A Knock at the Cabin

After Old I wasn’t sure what to expect for M. Night Shyamalans Knock at the Cabin. But I was pleasantly surprised by how invested I was in the story and wanting to get to the truth at the end of the film. The four horsemen of the apocalypse – essentially four strangers – Leonard (Dave Bautista), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Redmond (Rupert Grint), and Adriane (Abby Quinn), show up with weapons randomly in the middle of Eric (Jonathan Groff), Andrew (Ben Aldridge), and their daughter Wen’s (Kristen Cui) idyllic vacation with the goal of forcing them to make a sacrifice amongst themselves in order to avert the apocalypse.

What I loved about this was how humanistic the piece is. Right from the very beginning we connect with the leader Leonard which makes things more complicated when this random group of strangers is seen to be inflicting pain amongst their own group, but also forcing the family to make this impossible choice. At the same time you also want the family to get away as well. So, there was this nice straddling and identifying with the captors as well as the family which is very rare to find in a film. But it keeps you invested till the very end.

The performances are strong throughout amongst the entire cast. A major standout is Rupert Grint, known for his work in the Harry Potter series as Ron Weasley. In this he completely transformed into this character from Boston with a prison record and a violent past as a bigot. It was so exciting to see his range as an actor. Dave Bautista as well did such an amazing job at being this humble, gentle teacher despite his size and really utilizing his physicality and voice in a transformative way to allow us into the group’s motivation.

The pacing on this is that of a drama more than a traditional horror or mystery film. There are elements of those genres within this, but it is more of a slower burn that leads to a satisfying pay off at the end that comes full circle emotionally. But it also leaves the viewer with more questions after it ends. Currently it is available on Amazon Prime and worth the watch.

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