Knock at the Cabin
While vacationing at a remote cabin, a young girl and her two fathers are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand that the family make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse. With limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what they believe before all is lost.
- Released:
- Runtime: 100 minutes
- Genre: Drama, Horror, Thrillers
- Stars: Ben Aldridge, Dave Bautista, Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, William Ragsdale, Clare Louise Frost, McKenna Kerrigan, Jerry Lobrow, Debbie Lay, Nancy Marron-Asti, David Cirino Jr., Steve Sacavitch, Kristen Cui, Odera Adimorah, M. Night Shyamalan
- Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Comments
- sadmansakibayon - 30 June 2024
The movie would have been better
Knock at the Cabin is based on the novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay and was adapted onto the big screen by M. Night Shyamalan. The movie does feel like a blend of both visions as Tremblay's work is known for its ambiguous and psychological nature, and Shyamalan is obviously known for his twists and turns. For the most part, Shyamalan does a good job adapting, even if it's not his best work..... From my point of view, Shyamalan does best with smaller scale movies or movies with a small cast, though there are exceptions. Knock at the Cabin is a smaller scale movie with a small cast of characters and Shyamalan does a manageable job directing the cast. The direction here isn't as tense as The Sixth Sense, but there are a few tense scenes that reminded me more of Shyamalan's early work and less of The Happening or After Earth..... The cast all does a really good job here, but to me the standout is Dave Bautista as Leonard. Bautista is best known for his work as Drax in the MCU; a goofy, lovable oaf. Here, Leonard doesn't have too much in common with Drax, at least in terms of performance. Bautista shows off his range with Leonard, a gentle giant but also a force to be reckoned with..... The two fathers, Eric and Andrew, played by Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge, have decent chemistry, even though their characters are total opposites. They come off as a believable couple and a loving family. Groff gives the better performance here as Aldridge comes off as somewhat one note at times, especially considering how Groff's character develops over the course of the movie..... The writing is easily my biggest gripe with this movie. There is way too much talking and too much exposition. I think if you trimmed a good chunk, it would have led to a smoother and more interesting movie. The characters all monologue their backstories when it was a better idea to show most of it rather than tell it.
That being said, there are some interesting ideas that play out here. Since the film is an adaptation of a Paul Tremblay novel, there is an element of ambiguity that plays out. Shyamalan does well handling that as for most of the movie we are left to question if the four intruders are right about the end of the world, or if they are having a shared delusion which is what Andrew believes. I can't say much without going into spoilers, but I liked how Shyamalan handled Tremblay's ambiguous signature.
The ending also fell flat in my eyes, as I felt it was predictable and different from the novel. I won't spoil anything but I feel the novel's ending worked better than the film's ending.
Overall, Knock at the Cabin is one of Shyamalan's better movies of the last decade, but fails to reach the heights of his early work. There are good performances and interesting ideas at work here, and the movie would have been better if they trimmed the dialogue and exposition, and reworked the ending. - funnycommentor - 28 April 2024
Interesting concept, nice execution!
First of all, when I first watched the official trailer of the movie I liked it and I had high expectations about it. Eventually, it was as good as I had imagined and I enjoyed it. The plot of the movie was very interesting, mysterious and innovative. The storyline was well-written, well-explained and kinda easy to understand. The characters were very interesting, well-developed and likeable. The filming location of the movie was only one, just a small cabin in the woods. The casting was nice and their performances were great. I have to admit, it was a very intense movie from start to finish and it wasn't boring, at all. The opening scene was definitely unpredictable, fast-paced and promising. The ending scene was kinda predictable, even though I expected more twists. The killcount of the movie was kinda bloody, but most kills were done off-screen (so, nothing explicit was shown). Also, the cinematography and the score of the movie were both very well done. Overall, "Knock at the Cabin" was a nice film, kinda emotionally intense and I would definitely recommend it to anyone!
