Knock at the Cabin Review: Terrifying premise powers M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller

M. Night Shyamalan‘s Knock at the Cabin plays toward the director’s strengths and avoids most of his weaknesses.

Similar to Signs, Shyamalan funnels a worldwide catastrophe through the eyes of a single family. In Signs, Shyamalan told the story of an alien invasion through a single family while weaving in elements of faith. Knock at the Cabin swaps out the alien invasion for an apocalypse, but keeps the focus on this individual family. Unfortunately, Shyamalan does include some faith elements, but they’re introduced way too late in the film.

Knock at the Cabin is based on Paul Tremblay‘s 2018 novel “The Cabin at the End of the World“. The film revolves around Eric and Andrew taking their adopted daughter Wen on vacation to their cabin in the woods. Four people descend on the cabin and they offer this family an impossible choice to prevent the apocalypse.

The performances are terrific across the board with Dave Bautista, Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff shining brightest. Knock at the Cabin is Bautista’s best performance in a film to date. Aldridge is terrific as the more aggressive of the two captives. Groff shines at delivering a subtle performance that allows you to buy into the love story between Wen, Andrew and Eric. The pain and vitriol Andrew hurls at the captors when he feels his family is being targeted is sensational.

Shyamalan is well known for his twists. However, there isn’t a big twist in Knock at the Cabin. Once the film gets out of the 1st act, the story continues down a predictable route and doesn’t deviate. Shyamalan likes to weave in religious themes. Religious imagery like the angles of the apocalypse is introduced in a far more clunky fashion than in Signs or Sixth Sense.

In spite of these issues, Shyamalan shines when directing films with limited settings. Most of the scenes are confined to a small cabin, but each frame is gorgeous to look at and the sound design is flawless.

Knock at the Cabin‘s terrific cast and Shyamalan’s direction keeps the film from faltering too much, even if the story doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the elements that stood out in this apocalyptic thriller. There may be some minor spoilers. Knock at the Cabin is in theaters.

Before the choice in Knock at the Cabin

While Shyamalan keeps the focus on events in the cabin, he does use flashbacks to demonstrate the loving family unit, Andrew, Eric and Wen have formed. Through these flashbacks we get to see Eric meet Andrew’s parents, Eric and Andrew adopting Wen and a brutal bar fight to name a few. Each of these sequences does a great job of showing who these characters are and how they connect with each other.

Eric played by Groff is uptight, more outwardly accepting one. When Andrew’s family cuts their trip short after meeting Eric, Andrew responds with anger. Eric is disappointed but still has optimism.

The crucial, most emotional flashback is the adoption scene where Eric and Andrew meet Wen as an infant. Groff and Aldridge shine brightest in this scene. The feeling of unconditional love for their daughter is a lovely sentiment.

The Choice

Leonard (Bautista), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Adriane (Abby Quin) and Redmond (Rupert Grint) are the four men tasked with an incredible burden. Neither of them want to hold Eric, Andrew and Wen captive, but due to shared visions of the apocalypse they must.

If Eric and Andrew can’t decide on which of them will die, then the world will end. During this time, Andrew and Eric will be asked to make a sacrifice. Every time they say no, a cataclysmic event will unfold. Knock at the Cabin makes it clear that Wen’s safety isn’t in question.

Shyamalan does a great job of showing how uncomfortable Leonard, Sabrina and Adriane are with this task. Leonard is a 2nd-grade teacher. Sabrina is a nurse. Adriane is a single mother who works as a cook to make ends meet. Neither of these people want to hurt anyone.

Bautista, in particular, is sensational at showing the weight he’s under while not deviating from what has to be done.

The Outside World

Similar to Signs, Shyamalan does provide glimpses into the outside world through the lens of new broadcasts. Eric and especially Andrew don’t believe the apocalypse is nigh. In an attempt to open their minds, Leonard shows Andrew, Eric and Wen news broadcasts.

The news depicts the end of the world. Andrew is convinced that the news is on a loop. He even points out that their captors are consistently checking their watches. He suggests they’re checking the time so they can show the news events which happened hours before. Leonard eventually squashes this notion later in the film.

Shyamalan does take the time to venture outside of the news broadcast at times. Knock at the Cabin shows a harrowing tidal wave scene that feels like a necessary departure from the rest of the film. In order to understand the stakes, the audience needs to see the scope in live action. The one issue is that it does put the audience ahead of Eric and Andrew in the film. Once the tidal wave is shown, you are forced to believe what Leonard, Sabrina, Adriane, and Redmond are saying is true. From that point in the film on, it renders Andrew’s well-argued points, moot.

Knock at the Cabin Final Thoughts

Shyamalan’s terrific directing and strong performances overcome Knock at the Cabin‘s predictable story.

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