Mark Reviews Movies: KNOCK AT THE CABIN

Knock at the Cabin, Universal Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 2, 2023

Co-writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin works much better as a thriller than as a parable about human nature, a dissection of the conflict between pragmatism and faith, or an allegory about age-old fears and how our modern-day world seems to be proving those fears to be correct. That Shyamalan and his co-screenwriters want this film to be those other things is inescapable, but in focusing on suspense of the premise and its potential, the filmmaker ends up getting in his own way toward achieving those more ambitious ends.

The good news, though, is that this is a very effective thriller—a one-location standoff between a group that is dead set in its thinking, while possessing all of the power, and another that simply cannot or will not, because it is so outlandish, accept that conviction of belief, while being rendered powerless. The mechanics of this script, penned Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman along with the director, are strong enough on their own, and with Shyamalan's control of tension and setups and payoffs, those mechanics do ultimately overpower the bigger point that might have been made here.

Forget those larger intentions for the moment, though, because they really don't matter until the third act, when certain realities are revealed and answers more or less appear to be provided. Much of Shyamalan's career, of course, has been defined by his famous or—depending on one's opinion of the subject in general or the specific material—infamous twist endings. To even bring it up here almost certainly will get one considering or anticipating where this story will go or how it will shift an audience's understanding of everything that has come before it.

Forget that, too, for the moment, because it's irrelevant to most of this story. What can be said of the ending in the broadest terms possible is that the screenplay, based on Paul Tremblay's novel The Cabin at the End of the World, offers up only two options for how this story will resolve. There's no third possibility to even imagine, and the screenwriters play fair with those rules—whether one likes the outcome or not.

The premise reveals itself almost immediately, which is a significant reason why the film puts us in a mindset for ensuing suspense, as well as why it functions so well in that regard. A little girl named Wen (Kristen Cui) is playing in a forest somewhere outside Philadelphia—collecting grasshoppers to keep in a jar and study. Footsteps fall nearby, and looking up, the girl sees an imposing hulk of a man approaching her. He's Leonard (Dave Bautista), the man tells Wen, kindly insisting that the two of them should be friends.

A couple things should be noted, if only because it will quickly become difficult to note much of what follows after this point in the plot. Firstly, the entire opening scene, unfolding mostly as a conversation between the girl and the man, is an ingenious move of establishing character and exposition, while also creating an unsettling air of dread and uncertainty that doesn't let up until the finale.

Secondly, Bautista instantly proves himself to be a major reason for how well that tone is maintained. He allows himself to appear as a figure worthy of trepidation, but his performance is one of such gentle sincerity that he would put us at ease, if not for how unbelievable his character's beliefs are and how far he's willing to go to prove them.

Those beliefs, by the way, are held by three of Leonard's "associates" (played by Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint), who appear at the end of his discussion with Wen—because she runs to safety upon seeing them and the makeshift "tools" they're carrying. The girl flees to a cabin, occupied by her two fathers Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), who quickly realize the threat and barricade the place.

That doesn't last for long. After Leonard's requests to have a conversation go unanswered, the four strangers break into the cabin, overpower the men, and tie them to chairs. Leonard puts it forward as simply as possible. The four have had visions of the apocalypse and a way to stop it: This family will have to choose one of their own as a sacrifice and kill the one chosen.

Neither Andrew nor Eric believes this at first, because it's absurd, of course, and the rest of the story essentially amounts to each party trying to convince the other that their opinion on the matter of the end of the world is the truth. Part of the reason this is frightening and disturbing is because of how convinced these four strangers are of this seemingly unlikely prophecy, which almost starts to look a bit believable when news reports speak of natural disasters and an emerging pandemic. We come to pity the invading group (well, three of them, at least), because they believe these visions to the core of their being—regardless if they're the real deal or not.

As for Andrew and Eric, their relationship, as well as the distinct worldview each one possesses, becomes increasingly important as the story approaches its final answers. Despite some convincing performances from Aldridge and Groff, though, a series of flashbacks to the history of this relationship and the struggles they have faced simply aren't enough to establish something as vital to the ultimate theme here—especially when these characters have to contend with the immediacy of the threat in front of them and/or the magnitude of a hypothetical, world-ending one.

Still, Knock at the Cabin is a disconcerting thriller, both in the logic of its methods and in the believable irrationality of its antagonists. If the film doesn't quite succeed at communicating its message, it functions in other, more immediate ways, regardless.

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