‘Knock at the Cabin’ Review: M. Night Shyamalan Knocks Again With B-Movie Thrills

Knock Knock! Who is here? Why, it’s M. Night Shyamalan with Knock at the Cabin – another nervy good time in theaters, in theaters now.

Ever since Shyamalan’s groundbreaking feature The Sixth Sense spawned the unforgettable line “I see dead people,” the writer-director has specialized in telling stories with a brutally simple hook, designed to throw you off balance and stay long after viewing. His latest film, Knock at the Cabin, is based on Paul G. Tremblay’s novel La Cabane du bout du monde and comes with a disturbing premise: what would you sacrifice to save the world?

Opening in a quiet January still dominated by Box Office Conqueror Avatar: The Way of the Water, Knock at the Cabin takes the greatest of dangers – the end of the world – and reduces it to a wildly intimate microcosm. Young child Wen (Kristen Cui) is enjoying a vacation in a remote cabin when a hulking man in sinister shirt sleeves (Dave Bautista) comes out of the woods and hints at a gruesome proposal. Wen and his adoptive parents, Eric and Andrew (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge), find themselves trapped with a group of fanatics driven by nightmarish visions.

Some films would use this setup as a springboard for survival horror in which the family is forced to defend themselves against strange intruders in heart-pounding action sequences. But the story goes in a different direction, more character-driven and unsettling. The villains are both apologetic and apocalyptic, presenting their challenge with disconcerting politeness.

Dave Bautista is excellent as the leader of the disgraceful sociopath gang. It’s a menacing monolith, a physical nightmare full of frames whose implacability is made all the more terrifying by its sensitivity. He’s a lot scarier here than he was as Bond’s muscle-bound one-dimensional villain in Spectrumand it leans into the quiet, scene-stealing vulnerability we saw in Blade Runner 2049.

Rupert Grint (the former Harry Potter star of Shyamalan’s recent Apple TV Plus series, Servant) is also superb as the edgy, quivering redneck, adding a dose of violent volatility to the mix. Nikki Amuka-Bird and Abby Quinn have smaller roles, but they provide some heart and even a few laughs amid the mounting horror.

On the surface, Knock at the Cabin is an oppressive horror story that puts you in the shoes of a kidnapped family. From the flimsy, wide-open French doors of the cabin to the moment the father is caught in a nightgown, the family is painfully vulnerable. Above all, the presence of a young child will make parents wince (especially if they have read the book).

The menacing aspect of the story is nerve-wracking, but it feels like Shyamalan is pulling his punches. As in Shyamalan’s other recent work, the disconcerting atmosphere is reminiscent of films like Hereditary and get out. But he doesn’t engage in the villainy that gives these films their shocking bite.

Likewise, the taut simplicity of the setup won’t fill the runtime of an entire movie. We get a bunch of flashbacks to Eric and Andrew’s relationship, which flesh out their characters and help you relate to them. But the flashbacks are probably the most annoying part of the movie. While watching two people fall in love and support each other through their troubles is heartwarming, it’s not always interesting (or at least not as interesting as trying to escape relentless weirdos in a cabin). This background adds an intriguing and convoluted twist, but it’s never allowed to develop because the characters in question disappear from the story too soon.

Knock at the Cabin is sparse and economically told, giving us plenty of space to ponder the deeper global themes raised by its desperate dilemma. It confronts the reality of a world going to hell and our power to stop it. And unlike the preachy tone of Adam McKay’s apocalyptic satire Don’t look up, Shyamalan’s film is more subtle in conveying the responsibility we each take for the future of our planet. Ultimately, this is the predicament we are left with: what kind of sacrifices does our generation have to make to ensure that our children have a world to live in?

And of course, ever since The Sixth Sense, we’ve been conditioned to expect a twisted ending. Shyamalan’s last film, the beach-based clash Old, undid some of that genre with an overly literal ending that explained everything. Wisely, Knock at the Cabin leaves things more ambiguous.

You have to admire how M. Night Shyamalan consistently delivers tense, disturbing B-movies with big ideas. Knock at the Cabin may not stretch the nerves as much as similar horror stories, but a Shyamalan film is always welcome when it comes to knocking.