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Knock at the Cabin is a new M. Night Shyamalan (Split) film, and for those of his I’ve seen before, they range from either okay to mediocre. They’re never great. Still, you never know how things might turn out with a new movie.
With only 100 minutes in which to tell its tale, this film doesn’t take long to get into its story, since while Wen (Kristen Cui), a young girl who’s almost 8, is outside her holiday cabin collecting grasshoppers, she spots Leonard (Dave Bautista – Thor: Love And Thunder) appear in the nearby forest, and starts walking towards her with purpose.
She’s the adopted daughter of married couple Eric (Jonathan Groff – Lost Ollie) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge – The Long Call), and Leonard gently tells her that his heart is broken because “of what I have to do, today”, and that he has an important job to do.
Oddly, while she does tell him that she’s not allowed to speak to strangers, she still continues to do so. Maybe she shouldn’t have done.
Either way, as we see, thanks to him and his cohorts – Redmond (Rupert Grint – The ABC Murders), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird – Avenue 5) and Adriane (Abby Quinn – i’m thinking of ending things) – they break in with some sort of weapons, and prove that this cabin is not quite AirBNB…
In fact, they’re very violent, even though they’re also polite, and start trying to patch up everything about that house they’ve destroyed while trying to get in.
But surely they have a valid reason, yes? Well, as Leonard tells them, “We’re here to prevent the apocalypse”, and one of the three residents must be sacrificed at the hands of the others, but it can’t involve any of this four. If they don’t, then everyone else will perish, and the three of them will be forced to walk the Earth alone.
Well, that sounds fine to me, and I’d get on my holiday without this quartet. Even if they had an inkling of truth about them, you’d instantly think they come across as dangerous and religious nutters, or someone who rants on about the so-called ‘climate emergency’, like Owen Jones.
Add in some flashbacks to flesh out the story for Eric and Andrew, and compared to Night’s other films, Knock At The Cabin is well-acted throughout, doesn’t overstay its running time, and also is quite solidly written. Naturally, no spoilers as to how things turn out, at least without putting it behind a spoiler banner, since I will discuss this some more further down.
Knock At The Cabin is based on Paul Tremblay‘s novel, The Cabin at the End of the World. However, I can understand why they didn’t use that title, since 2011 brought us the unrelated The Cabin in the Woods, and there would be confusion between the two, so Knock… is a better title for this.
As an aside, just like the previous week’s The Fabelmans, this film was subtitled. Cinemas will generally do this with at least one film each week. I guess Sunday afternoon is the time for them.
There is a brief post-credits moment:
And now a BIG spoiler about the film, as well as one of the Cloverfield movies from 2016.
Knock at the Cabin is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, you can buy the novel, The Cabin at the End of the World in Paperback and Kindle.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 100 minutes
Release date: February 3rd 2023
Studio: Universal Pictures UK
Format: 2.39:1 (Dolby Vision, Anamorphic Panavision)
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 7/10
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Producers: Marc Bienstock, Ashwin Rajan, M Night Shyamalan
Screenplay: M Night Shyamalan, Steve Desmond, Michael Sherman
Novel: Paul Tremblay (The Cabin at the End of the World)
Music: Herdís Stefánsdóttir
Cast:
Leonard: Dave Bautista
Eric: Jonathan Groff
Andrew: Ben Aldridge
Redmond: Rupert Grint
Sabrina: Nikki Amuka-Bird
Adriane: Abby Quinn
Wen: Kristen Cui
Andrew’s Mom: McKenna Kerrigan
Andrew’s Father: Ian Merrill Peakes
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.