Knock at the Cabin (2023) is a new M. Night Shyamalan picture my wife and I caught at an A24 Advance Screening last night. The storyline follows two men and their daughter on vacation at a cabin in the woods. They are visited and captured by four individuals who come out of the woods with an ultimatum...one of the three must die at the hands of the other two or the world will end. As time runs down the family sees the death and destruction the visitors promised. Will the family let everyone die, will they save the world or is it all an elaborate game being played by four psychopaths?
As previously referenced, this picture is directed by M. Night Shyamalan (Signs) and stars Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy),Rupert Grint (Harry Potter),Ben Aldridge (Our Girl),Nikki Amuka-Bird (Jupiter Ascending),Jonathan Groff (The Matrix: Resurrection) and Abby Quinn (After the Wedding).
The storyline and characters in this picture had a lot of potential; but unfortunately, every situation is straightforward and predictable, all the way to the final scene. It's too bad because the cinematography and camera angles are very good and Dave Bautista delivers an outstanding performance. His character was easily my favorite. However, the characters backstories needed to be more developed, more like The Stand, before they all met at the cabin. I didn't really care what happened to those characters (the decisions were too easy to make for the family). The kill scenes themselves needed more gore and intensity. They definitely could have been better executed to highlight the situation the parents were in. The conclusion is straightforward and you know what's going to happen and how.
Unfortunately, this movie needed more twists and turns, which is a strange problem for a M. Night Shyamalan movie to have. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.
Knock at the Cabin
2023
Horror / Mystery / Thriller
Knock at the Cabin
2023
Horror / Mystery / Thriller
68% - Critics
65% - Audience
6.3Keywords: based on novel or booksacrificecabinfaithend of the worldapocalypse
Plot summary
Wen, a seven-year-old, is vacationing with her adoptive parents, Eric and Andrew, at their remote cabin in Burlington County, New Jersey.During her stay, Wen is approached by a mysterious stranger named Leonard. Initially charming, Leonard explains that he needs Wen and her parents' help to save the world. While the two spend time together catching grasshoppers, Wen becomes suspicious when three other people show up with makeshift weapons. Wen flees to warn Eric and Andrew but the visitors break into the cabin before tying them up, with Eric sustaining a concussion.Leonard and his companions-Sabrina, Adriane, and Redmond-claim to have never met before this day and have no intention to harm the family, but in the last week, they have been compelled by visions and an unknown power to find the family. The group foresee an upcoming apocalypse in which Leonard claims oceans will rise, a plague will descend, the sky will fall, and finally an unending darkness will descend. This can only be averted if the family kills one of their own as a sacrifice. They are warned that, while they will survive the apocalypse, if they do not choose, they will be doomed to be the last people alive. Eric and Andrew believe the group is lying and the attack is rooted in hate and delusions.When the family refuses to choose, the visitors conduct a strange ritual in which they cover Redmond's head with a cloth and beat him to death with their weapons. Eric, who is concussed, believes he sees a figure of light as Redmond dies. On the TV, media reports devastating tsunamis, which Leonard says is the start of the apocalypse. Andrew comes to believe that Redmond is actually Jeff O'Bannon, a homophobe who assaulted him in a bar years ago, for which he went to prison. Andrew believes O'Bannon tracked him down as revenge. Leonard, Sabrina, and Adriane question if Andrew is right and struggle with their guilt, but maintain that they believe their visions. They reveal that Redmond's death has temporarily delayed the apocalypse. The next day, the intruders sacrifice Adriane as Eric and Andrew refuse to choose a sacrifice.The disasters continue as a plague spreads across the globe. Andrew insists the disasters are coincidental and the visitors were anticipating pre-scheduled news broadcasting. Sabrina describes how she and the other visitors were led by their visions and compulsions to find each other online, execute details of their plan such as their weapons, and to continue forward when they wanted to resist. Andrew manages to escape and retrieves his gun from the car and shoots at Sabrina until she runs away. Andrew finds Redmond's wallet and proves to Leonard that he was Jeff. Injured from his attack and their tires slashed, Andrew believes the four came in a truck nearby and locks Leonard in the bathroom. Sabrina breaks into the house, and Andrew fatally injures her. Leonard then tricks Andrew into coming into the bathroom and overpowers him, stealing the gun.Leonard still sacrifices Sabrina, and the broadcasts shows spontaneous plane crashes taking place around the world. Realizing their time is almost up, Leonard takes the three onto the back deck as the sky begins to blacken and lightning begins to set the earth on fire. Before sacrificing himself, Leonard tells them they have only minutes to decide before it is too late and slashes his throat. Eric now believes that the events are real, and the intruders each represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Not wanting Wen to grow up in a destroyed world, Eric offers himself as the sacrifice. He claims that he saw a light before the visitors killed Redmond, and that he saw a future of the world still surviving and Wen is grown up, and Andrew is still there for her. Eric feels that they were chosen to sacrifice their family because their family's love was pure. Andrew then reluctantly shoots and kills Eric.Andrew and Wen find the visitor's truck with their belongings that corroborate their stories. They drive to a crowded nearby diner, where news reports on the TV confirm that the disasters have subsided and the world is saved. Returning to the truck, the radio turns on and plays "Boogie Shoes" by KC and the Sunshine Band, the song Eric played for them on their drive to the cabin, as the two drive back into the world.
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This movie needed more twists and turns, which is a strange problem for a M. Night Shyamalan movie to have
Waste of a premise
I read the book this film is based on before watching it. The Cabin At the End of the World was a great book that really dives into the histories of the characters, the philosophy behind the choice, and it ended with an ambiguous ending, where you weren't sure who was right at the end.
The movie was on par with The Last Airbender in how it took the source material and made a Wikipedia summary adaptation with poor dialogue, acting and an ending that missed the point. The only redeeming quality was Dave Bautista's performance. He really did a good job with the role of a giant with a heart of gold, who is forced to do something horrible. You can really see the sadness in his eyes, and his conviction that what he saw was true.
M. Night needs to get help with his scripts. He just doesn't know what he's doing.
You already know the ending
The worst part of this for me was that the ending only feels satisfying if you truly believed that the four horsemen were lying, which I rarely did. And because of that, the non-twist of exactly what they said would happen happening is a wet-blanket on a movie I kept thinking would have that twist at the end that made it all worth watching, but it never did. The twist was there was no twist. I didn't enjoy that. This movie tells you exactly what will happen from the start and that's that, so as long as you trust what they say, the film has zero impact whatsoever. The only reason this gets a 6 from me is the writing in the first 2/3 of the movie. The last third was pretty abysmal.