Knock at the Cabin

I have watched most of Night Shyamalan's movies and some I like a lot. But to me his ability to make interesting movies decreases as time goes by. The last one I watched was "Old" where people on a beach aged at an accelerated rate.

This one I stared watching streaming on Peacock. A family of three, two dads and a little girl, about to turn 8, are vacationing in a secluded cabin in the woods, somewhere in Pennsylvania. Very shortly after the movie begins four strangers show up, they want to talk, but break down the doors when the parents lock themselves in.

The most frustrating thing is how S-L-O-W-L-Y the four strangers tell them why there are there and what they need. It absolutely is audience abuse. They tell them all kinds of other things but "this is why we are here and what we need from you" comes out at such a prolonged rate that I found myself thinking, "He is only doing this to make the movie longer."

Well they eventually tell the family that their mission is probably the most important mission ever in the history of humanity. And what they tell the family needs to be done makes absolutely no sense at all.

My wife, wisely, chose to skip this one. I wish I had too, I might never watch a Night Shyamalan movie again. Doing so is just mostly a waste of time. This movie is NOT entertaining and it doesn't make sense.

Just so you know where I'm coming from up front, I should preface this review by saying I'm not the biggest M. Night Shyamalan fan - in fact, I kind of like to tease and mock his movies when I watch them with friends. I think he often starts off with interesting ideas but, perhaps because of his early success with The Sixth Sense, always feels this need to cram in some kind of ridiculous twist (or multiple twists) at the end. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't - but he seems to rely on the surprise of the twist to win people over too much. It was a surprise to me then when this movie didn't have a twist at all. I kept waiting for it - but it never came.

That's not really a good thing though because the movie is very slow and plodding, never really going anywhere, and at 1hr 40min the premise just isn't engaging enough to sustain interest for the duration. It's not all bad though. Perhaps the most surprising thing is Dave Bautista, who delivers a nuanced understated performance as Leonard. I still remember when I used to assume a movie was going to be bad if Bautista was in it - but over the past few years he has really come into his own as an actor and is showing his ability to take on some interesting roles.

While I can't really recommend this movie I do have to give it a few bonus points just for Bautista.

Parents Eric and Andrew take their young daughter Wen on a vacation to a remote cabin.

M Night Shyalaman always manages to offer something a little bit different, sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't, Knock at The Cabin I'd place as one of the better ones, I enjoyed it.

I expected something along the same lines as Strangers, some sort of slasher movie, I wasn't expecting a horror thriller with biblical overtones.

I'll be honest, I didn't care a great deal for it when I first saw it at The Cinema, but second time round, I rather enjoyed it, possibly because.i knew what I was expecting.

It's a truly quirky film, pretty much as you'd expect, it's fairly well paced, has a degree of tension, it just manages to be so different.

I always like to think about how I'd feel in the position of a film's central character, and seeing if from Eric's point of view, you'd surely be thinking it was a set up, and that someone from the past had set up an elaborate hoax, the alternative is too terrible even to contemplate.

It's well acted all round, but I have to give credit to Dave Bautista, who puts in an absolutely terrific performance, he's captivating.

Those BBC news articles made me chuckle, most presenters now have regional accents across the channel, here they all had those wonderful accents from the 1950's, all terribly posh.

This film is definitely worth seeing, even if you were a bit undecided first time round.

Back from an advance screening of M. Night Shyamalan's Knock At The Cabin, I think it'll be polarizing and nerds will say iT's NoT hOrRoR, but I really liked it. It was very intense, the action starts up RIGHT away, and crazyyy good performances by every single actor. Gold star for Dave Bautista 🌟 It pulled off a few visuals and events I've never seen portrayed in a movie and they were pretty chilling. Also had some really cool camera work and transitions. I also think the end could be taken a few different ways which I really like. Go see it, and decide for yourself what happened. For me it was one of Shyamalan's best in a long time.

In a world of sequels and IP M. Night Shyamalan continues to give us interesting and original stories. And he tends to get a lot of flack for them sadly. People want original content but then destroy it every time it comes along. It's no wonder we can't have nice things. 'Knock at the Cabin' isn't perfect, but it's certainly a fun ride.

The film starts out as a mystery. We don't know what is going on and everything seems very strange and is not making a lot of sense. It's a good way to start a movie. Then we are let in on what is going on and things become particularly interesting. It's at this point that you simply must turn your brain off to logic to get through the rest of the film. Because much like a lot of religion it doesn't make a lick of sense.

Where the film let me down was the ending. The book has such a thought-provoking and interesting ending. To get the movie made they were obviously told they would have to change that. It's very disappointing but it's sadly where we are in the world of film. Everyone is afraid they might offend the 1% so the 99% miss out.

Still though, the first 9/10 of the movie are a pretty damn good time and are well worth your dollar. 7/10.