I saw the M Rated
'KNOCK AT THE CABIN' at my local multiplex earlier this week. This American apocalyptic psychological horror film is Directed and written for the screen by M. Night Shyamalan, and is based on the 2018 novel
'The Cabin at the End of the World' by Paul G. Tremblay. Shyamalan's previous film output includes his breakout film with
'The Sixth Sense' in 1999, then
'Unbreakable' in 2000,
'Signs' in 2002,
'The Village' in 2004, then a period of less popular films before his resurgence with
'The Visit' in 2015,
'Split' in 2016,
'Glass' in 2019 and
'Old' in 2021. This film was released last week here in Australia and Stateside too, having seen its Premier screening in New York City on 30th January, garnering generally favourable critical reviews and has so far grossed US$28M from a production budget of US$20M.
The film opens up with young seven year old girl, Wen (Kristen Cui) catching grasshoppers outside a remote cabin in the woods somewhere in rural Pennsylvania. A short time later, a hulking figure of man sidles up and introduces himself as Leonard (Dave Bautista), saying that he wants to be Wen's friend and he helps her catch grasshoppers. Leonard goes on to explain that he needs to see her parents, Eric and Andrew (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge respectively), to help save the world. Soon afterwards three others show up on foot carrying makeshift weapons fashioned out of gardening tools.
Wen becomes suspicious and flees back to the cabin to alert her parents, who immediately barricade themselves inside. A knock comes to the cabin door with Leonard speaking calmly through the bolted door, urging Andrew and Eric to let them in, saying that no harm will come to them, they just need to talk, about a matter of some urgency. When the parents refuse, Leonard with his three colleagues Redmond (Rupert Grint), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and Adriane (Abby Quinn) forcibly break in, tie up the parents but not before Eric is knocked to the ground in a scuffle and suffers a concussion.
With Eric and Andrew immobilised Leonard and his companions, first introduce themselves giving each a little of their own back story and then he states that they have never met before this day and have no intention of harming the family. However, over the course of the past week, they have been driven by visions and an unknown force to find their family. He goes on to explain that the group have each foreseen an impending apocalypse, in which he claims that the oceans will rise, a pandemic will spread, the sky will fall, and finally, an eternal darkness will envelop the earth. The only way to prevent this from happening is for the family to sacrifice one of their own, but that only they can make that decision. However, they are warned that, if they fail to make a choice, they will survive the apocalypse, but they will be the only survivors and forced to roam the Earth alone. Needless to say Eric and Andrew believe that they are lying and that this attack has been brought on by hatred and delusion.
When the family refuses to make a choice, the group have to sacrifice one of their own. Redmond is the first to go with the group beating him to death with their weapons. Eric, who is concussed, sees a figure of light as Redmond passes away. On the TV, news reports show devastating mega tsunamis caused by undersea earthquakes about seventy miles off the north-west American coast which Leonard calmly states is the start of the apocalypse.
Andrew comes to realise that he recognised Redmond, whom he believes to be Rory O'Bannon, a homophobic man who had assaulted him years earlier in a bar when Andrew was professing his deep love for Eric. This ultimately led to Rory's imprisonment and six months of surgery rehabilitation for Andrew. Andrew thinks that Rory tracked him down for revenge. Leonard, Sabrina, and Adriane question Andrew's assumption and grapple with their guilt, but still lay claim to the validity of their visions. They reveal that Redmond's death has unleashed the first disaster. The following day, the intruders sacrifice Adriane in the same manner as the family are still indecisive. The next disaster looms, as a deadly flu virus, which is particularly dangerous for children, spreads rapidly across the globe.
Andrew insists that the disasters are coincidental and that the visitors were anticipating a pre-scheduled news broadcast, reporting on old news. Andrew manages to escape, and runs to his car, locking himself inside and retrieves his gun. He is followed by Sabrina, who smashes a side window and stabs Andrew as he shoots at her leading to her fleeing. He frisks Redmond's dead body to locate his wallet and proves to Leonard that he was in fact, as suspected, Rory O'Bannon. Injured from his attack and with their tyres slashed, Andrew believes the four came in a vehicle that must be parked nearby and suggests that they use it to escape. Now armed with a loaded pistol, Andrew and Eric lock Leonard in the bathroom. Sabrina breaks into the house and is shot fatally by Andrew. Leonard tricks Andrew into reentering the bathroom by making him think he escaped through the window, and then overpowers him, stealing the gun.
Leonard sacrifices Sabrina in the same manner as Redmond and Adriane and the broadcast shows hundreds of aeroplanes literally dropping out of the sky all around the world. Realising their time is nearly up, Leonard leads the three out on to the back deck as the sky begins to darken. Leonard informs them that after his death, they will only have a few minutes to make a decision before slicing his own throat. Upon his death, violent lightning strikes cause numerous spot fires and more planes to crash - the news feed on the TV reports of seven hundred plus planes falling unexplained from the sky. Eric now believes that the events are real, and that the intruders represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Redmond was 'malice' for his homophobic attitudes and his past beating of Andrew; Sabrina was 'health' for her work as a nurse; Adriane was 'nourishment' for her work as a line cook; and Leonard was 'guidance' for he worked as a teacher.
Not wanting Wen to grow up alone in a destroyed and desolate world, Eric offers himself as the sacrifice. He notes that during Redmond's sacrifice he saw a vision of Andrew and an adult Wen. Eric feels that their family was chosen to make the sacrifice because their love was pure. Reluctantly, Andrew shoots and kills Eric before lightning strikes, setting the cabin on fire and the five corpses contained therein. Andrew and Wen find the visitors' vehicle with various belongings from each of them that validated their individual stories. They drive to a crowded diner nearby, where they watch news reports confirming that the disasters have subsided.
'Knock at the Cabin' is not a horror film in the true sense of the genre, as the horror when it does occur, does so off screen and by suggestion. However, as a tense psychological thriller this film more than delivers and demonstrates once again Shyamalan's gift for crafting an intimate taut and tense B-movie. Dave Bautista here plays his role as the gentle giant literally on a mission from God to save the world or die trying, delivers probably his career best performance to date, and the other cast members are all on point too, although I would have liked to see more of Rupert Grint other than the few sparse lines of dialogue he is granted here. The ending when it came, after an efficient one hundred minute run time, felt somewhat rushed, half baked and missing the Director's trademark twist, but that said, this is an effective, emotional and immersive film that shows Shyamalan's visual gift for bringing his audience a thrilling movie.
'Knock at the Cabin' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
