Knock at the Cabin (2023) Review

Title: Knock at the Cabin
Year: 2023
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Country: US
Language: English

Knock at the Cabin (2023) is director M Night Shyamalan's fifteenth film. His body of work is usually hit or miss. The Sixth Sense (1999) won the hearts of audiences & critics, while pictures like The Last Airbender (2010) resulted in his popularity plummeting. Even his decent films, like Signs (2002) can be polarizing. His latest picture is no exception. 

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.

Although it takes some liberties with the source material, Paul G. Tremblay’s book The Cabin at the End of the World, Shyamalan's "what would you do?" film is compelling and thought provoking. Throughout the run-time the script picks at our assuredness; inciting us to go from skeptical to unsure about the strangers' claims. 

Manipulating his viewers with fluid camera movements and claustrophobic cinematography, Shyamalan proves that he has the ability to be a master storyteller. The actors, particularly Dave Bautista, do their part in creating a convincing scenario despite how ridiculous it is on paper. 

Knock at the Cabin would be a great picture - if only Shyamalan landed the ending. Is there a way to end this film in a satisfying way? It seems as if he wrote himself into a corner wherein any climax would have 50% of the audience frustrated. I found myself indifferent, and I don't rewatch films that make me feel indifferent.