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There are few directors in Hollywood who are more unfairly maligned than M. Night Shyamalan. His string of critical failures in the late 2000s remains one of the most famous and severe in recent film history, with duds like “The Last Airbender” and “After Earth” threatening to capsize his A-list standing.

This rocky reputation makes it easy to forget that the director has been on a major hot streak in the past decade. He has shifted away from big-budget action films in favor of the dense, creative thrillers that defined his early career and earned back his spot among the greatest modern genre filmmakers. Shyamalan’s newest release, “Knock at the Cabin,” continues his streak of success by trading his signature pulpy twists for a straightforward story of tension, survival and loss.

Adapted from the novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” by Paul G. Tremblay, “Knock at the Cabin” follows a young couple, Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), who travel to rural Pennsylvania for a lake trip with their seven-year-old daughter Wen (Kristen Cui).

Their vacation is cut short when four intruders arrive at the cabin, led by the muscular but soft-spoken Leonard (Dave Bautista). The strangers tell them their family has been chosen to prevent the apocalypse by making an impossible choice: to willingly sacrifice one of themselves. Every time they refuse, Leonard says, hundreds of thousands will die.

At first, Andrew and Eric believe they are the victims of a twisted home invasion, but Leonard insists that he and his group have not come to hurt the family in any way. Instead, he claims they are each regular people who had religious visions about the cabin and traveled across the country to stop what they truly believe is the end of the world. As time goes on, a series of sinister natural disasters appear on the news, and the family must decide whether this is all just a hoax or if the fate of the world is really at stake.

This premise provides a strong hook for the film, and the adrenaline is palpable from the very first scene. But Shyamalan’s script, co-written with Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman, eventually runs out of steam as the film enters its third act. It departs from the source material in many ways, including a completely different ending that sacrifices complexity for closure. The final confrontation between Leonard and the captive family falls slightly flat, and there is a sense that the film’s most exciting ideas, philosophically and visually, were already explored in the first hour.

Shyamalan creates an eerie and claustrophobic vibe by confining almost all of the film’s action to the cabin and the nearby forest. Any news about the outside world comes from the living room TV, which Andrew suspects is programmed to play a fake broadcast designed by Leonard.

The lack of external contact keeps audiences guessing until the last minute and allows Shyamalan to get creative in how he shoots the film. It’s remarkable how many interesting visuals he fits into this minimalist thriller, which features intense close-ups and an incredible shot that tracks the violent motion of one intruder’s head (Rupert Grint) as Andrew repeatedly punches him in the face.

“Knock at the Cabin” is scary and often gruesome– it’s Shyamalan’s first R-rated film in almost fifteen years– but it never crosses over into the realm of outright horror. The film is brightly-lit and colorful, and the cabin’s tight spaces are not used for cheap jumpscares. Its thrills are purely psychological, anchored by a quietly menacing performance from Bautista, which is the most impressive of his career.

Bautista is a former professional wrestler, but he isn’t the first to cross over to Hollywood superstardom. Other WWE stars like John Cena, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin enjoyed successful second careers in the film industry long before Bautista broke into the mainstream with “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Still, it’s rare for a former wrestler to take on roles like this, which demand him to play against expectations and show genuine tenderness. His performance in “Cabin” is soft and soulful while never losing the ability to terrify, a tightrope walk that the actor manages with surprising skill.

Another highlight is the musical score by Herdís Stefánsdóttir, featuring ominous, ethereal tones that complement the atmosphere of the film beautifully. Her somber score contrasts sharply with “Boogie Shoes,” the bouncy dance track by KC and The Sunshine Band that plays throughout the film for ironic effect. This contrast gives “Boogie Shoes” added weight when a devastating scene late in the film catches audiences off guard by using the upbeat song for an emotional gut punch.

Stephanie Zaso | Digital Design Director

The director is known for his elaborate, twisty plots and comparatively weak dialogue, but in “Knock at the Cabin” it is his characters who shine rather than the situations they find themselves in. The dialogue is empathetic and often insightful, but every time the plot strays from Tremblay’s book it is for uncourageous reasons. The script shields the audience from one of the novel’s most harrowing deaths and removes any ambiguity from the film’s central religious question.

Shyamalan simplifies this story of spirituality by giving it a frustratingly literal ending that satisfies Hollywood thriller conventions but does a disservice to the film’s otherwise layered and detail-rich script.

That said, there is enough suspense and intrigue to make “Knock at the Cabin” a welcome addition to this February’s otherwise bleak box office. Fans of the director’s work can rest assured that he has returned with another high-concept thriller that delivers on its premise, even if it limps across the finish line.

Published on February 6, 2023 at 8:59 pm