Knock At The Cabin is the new horror thriller by M. Night Shyamalan. It’s also one of his best since the glory days of The Sixth Sense.
The movie is based on the novel The Cabin At The Edge Of The World by Paul Tremblay, which won the prestigious Bram Stoker Award in 2019.
Both book and movie ask the same question: what would you do if you were on vacation with your family and a group of strangers, led by the mighty figure of Leonard (Dave Bautista) showed up at your (cabin) door and demanded that you kill one of your own to save the world and avert the apocalypse?
You would show them the door, right? Unless, of course, they come carrying unusual weaponry and tie you up and try to get you to make what ever since 1982 has been known in the movies as an (almost) impossible ‘Sophie’s Choice’.
In this case it happens to the gay couple Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge), who are on vacation with their six-year old daughter Wen (Kristen Cui).
The thing is, even though they may sound crazy, these cabin invaders mean well. They found each other online and say they are just following the signs that lead them to their destination. They are only doing this for the good of humanity, you know?! And to add to this, there is a real possibility they may be telling the truth.
From this point forward its probably wise not too say much more about the plot, as there are a fair number of twists and turns up ahead, even though Shyamalan’s version is at times different than the book.
The cast is great, with former wrestler Bautista delivering his best work to date, and Shyamalan obviously knows how to direct a suspense story.
At one point I thought his movies would never be as great again as in the halcyon turn-of-the-century days of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, but more recent films like The Visit, Split and Old showed already showed he still had his own niche as a creator of strange and bizarre movies.
Also, the fact that since The Visit (2015) he has pre-financed his own movies is pretty admirable. If you choose to forge your own path forward instead of becoming a gun for hire, then more power to you!
But to get back to the movie. If you are able to suspend your disbelief, I really think that he tells a great morality tale for our times here, which is worth following through until the very end.
(Also, in these polarized times I would like to add that you don’t have to agree with everything that happens in a movie to enjoy or appreciate it).
In the end I think the movie is a metaphor for everything that is happening in society right now, from echo chambers on the internet to climate change threatening to ruining the earth.
You can sit on the fence or try to be part of the solution, but eventually we will all be touched by it. So, to answer the question the movie asks: it’s not just about saving your family and it’s not just about saving humanity, the two are inextricably linked, so it has to be both.
I hope that the movie does well at the box office this weekend. For me, M3gan was the first surprise of the new year, this is the second. And if you do decide to buy a ticket to Knock At The Cabin you are definitely helping to keep original (or new-to-you) movies alive.
Loved the way you ended the review. More power to YOU !