KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2023)

In the pantheon of notable filmmakers, M. Night Shyamalan continues to be one of the most polarizing, this time delivering an uncharacteristically coherent thriller in Knock at the Cabin, a film that keeps you on edge until fumbling the ball in the third act.

Four strangers take a young family hostage in a remote cabin in the woods, forcing them to make an impossible choice in order to keep the apocalypse from occurring. Dave Bautista leads the suspicious crew of outsiders in what I would argue is his most complete, dynamic performance to date. Knock at the Cabin is truly his movie and he commands every scene that he is in. Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint are all on the “here comes the end of the world” train with him, Amuka-Bird and Quinn delivering empathetic turns in their short screen time. Grint, unfortunately, is still struggling to shake that Harry Potter aura. Opposite them are Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge, the latter of which is truly having a fantastic couple of months (after a great performance in Spoiler Alert), here flexing his bravado acting chops. Groff is solid, as well, as is the young Kristen Cui as their daughter, the collective feelings of fear and isolation palpable. The acting was not the problem.

The problem came in the form of lofty expectations that follow director M. Night Shyamalan, a filmmaker who built his reputation on subverting expectations and major twists. Ever the master of building suspense, Shyamalan dials the intensity up to an 11 right out of the gate and it never dissipates until the final act when the core ideas just seem to lazily run out of steam. Aside from the apocalyptic nightmare scenarios teased throughout, an undertone of gay familial strife, belonging, and acceptance is teased in half-baked flashback scenes and a minor revelation that all amount to nothing in the end. It’s as though the foundational elements of the early pages of the script were abandoned for a more simplistic resolution, undermining what makes Shyamalan an exciting filmmaker in the first place. As someone who hasn’t read the source material, I am certainly interested in learning more about the central themes explored within the novel’s pages and what exactly Knock at the Cabin was attempting to get at. Though entertaining enough, the film plays everything too safe and misses opportunities to establish itself as a standout. 

Knock at the Cabin is now playing everywhere.

Rating: 3/5