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Knock at the Cabin

Knock at the Cabin is a 2023 American apocalyptic psychological horror film written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote the screenplay from an initial draft by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. It is based on the 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay, the first adaptation of one of his works. The film stars Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint. In the film, a family is vacationing at a remote cabin when they are suddenly held hostage by four strangers who ask them to do something unimaginable.

Knock at the Cabin
Theatrical release poster
Directed byM. Night Shyamalan
Screenplay by
  • M. Night Shyamalan
  • Steve Desmond
  • Michael Sherman
Based onThe Cabin at the End of the World
by Paul G. Tremblay
Produced by
  • M. Night Shyamalan
  • Marc Bienstock
  • Ashwin Rajan
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byNoemi Katharina Preiswerk
Music byHerdís Stefánsdóttir
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • January 30, 2023 (2023-01-30) (Rose Hall)
  • February 3, 2023 (2023-02-03) (United States)
Running time
100 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[2]
Box office$54.8 million[3][4]

Knock at the Cabin premiered in New York City at the Rose Hall on January 30, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on February 3, 2023, by Universal Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed over $54 million worldwide.

Plot

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Seven-year-old Wen is vacationing with her adoptive fathers, Eric and Andrew, at a remote cabin in rural Pennsylvania. She is approached by a stranger named Leonard, who explains that he needs Wen and her parents' help to save the world. Leonard and three other individuals break into the cabin with makeshift weapons and tie Eric and Andrew up. Struggling to fight them off, Eric sustains a concussion.

Leonard and his companions, Sabrina, Adriane, and Redmond, claim that they have no intention of harming the family. However, in the past week, they have been driven by visions to find the family. They foresee an impending apocalypse in which oceans will rise, a pandemic will spread, and the sky will fall. The only way to prevent this is for the family to sacrifice one of their own. If they fail to do so, they will be the last living humans.

When the family refuses, the intruders sacrifice Redmond by fatally striking him with their weapons. Eric sees a figure of light as Redmond dies. Television news reports show devastating megatsunamis. Andrew believes Redmond was Rory O'Bannon, a man who had been arrested after assaulting Andrew in a bar years prior. He thinks Rory tracked him down for revenge. Leonard, Sabrina, and Adriane grapple with guilt, but reveal that Redmond's death has unleashed the first judgment of humanity. The next day, the intruders sacrifice Adriane. Meanwhile, a deadly variation of the flu virus spreads across the world.

Andrew escapes and shoots at Sabrina with his gun until she flees. As Leonard is being held at gunpoint, Sabrina breaks in and is shot by Andrew. Leonard decapitates Sabrina, and afterwards Andrew finds Redmond's wallet and proves to Leonard that he was Rory. Andrew confronts Leonard in the bathroom, but Leonard overtakes him and grabs Andrew's gun. A TV broadcast reveals that hundreds of spontaneous plane crashes have occurred around the world.

Realizing their time is nearly over, Leonard informs the family that after his death, they will only have a few minutes to make a decision, before slashing his throat. Upon his death, lightning causes fires and more planes to crash. Eric now believes the events are real, and that the intruders represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Not wanting Wen to grow up in a destroyed world, he offers himself as the sacrifice and envisions an older Andrew and an adult Wen thriving in the future. He feels that their family was chosen to make the sacrifice because their love is so pure. Andrew reluctantly shoots and kills Eric.

Andrew and Wen find the visitors' truck with belongings that corroborate their stories. They drive to a crowded diner, where they watch news reports confirming that the disasters have subsided, before driving off.

Cast

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Production

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M. Night Shyamalan at a San Diego Comic-Con panel wearing a white shirt and talking into a microphone. 
Writer, director, and producer M. Night Shyamalan

Development

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Knock at the Cabin is an adaptation of the 2018 horror novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay, who had signed an option with FilmNation Entertainment in late 2017, prior to the book's publication, and had to keep secret that the film was based on one of his novels until July 2022. The Black List and GLAAD List listed the initial draft by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman as one of the most popular unproduced screenplays of 2019.[6][7] While another director was briefly attached, M. Night Shyamalan read the original screenplay and grew interested in producing. Shyamalan later rewrote the script and came on board to direct the project as part of the two-film partnership between Universal Pictures and his production banner Blinding Edge Pictures.[8][9] Old (2021) was the first film in that deal, with Knock at the Cabin being the second.[10][11] The first draft was halfway completed by July 2021, and the title was revealed in October.[12][13] Shyamalan said the script was the fastest he had ever written in his career.[14]

Casting

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Castings were announced from December 2021 to July 2022. They included Dave Bautista,[15] Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird,[16] Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff,[17] and Abby Quinn.[18] Shyamalan cited Bautista's performance in Blade Runner 2049 (2017) as the reason he wanted him to star in Knock at the Cabin.[19] Bautista increased his weight "in a short period of time" to 315 pounds for the role; in hindsight, he said he "over did it" and felt "uncomfortably big", which pushed him to lower his weight to 240 pounds, adding, "It took me forever to shed it off. And then I noticed the more I trimmed down, the better I felt."[20]

Filming

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Principal photography took place in Burlington County, New Jersey, from April 19 to June 10, 2022, with cinematographers Jarin Blaschke and Lowell A. Meyer.[21][22][23][24] Shyamalan shot the film with lenses from the 1990s, to give it an "old-school thriller" look.[25] During post-production, Herdís Stefánsdóttir composed the score.[26] Shyamalan chose to change the ending of the film and make it different from the book so that it was not as dark and open-ended.[27]

The film received an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association for "violence and language", making it Shyamalan's second film to receive that rating after The Happening (2008).[28]

Release

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Knock at the Cabin premiered in New York City at Rose Hall on January 30, 2023.[29] The film was theatrically released on February 3, 2023, by Universal Pictures.[13] The release was originally set for February 17 before being brought forward by two weeks as to avoid competition with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.[9]

This was the last film from Shyamalan to be released by Universal. After its release he signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Pictures.[30]

Home media

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Knock at the Cabin was released for VOD on February 21, 2023, followed with a Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD release by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on May 9, 2023.[31]

Reception

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Box office

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Knock at the Cabin grossed $35.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $19.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $54.8 million.[3][4]

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside 80 for Brady, and was projected to gross $15–17 million from 3,643 theaters in its opening weekend.[2] The film made $5.4 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $14.2 million, displacing Avatar: The Way of Water from atop the box office.[32] The film made $5.5 million in its second weekend (a drop of 61%), finishing in sixth, and $3.9 million in its third weekend.[33][34]

Critical response

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On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 335 reviews with an average rating of 6.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Although it's often less than scary and parts of the story don't bear scrutiny, Knock at the Cabin is a thought-provoking chiller and upper-tier Shyamalan."[35] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 60 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[36] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 56% positive score, with 35% saying they would definitely recommend it.[32]

Ready Steady Cut film critic M.N. Miller embraced the movie's faults by saying, "This is an exceptionally made thriller with satisfying flaws to pick at and debate."[37] Reviewing for RogerEbert.com, Nick Allen gave the film two out of four stars, commending the "rich and earthy" cinematography and Bautista's "disarming" performance but ultimately finding the film "frustrating and self-serious", adding "M. Night Shyamalan should probably just stay away from the apocalypse."[38] Charlotte O'Sullivan of the Evening Standard found "many plot holes" in the film, adding, "The deeper issue, though, is that the supposedly complex home-invaders aren't given enough space to become interesting."[39] Wendy Ide for The Observer wrote, "As the film's bleak momentum builds, so does a tsunami swell of existential dread. It's Shyamalan's most contained and efficient picture in a while."[40] Stef Rubino for Autostraddle felt that "Like all of Shyamalan's greatest features, what unfolds throughout the course of the film is a family drama but on the grandest of scales."[41] Writing for Slate, Sam Adams criticized Shyamalan's changes to the ending and filmmaking choices that gloss over the horrific violence of the story.[42]

Accolades

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Knock at the Cabin was nominated for Best Horror at the 6th Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards.[43]

References

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  1. ^ "Knock at the Cabin (15)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  2. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 31, 2023). "M. Night Shyamalan's 'Knock At The Cabin' To Knock 'Avatar 2' Out Of No. 1 Spot – Box Office Preview". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Knock at the Cabin (2023)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Knock at the Cabin (2023)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  5. ^ Abdulbaki, Mae (February 6, 2023). "Where To Spot M. Night Shyamalan's Cameo In Knock At The Cabin". Screen Rant. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  6. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony; Ramos, Dino-Ray (December 16, 2019). "The Black List 2019 Screenplays Unveiled & Ranked: Ken Kobayashi's Frozen-Time Romance Move On Tops List". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (January 25, 2020). "The GLAAD List: The Black List And GLAAD Unveil Second Annual Roster Of Unmade LGBTQ-Inclusive Film Scripts". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  8. ^ Calia, Mike (July 16, 2022). "Hollywood finally comes calling for horror writer Paul Tremblay". CNBC. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  9. ^ a b McClintock, Pamela (September 16, 2019). "M. Night Shyamalan Sets His Next Two Movies at Universal for Release in 2021, 2023". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  10. ^ McClintock, Pamela; Couch, Aaron (June 23, 2020). "Universal Sets M. Night Shyamalan's Next Movie for July 2021". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 1, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  11. ^ Riley, Jenelle (July 21, 2021). "M. Night Shyamalan on Old, His Mischievous Side and How Unbreakable Was Ahead of Its Time". Variety. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  12. ^ "M. Night Shyamalan Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions". Wired. July 23, 2021. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  13. ^ a b Haring, Bruce (October 13, 2021). "M. Night Shyamalan's Next Universal Pic Gets New Release Date & Official Title". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  14. ^ Cavanaugh, Patrick (December 17, 2021). "M. Night Shyamalan Says New Film Knock at the Cabin Is 'Contained and Gigantic'". ComicBook.com. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  15. ^ Kroll, Justin (December 6, 2021). "Dave Bautista To Star In M. Night Shyamalan's Next Film Knock At The Cabin". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  16. ^ Kroll, Justin (February 16, 2022). "Rupert Grint And Nikki Amuka-Bird Join Dave Bautista In M. Night Shyamalan's Knock At The Cabin". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  17. ^ Kroll, Justin (March 3, 2022). "Pennyworth Star Ben Aldridge & Jonathan Groff Join M. Night Shyamalan's Knock At The Cabin". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  18. ^ Grobar, Matt (July 18, 2022). "Hell Of A Summer: D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Abby Quinn & Pardis Saremi Join Horror-Comedy From Directors Finn Wolfhard & Billy Bryk". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  19. ^ Davids, Brian (January 26, 2022). "M. Night Shyamalan on Servant Season 3 and Casting Dave Bautista to Lead His Next Film". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  20. ^ Tinoco, Armando (September 12, 2024). "Dave Bautista Addresses Health Concerns Over Weightloss Following 'Uncomfortably Big' Weight Gain For Knock At The Cabin". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  21. ^ Squires, John (April 19, 2022). "Knock at the Cabin – Filming Underway on Shyamalan's Fifteenth Feature". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  22. ^ Kuperinsky, Amy (April 4, 2022). "M. Night Shyamalan Knock at the Cabin movie, AMC Isle of the Dead series film in N.J. as Pete Davidson horror film wraps". NJ.com. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  23. ^ "Jarin Blaschke Shoots Knock at the Cabin For M. Night Shyamalan". Lux Artists. May 16, 2022. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  24. ^ Dick, Jeremy (June 11, 2022). "M. Night Shyamalan Wraps Filming on Next Movie Knock at the Cabin". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  25. ^ Harrison, Alexander (May 6, 2022). "M. Night Shyamalan's New Movie Will Have An Old School Thriller Look". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  26. ^ "Herdís Stefánsdóttir to Score M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin". Film Music Reporter. September 22, 2022.
  27. ^ Moreau, Jordan (February 3, 2023). "'Knock at the Cabin' Team Breaks Down That 'Dark' Ending: Why the Film Changed the Book's Finale". Variety.
  28. ^ Squires, John (December 8, 2022). "Knock at the Cabin Will Be Shyamalan's First 'R' Rated Movie Since The Happening". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  29. ^ Moriello, Joanna (January 30, 2023). "Knock at the Cabin premiere in NYC". New York Daily News. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  30. ^ Couch, Aaron (February 16, 2023). "M. Night Shyamalan Departs Universal for Warner Bros. First-Look Deal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  31. ^ "Knock at the Cabin DVD Release Date". www.dvdsreleasedates.com. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  32. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 5, 2023). "'Knock At The Cabin' Wins Weekend With $14M+ While '80 For Brady' Popular With The Ladies Pulls In More Admissions – Sunday Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  33. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 12, 2023). "How Warner Bros Bared It All For A Theatrical Release Of HBO Max Movie 'Magic Mike's Last Dance' – Sunday Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  34. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 18, 2023). "'Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania' Supersizing To $100M 3-day, $115M 4-day – Box Office Saturday Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  35. ^ "Knock at the Cabin". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  36. ^ "Knock at the Cabin Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  37. ^ Miller, M. N. (February 5, 2023). "Knock at the Cabin Review". Ready Steady Cut. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  38. ^ Allen, Nick (February 3, 2023). "Knock at the Cabin movie review". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  39. ^ O'Sullivan, Charlotte (February 7, 2023). "Knock at the Cabin movie review: Shyamalan's latest is half-baked and full of holes". Evening Standard. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  40. ^ Ide, Wendy (February 5, 2023). "Knock at the Cabin review – the holiday from hell courtesy of M Night Shyamalan". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  41. ^ Rubino, Stef (February 6, 2023). ""Knock at the Cabin" Understands the Limits of Queer Assimilation". Autostraddle. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  42. ^ Adams, Sam (February 3, 2023). "M. Night Shyamalan's New Movie Ends With Something Worse Than a Twist". Slate. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  43. ^ Anderson, Erik (June 30, 2023). "Hollywood Critics Association 2023 Midseason HCA Awards: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Past Lives, Air are Top Winners". AwardsWatch. Archived from the original on July 1, 2023. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
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