Knock at the Cabin is a simple story that leaves audiences with a lot to mull over. Check out the details in my parents guide movie review.
Knock at the Cabin is coming to movie theaters in the United States this coming Friday, February 3, 2023. The film is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who is known for his psychological thrillers with a twist, with his other works being The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and more recently, Old. The film was adapted from the popular Paul G. Tremblay national bestseller, The Cabin at the End of the World, and has a stellar cast. Check out all the details in my parents guide movie review.
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Knock At The Cabin Movie Quotes
Knock at the Cabin Parents Guide
Knock at the Cabin official synopsis: While vacationing in New Hampshire at a remote cabin, a young girl and her parents are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand that the family make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse. With limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what they believe before all is lost.
Knock at the Cabin Age Appropriate Parents Guide
Let’s take a look at what parents need to know before letting their younger children watch Knock at the Cabin. Here is the suggestion of parental guide.
Language: Knock at the Cabin contains coarse language, with profanity used throughout. Lookout words include: f*ck, sh*t, a**, g-d d*mn, d*mn, and crap.
Mature Content: Other than the snippets of language, the other big concern for parents in the film is the violence it contains. Characters are shown in hand-to-hand combats, beaten and bloodied, killed with sharp weapons like axes, and wielding guns and shooting other characters with guns. There is also a scene where a character slits his own neck. While the kills are shocking and bloody, they are shown off camera, which gives relief to some viewers. An example of this is the scene where a character slits their neck, the camera pans down to his feet, and blood is shown pouring out, but the actual act is not shown. The movie revolves around the apocalypse, so there is also some footage of disasters happening, like planes falling out of the sky. Characters are shown consuming alcohol and becoming drunk. There are no sex scenes to speak of nor drug abuse.
Overall Thoughts
Knock at the Cabin is a M. Night Shyamalan film from Universal Pictures that stars Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy franchise), Rupert Grint (Snatch and the Harry Potter franchise), Ben Aldridge (Pennyworth), Emmy nominee Jonathan Groff (Frozen), Abby Quinn (Little Women), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Old), and newcomer Kristen Cui. The film is based on the Paul Tremblay horror novel The Cabin at the End of the World and tells the story of a gay couple who are staying at a remote cabin in the woods with their adopted daughter when they unexpectedly receive a visit from a group of strangers who are carrying makeshift weapons. While it has an r-rated film score, due to much of the violence it contains, much of it is shown offscreen and may be viewed by young children, depending on their age.
M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin doesn’t waste any time getting into the nitty gritty, as the movie opens with the family already at the cabin when the unexpected visitors arrive. The first half of the film has some well-executed suspense, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats and their eyes glued to the screen. As with most films from visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, the less one knows about the film going into it, the better, and this is true for Knock at the Cabin, as the tension of not knowing exactly what is going on is what carries the first act. It is only after the first kill that viewers begin to make a bit of sense of the plot; the tension begins to wane, and the puzzle begins to fit together, leaving the audience questioning if this is indeed the motivation of the visitors or if Shyamalan is going to give viewers one of his iconic twists.
Enough accolades cannot be said as far as the performances in Knock at the Cabin, particularly Dave Bautista, who shows audiences a softer side to the muscled giant while also exuding terror just by his enormous size and stature. He is like a big, giant, ax-wielding teddy bear with a heart as big as his stature. Some of his best moments are when he shares the screen with Kristen Cui, who plays Wen. The chemistry between the two is some of the best in the film and only adds to the tension that fills the air. Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge are both genuine and believable as a married gay couple in love. Some of the most emotional moments on screen are due to the interaction between the two. Abby Quinn and, even more so, Rupert Grint’s characters feel underused and don’t leave as lasting an impression as the rest, while Nikki Amuka-Bird’s facial expressions perfectly reflect the emotional toll of them all.
If you are going into Knock at the Cabin with hopes that it reflects much of Shyamalan’s previous works, be prepared for disappointment. It is arguably one of his safer and simpler films, yet it still captures the same vibe and energy as his other work. Most importantly, this is one of those films that leaves viewers mulling over it for hours after the credits roll, which seems to be his objective. He puts viewers in the shoes of each character and has them judge their own morality, and he does it in a way that sticks.
