Another fantastic thriller from M. Knight Shyamalan, “Knock at the Cabin”, is truly fascinating and fuels viewers’ adventurous, survival sides. 

This movie portrays a young male couple, Andrew and Eric (Ben Aldrige and Jonathan Groff), and their young daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) who are traveling to a remote cabin in the woods for a serene vacation. The movie begins with Wen alone in the backyard of the cabin catching grasshoppers when Leonard (Dave Bautista), who can be described as a friendly giant, but from a viewer’s perspective he can seem intimidating, arrives almost immediately in hopes of making a ‘new friend.’ Now, as a viewer and any normal person would begin to question what a big, burly man with a beard is trying to get out of this young girl in grade school. It immediately puts viewer’s on the edge of their seats and empathy, and a sort of protective instinct is felt for Wen, as it looks to be if she is getting kidnapped not even five minutes into the film. 

However, Leonard, the first to emerge from the quartet of foreseers, doesn’t kidnap Wen, instead he lets her go. As she is running and screaming to her fathers with fear of what just occurred, the cabin begins to be broken into by Leonard and his accomplices. This is a great technique done by Shyamalan because it just goes to confirm the credibility of Leonard and knowing that something was truly off putting. As this scene is playing out, the movie theater is so tense in a way that watchers of the film want the characters to be safe, almost like they’ve known each other their whole lives, and shows another well-done job by the director for pulling viewers in. 

As the break-in is finished, and Eric gets a concussion, the troop of four explains their ongoing purpose for being there. All while this is happening, the couple is tied up in chairs with Wen allowed to be free from restraint. The group explains with complete certainty that they were sent to this cabin and this family to help the greater cause. The cause being making a choice of killing one of their family members or choosing to kill the rest of the world’s population, creating a whole apocalypse that ends the world. 

Viewers start to question why and ‘’Is this a cult of strangers?’’ or ‘’Does the world really need saved?’’ The tension felt from watching this play out is absolutely intense because as the helpless family is meeting the invaders they begin to end their lives one by one in hopes of appeasing this higher power. Movie-goers can put themselves in the position of making the choice and what they would determine is best. This technique from the director shows how getting the watchers involved is absolutely necessary because it makes them feel something and want to continue watching, which is brilliant. 

The movie continues with the choice being made by the family, which is much better in person to experience and ends unexpectedly with deaths viewers would never anticipate. When watching the film and experiencing it in theaters, viewers can absolutely give it 5/5 stars. “Knock at the Cabin” is another hit by M. Knight Shyamalan and is totally worth the watch.