Review of Knock at the Cabin (2023) by Ziggingzebra — 03 Feb 2023

Before I begin, I just want to say if you don’t like M. Night movies, you might not like this one. I love nearly all of his movies. He’s my favorite director. I’m aware that some may not like his style, but I love it, even with ideas I’m not completely sure of from the trailer.

That brings me to the trailer for this film. When I saw the trailer for the first time, I was a little underwhelmed. I saw the elements of what an M. Night movie, but I felt like I was missing something. Ironically, what I found was that it wasn’t what was missing, it was everything that was there. It’s a simple concept that’s more horrifying to think about than to watch on screen — unless you jump into story head first. It starts quickly, so you have to choose to go with it from the beginning, but once you do go with it, there’s a lot of dread to be found. It’s classic M. Night writing as well, where it seems more like he’s writing a book than a movie and that’s what makes his movies the most interesting to me. Yes, this is adapted from a book, but M. Night’s writing style is paperback, maybe even a little comic-booky. Once you let yourself believe there are people in this world that can predict an apocalypse, everything falls into place, but you won’t be massaged into it. For better of for worse, this has been his style. And yes, you can say there’s a “twist” in the film, but I won’t spoil that. Make the choice.