Knock at the Cabin Review
Here’s our Knock at the Cabin review written and reviewed by our friend Vinni Misa which is directed by M. Night Shyamalan and stars Dave Bautista, Rupert Grint, Jonathan Groff and more!
Knock at the Cabin is the latest directorial effort from M. Night Shyamalan starring Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, and Rupert Grint. The film is a blend of suspense, psychological thriller, and apocalyptic horror.
In the film, we follow a family of three as their home is invaded by four people from different walks of life who need to convince the family to commit a human sacrifice among them in order to avert the End of Times.
The pace picks up in the first minutes and it’s kept consistent throughout, even amidst the flashbacks that justify the family’s reluctance. The cast gives a solid performance, especially from Dave Bautista who continues to surprise with his range. The tension and pacing is kept tight with hardly any room to breathe. Overall, it’s a surprisingly good cinematic experience.
8/10.
Additional review:
I can really consider this as a top tier Shyamalan movie up there with Split and the classic Sixth Sense. We all know that Shyamalan does twists really good and the biggest twist here is that there’s no twist.
Shocking right?
But all the suspense and horror is packed neatly within the film which continues to prove that Dave Bautista is the superior wrestler-turned-actor that Hollywood has at the moment. As schoolteacher Leonard, Bautista gives us quite a wide range of acting. He can be scary and intimidating which is fairly easy for him but then he can easily switch to gentle and confused at the drop of the hat.
We’re also treated to a very different kind of Rupert Grint here. As the bigoted Redmond, we are seeing a vicious side to the guy so far from Ron Weasley.We really need to see more of the guy in movies.
Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge were also compelling characters. Thought they were greatly fleshed out. Playing Eric and Andrew respectively the two are just peacefully having their vacation with their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) when these four strangers popped up out of the woods and threatened to kill them. It’s through this impending violence that we get a deeper understanding of what it is to be them, getting victimized for being gay by one of their assailants definitely puts a lot of stress for doting fathers.
I liked how packed and sufficient that biggest story beat is. Four strangers have come together to kill a family of three to save the world from an apocalypse. And as quickly as they came they left. I liked how they really didn’t dwell on the actual harrowing events that took place so for those that want to see the movie with a different perspective, its easy to dismiss the things that happened as coincidence. Even the survivors at the end of the film are unsure whether their ordeal was linked to the end of the world or if it just happened at the wrong place at the wrong time.
If there’s anything weak about the film its how it ended. I actually wanted more, to see more but because it was tightly written, they gave no room for that. Maybe they plan to do a sequel or a spinoff in the future. Problem is when Shyamalan does sequels it either gets cancelled or sucks.
Verdict 9/10 for me.
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