of 21st century delusions, and the way certain people can find themselves caught up in this other reality that doesn’t seem real but feels so real to them is a very relevant theme. I would sometimes think about those reddit posts from people mourning still living family members who went full MAGA or QAnon and now look unrecognizable because of how much they’ve gotten sucked into this false vision of the world. I kinda wish they dug more into that, but the idea is still there lurking under the surface. I had a great time.
Knock At The Cabin is now out in theaters.