Knock at the Cabin

The next American apocalyptic psychological thriller film to come from director and producer M Night Shyamalan, Knock at the Cabin is an adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World, and on the face of it, the script follows suit. While vacationing at a remote cabin in the middle of the woods, Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff) are taken hostage, along with their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui), by a group of unique and unrelated individuals who demand they make the ultimate sacrifice to save humanity. With the threat of the apocalypse seeming unthinkable, Eric and Andrew refuse, but before long it becomes clear that the family must decide what they believe to be the truth before all is truly lost.

The acting is sensational, with brilliant performances from Aldridge and Groff, with the most welcome surprise coming from Dave Bautista, who delivers a menacing yet gentle depiction of Leonard, the member of the group we get to know the most. It’s also great to see a gay couple being the heroes in a film such as this, something that will hopefully become a more frequent feature in the future. We are fortunate to get these high-quality character portrayals because the movie’s storyline itself is not nearly so pleasurable to behold.

What Knock at the Cabin seems to be is a brain fart inspired by a successful piece of literature. So many threads never link up and the adapted plot is a little lean and pretty nonsensical. Some elements of the book that make the story so compelling and enthralling have been left out or changed, and sadly that is to the detriment of the storyline, with events and circumstances shown in the film to move the plot forward becoming too convenient and illogical.

There are a number of different avenues in which the narrative could choose to turn, some of which would certainly make for a far more climactic ending, but instead, the viewer finds themselves facing the same questions about the apocalypse at the end than they were 90 minutes earlier, making the action in between unimportant in the grand scheme of things. If you know how the story ends in the novel, you’ll be aware that some curious decisions were taken in writing this script. The movie tries to be thought-provoking, but only leaves you thinking of what could have been.

It isn’t M Night Shyamalan’s best by a country mile, but in all honesty, it has been a while since the director has delivered a film that stands up to the calibre of the likes of Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, with Split being the only real candidate. Knock at the Cabin is clearly a bit of fun and falls perfectly into the popcorn movie category. While a nail-biter at times, it’s carried mainly by its leading protagonists.

Guy Lambert

Knock at the Cabin is released nationwide on 3^rd February 2023.

Watch the trailer for Knock at the Cabin here: