As the 15th movie from M. Night Shyamalan, his ability to write in depth stories and shoot interesting shots is on full display.

 Shyamalan is a very inconsistent director, most of his works vary a lot in quality.  Luckily, “Knock at the Cabin” lands on the better side of things.  

Starring Jonathan Groff (Glee) and Ben Aldridge (Fleabag) as Eric and Andrew, a married couple, and their adopted daughter Wen played by Kristen Cui.

We are introduced to the family on their vacation at a remote cabin in New Jersey.  Not only is the opening of the movie well shot but it also establishes the main plot effectively, showing us the antagonists and their malicious intent. 

Here is where we meet Dave Bautista’s (Guardians of the Galaxy) character Leonard and his accomplices as he describes his reluctance of what he has to do to the family.

Leonard and his associates then continue to break into the family’s home and hold them hostage. Up to this point in the movie, the motives of these seemingly normal civilians are still unknown.

That is something the movie does very well, it isn’t overly upfront about itself.  It is very vague with the validity of its supernatural elements which adds a lot.

Another thing I like that the movie does is that it really hammers in the hesitance of the invading group.  They are all regular people who don’t want to do this, but share the same horrific vision of the end of the world and feel only they can stop it.

They then describe that they’ve been “chosen” as the ones to make an important decision for all of humanity.

They believe that if one of them doesn’t kill another member of the family, a great plague will be released upon the entirety of humanity.

With their moralities questioned it leads to what makes up most of the movie’s suspense, is this real or is this targeted?

Over the course of the film, it will briefly cut back in time to give more backstory to their lives which makes it feel a lot more personal.  It also covers a lot about the difficulties they faced as a gay couple and their experiences with homophobia. 

As a whole the movie is very decent, it has some interesting shots, it’s investing, emotional, and it really takes advantage of its small scale. 

At some points it is slightly dull, but there is always something there to break the repetition and re-establish interest.

Knock at the Cabin earns 3.5/5 ranger boots.