M. Night Shyamalan has been making horror movies for almost 25 years. Though he had a pretty long stretch of films between 2006-2015 that were panned from both critics and audiences, viewers tend to forget that Shyamalan is an Oscar-nominated director, and extremely capable of making a great movie. Shyamalan’s newest film, Knock at the Cabin, just released and is great example of his ability to create something extremely competent.
Knock at the Cabin was written for the screen by Shyamalan, Steve Desmond, and Michael Sherman, and is based on the book titled The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul Tremblay. The film stars Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Jonathan Groff (Mindhunter), Rupert Grint (Harry Potter franchise), Nikki Amunka-Bird (Old), Ben Aldridge (Fleabag), and Kristen Cui.
Related: Book Review: Paul Tremblay’s ‘Survivor Song’ Teaches Us to Keep Pushing Forward
The film follows the family of Eric, Andrew, and Wen (Groff, Aldridge, and Cui), as they’re enjoying a vacation at their secluded cabin. As Wen is out playing, she’s approached by Leonard (Bautista), a seemingly gentle man accompanied by three others, who wants to discuss a serious matter with Wen’s dads. The group breaks into the cabin, and tasks the family with the decision to either sacrifice one of their own, or suffer the apocalypse. The trio must survive the encounter, while staying true to one another, regardless of what evidence the attacking group presents.
Starting with the story, most of it is directly taken from Paul Tremblay’s novel, which is an excellent source. The constantly wavering questions of “Is this real?”, and “Is the apocalypse happening?” are at the forefront, as the trio is rightfully scared out of their wits, concussed, and isolated. At some point, fear can overtake logic, and being held captive in your own home under these circumstances could make you believe anyone and anything, especially if it results in the ultimate protection of your child.
Up to a point, the film is extremely intense, giving the audience the same answers as the characters. The open-ended feeling of the unknown hits on the horrific layers of movie. The uncertainty is what makes it scary. Where the book takes the uncertainty all the way to its final moments, the movie breaks away and answers the question with quite a bit of time to go.
Related: Review: ‘Old’ has Good Bones, but They Quickly Wither to Dust
I’m not usually one for comparing a film’s quality to that of the book it’s based on, but in my opinion, the final act changes were a detriment to the solid foundation the film had built. The film’s ending didn’t give us anything to think about, and nothing to dwell on; just a move-along finality that was the difference between a great ending and a forgettable one.
The biggest positives for Knock at the Cabin came with its performances. Casting Dave Bautista in the lead antagonist role was a huge success. Bautista has made it known publicly that he wants roles with more emotional depth and some meat to them, and this was a perfect example of why. He perfectly exhibited a hesitant villain-adjacent character. He was able to go from gentle giant to doing what was needed for humanity’s sake (at least in his eyes) in a split second. This a great stepping stone to seeing another side of the Guardians of the Galaxy actor’s talents.
Bautista had the strongest performance in the film by far, but excellent supporting performances from the family, Nikki Amunka-Bird, and especially Rupert Grint really tied the film together. People tend to only recognize Grint from his role as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise, but they should check out his performances in this an Apple TV+’s Servant to see another layer to the actor’s talent.
The acting was just plain fantastic, despite some typical Shyamalan-esque issues with over-exposition in the dialogue. Sometimes it’s just better to let us watch what’s happening (no pun intended), instead of trying to explain it as we’re watching. Shyamalan has always struggled with this; the curse of a true storyteller. Luckily, it wasn’t too distracting with the accompaniment of excellent camera work and being broken up by a brilliant score from Herdís Stefánsdóttir (Y: The Last Man).
Shyamalan’s release quality seems to come in waves at this point in his career. I don’t think anyone can argue the incredible run of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, but his recent films are much more unpredictable. While The Visit and Split were decent movies, Glass and Old weren’t well received. Then again, his work on Servant is top-tier Shyamalan in my opinion. Knock at the Cabin isn’t without its issues, but probably belongs somewhere on the better side of his films. I recommend giving it a whirl.
