KNOCK AT THE CABIN

This is an incredibly tame entry in the Shyamalan-verse. The film is very straightforward and, due to its closed setting with the film staying in the cabin for most the run time, it doesn't reach any kind of interesting heights. What does aid the film are the performances from the entire cast, especially Bautista and Aldridge, but newcomer Kristen Cui is a knockout. The performances suck you in, but the film never gets over the grand idea of would you sacrifice a family member to save the world?

Extremely light spoiler warning for the next paragraph.

As aforementioned, Shyamalan films often are known for their twists, and 'Knock at the Cabin' strays from that trope. From reading a quick plot overview of the novel 'The Cabin at the End of the World' by Paul Tremblay, the novel's ending is much more opened-ended and seems like something we are used to seeing from the director, but as always things change in adaption and that could be to keep this film more M-rated (or PG-13 in the U.S.), but the way the film plays out is much more straightforward. Quickly on that note, the lower rating did aid the gore on the film; by panning away from the kills it created a much more gruesome effect.

The film needed a kick in the third act but plays out very paint-by-numbers and like clockwork, which is not a super negative as it's still an enjoyable watch but this keeps it for being a great film and falls more into a generic territory. The film also feels the need to add in flashbacks to the couple's life before arriving at cabin and they don't add much that we don't already understand about them. It's something that the film could have done without and also helped make this a tighter package.

'Knock at the Cabin' may not be what we have come to expect from Shyamalan's previous films that it never goes above that grand question but it's still a serviceable horror flick, and once things get going you end up waiting for the next step but not hooked. The performances prevent this from being a completely "wait for streaming" watch, and if you're looking for something romantic but scary this love season 'Knock at the Cabin' could be the perfect fit.

I went through this whole review without one 'Glee' joke and I like to commend myself on that (If I was married to Jesse St. James this would have been a much shorter movie).