M. Night Shyamalan returns to the big screen with the new movie Knock at the Cabin starring Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge, the movie is based on the book Cabin at the End of The World by Paul Trembley.
While on vacation in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, a young girl and her parents are taken hostage by a group of four armed strangers that demand the family make an almost impossible decision to save the world from the impending apocalypse.
Knock at the Cabin starts off with a rather sinister piece of music with scribblings on various pieces of paper that show that something is about to happen as the credits run over the images. We are then greeted by Wen (Kristen Cui) as she catches grasshoppers, and soon Leonard (Dave Bautista) comes to talk to her in a very non-threatening way.
During the conversation between Leonard and Wen, there are some great moments with the camera shots that make you feel a little uneasy, using shots similar to the “Dutch angle” we are given close-up shots that look great on the big screen and by using the angle it works very well. Throughout the movie there are various effects such as this that really add to the feel of the movie.
I have to say that I wasn’t really sure where Knock at the Cabin would end up and as the film moved along I did have an inkling of who the four strangers really were, but I’m sure many of you will come to the same conclusion quite early as I did.
My first thoughts were that the movie would be entirely set in the cabin, but thankfully, to some great use of flashbacks, we get to know more about Wen’s parents Daddy Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Daddy Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and they became her adopted parents.
Kristen Cui certainly steals her scenes in the movie, she brings us a superb performance as Wen, Groff and Aldridge work together very well with their different characteristics.
The four strangers are a mix of characters, but all is revealed during the later of the movie to who they are, but I have to say that the casting is great. Dave Bautista‘s character is a bit of a surprise, Rupert Grint is more in your face than I was excepting him to be with his portrayal of Redman, Abbey Quinn is great to watch as Ardiane as is Nikki Amuka-Bird as Sabrina.
The house invasion is very tense and the sound mix certainly works very well giving you the feeling that you are inside the cabin with the family, the same goes for the soundtrack from HerdÃs Stefánsdóttir and it adds to the overall experience of the audio of Knock at the Cabin.
When it comes to the look of the movie, it looks great with the cinematography by Jarin Blaschke using 35mm film and lenses from the 90s to give it a certain look which we don’t see enough of in this day of shooting on digital.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Knock at the Cabin, but it was a pleasant surprise as the 100-minute runtime flew by, which is always a good sign. As the story moves along you start to question the stranger’s motives and wonder if is it really the end of the world or are the strangers some sort of murder cult that has descended on the cabin just for the kill. At one point one of the dads brings this up saying that it’s an attack on them because they are gay!
There are some shocking moments that are fairly brutal, but thankfully these are shot well and off-camera so that you know what is happening, but you don’t see the horror that has happened. For me, this works very well as your imagination has a tendency to run wild with moments like these.
You do find yourself wondering if there is indeed a supernatural twist to the story, but as we all know M. Night Shyamalan does go for the strange, so something is going to happen that is out of the ordinary.
Now I have been told that the ending of the book is different to the movie, but as I haven’t read the book I was happy with the way the movie ended, but at some point, I’m sure I’ll be checking out the book from Paul Tremblay.
"Make the choice"
Movie title: Knock at the Cabin (2023)
Movie description: While vacationing, a girl and her parents are taken hostage by armed strangers who demand that the family make a choice to avert the apocalypse.
Date published: February 3, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 40m
Director(s): M. Night Shyamalan
Actor(s): Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge,
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Summary
Knock at the Cabin will have you intrigued by the four strangers and have you wondering what you would do if you were given the choice of “save your family or save humanity”.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
