Film / Knock at the Cabin

Save your family or save humanity.
Make the choice.

Wen: Why are you here?
Leonard: I suppose I'm here to make friends with you, and your dads too. But my heart is broken.
Wen: Why is it broken?
Leonard: Because of what I have to do today.

Knock at the Cabin is an apocalyptic Psychological Horror film directed and co-written by M. Night Shyamalan. It is based on the novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay and stars Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint.

The story follows a family on vacation at a remote cabin who find themselves beset by a group of mysterious strangers who claim the apocalypse is impending, and the only way to stop it is to make an impossible choice. The film was released in theatres on February 3, 2023.

Previews: Trailer 1, Trailer 2

Knock at the Cabin contains examples of:

• An Aesop: Learn to move forward, especially from bad experiences.
• Adaptational Alternate Ending: In the book, Wen is accidentally shot dead, which may or may not be enough to prevent the apocalypse, and Eric and Andrew choose to await the world's Uncertain Doom together rather than kill one another to make sure. In the film, Wen is not shot, and Eric is willingly sacrificed instead, explicitly averting the apocalypse.
• Adaptational Consent: Although not in a romantic or sexual context. Leonard insists that the death must be a choice and therefore cannot include suicide. Eric manages to find a loophole in this by using the gun while it's still in Andrew's hand to kill himself, while it was made explicitly clear that it wasn't possible for the characters to commit suicide in the book. Wen, for instance, in the book dies because of a total accident, whereas Eric sacrifices himself knowingly.
• Adaptation Expansion: This time, along with the tsunami and virus outbreak, crashing planes and lightning storms are shown, to make it clearer that the Apocalypse really will happen if one of the group isn't sacrificed.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the book, Sabrina undergoes a Heel–Face Turn after Wen is accidentally shot, deciding that if this is what following the visions leads to, then the visions must be wrong, and instead tries to help Eric and Andrew escape. As the movie removes the inciting incident, the character has no such change of heart.
• And Starring: Rupert Grint
• Anti-Villain: The four are this to almost divinely appointed Punch-Clock Villain levels. They're forcing the family to sacrifice one of their own not out of maliciousness but because they believe it's the only way to stop the apocalypse.
• Apocalypse How: Class 3, as allowing the disasters to happen will cause the end of mankind.
• Age Lift: Leonard is described as being young, possibly in his mid-to-late twenties, in the novel. In the film, he's played by Dave Bautista, who was 53 during filming.
• Arc Words: "Will you make the choice?" Also, "A part of humanity has been judged."
• Asshole Victim: Of the main four, Redmond/Jeff O'Bannon is the least sympathetic and most antagonistic toward the family. He was also the man that assaulted and hospitalized Andrew as part of a hate crime. It becomes harder to feel bad for his death compared to the rest of his group upon learning this.
• "Back to Camera" Pose: One of the film's posters shows the four strangers from the back, getting ready to assail the titular cabin.
• Bittersweet Ending: Sure, the family averted the apocalypse. But witnessing five people die in succession, including one of their own, will traumatize them for life, and tens of thousands of people (if not more) have died to the four disasters that were unleashed already.
• Break the Haughty: Andrew was originally a gentle man that became aggressive out of fear for his life since he was involved in the hate crime by Redmond. He was made to be this way in order for him to learn his lesson of letting go and to trust others again.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Andrew and Eric remember Redmond as the man who assaulted him several years prior, while Redmond doesn't seem to remember either of them when they meet again.
• Cassandra Truth: The group has a hard time convincing the family that the apocalypse really is happening, and that this decision they have to make is real.
• Creator Cameo: As has become a staple of his films, director M. Night Shyamalan has a brief cameo, appearing here as a telesale presenter on TV.
• Creator's Culture Carryover: At one point, a Scottish nurse is interviewed outside an Edinburgh hospital and mentions its 'parking lot'. This not a common phrase in Scotland: 'car park' is much more likely to be used.
• Cruel Mercy: Leonard says that if the family doesn't choose to make a sacrifice, the three of them will be spared by the apocalypse, but will be doomed to wander the dead planet alone for the rest of their lives.
• The Cynic: Andrew doesn't care much for humanity, and states outright that even if he did believe the strangers, he wouldn't sacrifice a member of his family to save the world.
• Death by Adaptation: Eric takes Wen's place as the death in the family.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: No explanation is offered for why the apocalypse is happening or why a member of this family must be sacrificed to prevent it. Even the four strangers don't know, and are simply being guided by visions and faith.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Sabrina is shot by Andrew in self-defence, rather than killing herself after Wen's accidental death as depicted in the original novel.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Leonard states to the captured family that the end of the world is upon them.
• Failed a Spot Check: In the footage of the tsunami hitting Cannon Beach in Oregon, many people don't seem to notice the large wave coming at them in the distance until it gets close enough. Even when people start to run, some of them are just walking away from the tsunami. However, given the height and speed of the wave, as well as a lack of an early warning shortly after the underwater earthquake miles away from Oregon, none of them would have been able to get away even if they started to run away earlier.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Subverted with Leonard despite him being an antagonist. Leonard is only asking the family to make a sacrifice because he sees no other way to stop the apocalypse, and he tries to be as understanding and empathetic as possible in an otherwise horrifying scenario.
• Four Is Death: There are four strangers, and four disasters that plague humanity in the lead-up to the apocalypse.
• Gentle Giant: Leonard is very tall, muscular, and imposing, but he's also the kindest of the four attackers. He's revealed to be an elementary school teacher, and he's the most remorseful about what occurs.
• Giant Wall of Watery Doom: The first disaster has mega tsunamis forming on the Pacific, with the news report giving focus to one in the Oregon coast.
• Happily Adopted: Eric and Andrew are both attentive, loving fathers to their adopted daughter, Wen. She in turn loves them back, calling them "daddy Eric and daddy Andrew".
• Hate Crimes Are a Special Kind of Evil: Redmond having done this to Eric could explain the reason he was chosen to be in the group that invades the cabin.
• Help Mistaken for Attack: Deconstructed. Andrew and Eric think the strangers are Redmond's friends who came to attack them more.
• Heroic Suicide: While at first Leonard emphasizes that the Sadistic Choice must be a choice by the family overall, and they cannot kill themselves to spare the others from the decision, Eric manages to use the gun in Andrew's hand to shoot himself.
• Hesitant Sacrifice: The four strangers know they have to die one by one, both to unleash the four judgments and to convince Eric and Andrew to make the choice. They're not at all happy about this, though they are resigned to it.
• High Concept: The tagline sums up the premise very succinctly:
  Save your family or save humanity. Make the choice.
• Homophobic Hate Crime: Andrew was hit over the head with a bottle by a man in a bar who'd overhead him discussing his relationship with his boyfriend Eric. Due to this, he grew paranoid and resentful toward people. When the strangers come to the cabin, he at first suspects it's because of him and Eric. This turns out to not be true, though one of them is the same man who'd attacked him.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Eric takes Leonard's group as this, albeit he attributes them to malice, compassion, healing, and mentorship rather than the usual disgraces they represent.
• I Have No Son!: In a flashback, Andrew's parents left as soon as they met him and his boyfriend Eric.
• Improbable Infant Survival: A meta example. Wen was killed in the book, but she survives in the movie, while her father Eric takes her place. However, this is averted for many other children seen in the movie, as they either washed away by a tsunami, perish to the X9 virus, die in a plane crash, or get killed by the grand lightning storm.
• Improvised Weapon: Leonard's group are armed with tools like a pitchfork and a pickaxe, only slightly modified.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Andrew became aggressive and started to resent others ever since he got assaulted by Redmond. However, he does care about Eric and Wen very much.
• Jesus Taboo: Despite the religious subject matter, there are no overt references to Christianity, and the apocalypse only vaguely adheres to that depicted in the Book of Revelation.
• Karmic Death: With the reveal that "Redmond" was the homophobe who attacked Andrew in a bar years ago, it's implied that his role as the first stranger to be sacrificed is a form of cosmic payback.
• Last of Their Kind: This is what Andrew, Eric and Wen are told will happen if they do not make a choice the sacrifice to one of themselves to save humanity, they will be spared but the rest of mankind will die, leaving them as the last three humans on earth.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Like the book, there are discussions over whether the end of the world is really coming or if the disasters are just unfortunate coincidences. Unlike the book, the movie seems to settle on it all being real and thankfully stopped by the end.
• Messianic Archetype: Eric and Andrew, being good people who have faced persecution throughout their lives and are now faced with making a terrible sacrifice to save humanity. Arguably Leonard as well; he's a Friend to All Children who walked away from his happy life as a teacher and ultimately sacrifices himself to convince Eric and Andrew to make the choice.
• Misanthrope Supreme: While he is not murderous, Eric resents people so much that he would rather let the rest of humanity perish through his own inaction than sacrifice his husband or daughter.
• Mood Whiplash: After all the family goes through, the song to which they happily danced in a flashback plays on the radio. Wen shuts it off, not being in the mood, but Andrew turns it back on.
• Motive Misidentification: Andrew assumes, not without reason, that the strangers are targeting them because they're a gay couple. Leonard clarifies that they didn't know this at the time.
• The Needs of the Many: Leonard takes absolutely no pleasure in forcing the family to sacrifice one of their own, but he sees it as the only way to prevent the apocalypse.
• Omniscient Morality License: Almost to the extent that God Is Evil. In order to prevent the horrific deaths of everyone on Earth, a loving family must make the Sadistic Choice to sacrifice one of their own, despite having done absolutely nothing to deserve a burden like that. It's implied that Andrew being assaulted by Redmond years ago was God invoking Misery Builds Character to give him the strength to go through with sacrificing Eric, showing that they truly were doomed to be part of this insanity from the beginning. This is to say nothing of the apocalypse itself, which targets everyone, not just the wicked — one of the four judgments specifically targets young children. Make no mistake, this is a Cosmic Horror Story through and through.
• Papa Wolf: Andrew is this to Wen. He gets violently physical to protect her, such as shooting Sabrina to locking Leonard in the bathroom.
• Real After All: The disasters do start to stop once Eric sacrifices himself. And while Redmond was indeed lying, the others were telling the truth regarding what they did.
• Red Is Violent: The most aggressive of the four strangers wears red, has red hair, and goes by the name Redmond.
• Religious Horror: God has judged humanity and found us wanting, and is preparing to unleash a fiery apocalypse that will kill everything. The four strangers are tormented by visions of the end times, and are compelled to ritualistically sacrifice themselves both to unleash the judgments and to pressure the family to make a Sadistic Choice to delay the apocalypse.
• Sadistic Choice: Leonard tells the family that they must choose one among them to die to stop the end of the world. Thankfully suicide works as a choice.
• Shout-Out: When Leonard asks what is Wen's favorite movie, she names Kiki's Delivery Service.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Wen is not shot dead by accident this time around.
• Spiritual Antithesis: To The Cabin in the Woods, another film about human sacrifice needed to advert the apocalypse, but coming down hard on the opposite side of The Needs of the Many.
• Systematic Villain Takedown: Enforced by Leonard's group, who let themselves be killed one at a time to convince the family to pull the sacrifice.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Eric dies, leaving Andrew heartbroken. Eric's belief that they were chosen to make the sacrifice because their love for each other was so strong just twists the knife even more.
• Tragic Villain: The four hate themselves for what they put the family through, but they see no alternative for preventing the apocalypse. Possibly subverted with Redmond, depending on if his assault of Andrew was just for Andrew's trial or if he's legitimately homophobic.
• Trauma Conga Line: Andrew and Wen. Due to his relationship with Eric, he experiences a lot of abuse and rejection. Wen experiences the events here with her own eyes.
• Too Smart for Strangers: Especially these strangers. Wen mentions this when Leonard walks up to her.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The four individuals taking the family hostage claim their actions are to prevent the apocalypse. Redmond even admits he personally doesn't blame them for rejecting the Sadistic Choice outright, and is skeptical that they would ever choose at all. Ironically, Redmond was the only one of the four who had ill intent, as he was actually the homophobic man who had assaulted Andrew years ago, even if it was ostensibly to give Andrew a troubled past to work past as part of his trial.

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