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Knock at the Cabin
(Universal Pictures)
By Lucas Allen
M. Night Shyamalan can be hit-and-miss to audiences nowadays, especially given the fine work that this great filmmaker created from his early days with “The Sixth Sense,” and “Signs” underneath him. After the wildly mediocre “Old” from 2021, he’ll need to really dig deeper to find his edge again and his newest thriller “Knock at the Cabin” could finally put him back in everybody’s good graces. Based on the 2018 novel “The Cabin at the End of the World,” by Paul Tremblay, Shyamalan creates a home-invasion story within a doomsday scenario that’ll scare you as well as make you think.
Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) are a young couple travelling with their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) for a weekend getaway at a cabin in the woods. While gathering grasshoppers, Wen meets and befriends Leonard (Dave Bautista), who just happens to walk by willing to strike up a good conversation. Just then, three other strangers named Redmond (Rupert Grint), Adriane (Abby Quinn), and Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) arrive at the cabin, brandishing sharp tools. Although Eric and Andrew try to put up a fight, the four strangers manage to break into the cabin and hold them both as hostages.
Leonard makes the case that the family has been chosen through his and the others’ visions to try to prevent the impending apocalypse by them choosing who to sacrifice. It’s no surprise that the couple would refuse to do something pretty insane, but they’re warned that each time they say no, a new event will occur that will spell doom for the world. Since escape seems to be no option for them, the family will then start to understand the gravity of what these four strangers will bring.
The story itself is built on both skepticism and belief being the film’s most relevant themes. As it goes on, you’ll begin to go back and forth between the two themes not knowing whether to believe the four strangers even when there’s proof shown on the TV screen. That’s the fun of the thrill when it becomes a thinking-man’s thriller without any unnecessary excess.
There are certainly some thrills to find within those intense scenes that’ll keep you on edge. However, they keep getting interrupted by occasional flashbacks involving the main couple, so any intensity is suddenly zapped away by drama. Plus, like Old, Shyamalan is not exactly well versed in creating dramatic moments between characters because of his writing style. But at least this movie is less cheesy this time around.
For those hoping for the filmmaker’s signature “big twist” like he usually does, you’ll be disappointed that he’s chosen not to do it for this film. Instead, he chose to end the film on an ambiguous note, especially changing the book’s original darker ending. The third act also gets a little heavy-handed with its themes, so your mileage may vary on how it affects you as a viewer.
Bautista gives his career-best performance yet in a sensational move from his action films and comedies. His calm demeanor and his emotional flexing beyond his muscles redefines the term “gentle giant” in cinema. Groff and Aldridge each bring conflicting personalities to their performances that help drive the story, and their scenes with newcomer Cui are nicely moving. While Quinn and Amuka-Bird are pretty good, it’s more interesting to see Grint shed his Ron Weasley image much like his Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe to play a very dark part though he sadly doesn’t get much screen time.
“Knock at the Cabin” isn’t top tier Shyamalan, but it’s still a pretty good enough thriller with decent elements that make it at least one of the good ones in the director’s filmography. For what it’s worth, it’ll be interesting to see what he’ll direct next that will be either uphill or downhill from here.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for violence and language)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3.25 Stars (Out of Four)
