phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2023
Knock At The Cabin
 title tn.png)
IMDb Info
Release Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 40m
Country: USA, Japan, China
Language: English
Genre Tags: Horror, Mystery Thriller
Plot Summary: While vacationing, a girl and her parents are taken hostage by armed strangers who demand that the family make a choice to avert the apocalypse.
Poster - Title Card
phancy.com rating:
phancy.com notes: Solid thriller, featuring strong performances. Features Shyamalan's usual great blocking and angles, but also his need to have a preachy, happy ending. Also shies away from showing direct violence, which I think is to its detriment. Still, its gripping until the final minutes.
Outside Reviews:
Nick Allen
2 out of 4 stars -
rogerebert.com
Cut back to us, well aware that our collective brains are broken, waiting for a larger point: we are stuck with a frustrating and self-serious movie that kneels before its zealousness but also continually emphasizes why Leonard and the others would sow skepticism. The script carefully doles out information about everyone to toy with coincidence and happenstance, but it's more stirring, less building. Shyamalan does not have the nuance to handle this idea, as confirmed when his expected twist comes minutes before the end.
Joshua Rivera
In Knock at the Cabin, the old M. Night Shyamalan haunts the new one
It's all extremely effective, mesmerizing stuff, undercut by Shyamalan's habits as a blunt, obvious writer. Characters say things plainly that would be better left unsaid. Answers are given where questions would sit better. And some of the details are just plain nonsensical. In his rewriting of a script from Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman, the Shyamalan of yore — the guy known for big twist endings and overly serious, turgid takes on pulp thrillers — collides with the modern Shyamalan and his odd, off-key restraint. The result is fascinating for those willing to consider it, but also a frustrating reminder of the baggage its director brings to all of his work.