The riveting trailer of this latest thriller by ‘master storyteller’ M Night Shyamalan appears to give away the entire movie.
A little girl called Wen (Kristen Cui) is on a summer vacation with her two dads (Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff) when a large, odd, bald man called Leonard () and his three weird associates (, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn) knock on their remote woodland cabin with some ginormous, scary-ass axe-hammer things.
‘Your family has been chosen to make a horrible decision,’ Leonard tells them. ‘Your family must choose to willingly sacrifice one of the three of you to prevent the apocalypse’ – wherein the entirety of humankind will suddenly perish via flood, flame and plague.
The dads are, understandably, a tad sceptical.
Given all this occurs in the first 15 minutes, you’re agog to see how Shyamalan could possibly write his way out of this startling scenario. Indeed, Knock At The Cabin mainly feels like some extreme screenwriting challenge, more than a living, breathing human story.
Despite some implausible and annoying lapses, it’ll have you hooked.
Of course, as with any M Night Shyamalan film, from The Sixth Sense to Old, you’re hanging for the big twist. But even readers of the original book, The Cabin At The End Of The World (2018) by Paul Tremblay, are in for some shocks, since Shyamalan insisted on changing the ending. And, controversially, it’s not what you might think.
The direction is taut, the action attractively lensed, yet it’s the unusual ensemble of actors that really wins you over.
The , who, following his hilarious turn in Glass Onion, here clocks in his best dramatic performance since Blade Runner 2049. He’s inspired casting as an ‘is he or isn’t he a baddie?’ character, that has to keep you guessing. As does the film.
‘This isn’t a home invasion,’ one character declares. So what is it? A horror/comedy/environmental disaster/supernatural mystery thriller, it’s another commendably original tale of the unexpected from Shyamalan. One of his best.
For all its flaws, it’s gripping entertainment that makes you think. Days after, it’s still knocking around in my head.
In cinemas nationwide from Friday
