Lor Gislason
M. Night Shyamalan has been on a bit of a comeback in the last few years. With his completion of the Unbreakable trilogy and the time-bending beach thriller Old, he shows no signs of stopping as a filmmaker. Teased at midnight on September 22nd, the debut trailer for Knock At The Cabin was released on the official Twitter.
Although it’s not stated, the story is based on Paul Tremblay’s 2018 book, The Cabin at The End of The World. It was optioned in 2017, prior to the book’s publication. The plot looks to be the same: a gay couple named Andrew and Eric vacationing at a forest cabin with their young daughter Wren. While hunting for grasshoppers, she’s approached by a huge man named Leonard (perfect casting going with Dave Bautista here) who, along with his three strange accomplices, soon breaks into the cabin taking the family hostage and proclaiming that the end of the world is coming. Tough choices will need to be made in order to avert the apocalypse. I won’t spoil it, but I recommend reading it yourself—It’s a fantastic book and I’m curious how it and the film will differ.
While Tremblay wrote the book, Shymalan rewrote the script from a first draft penned by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. The Black List and GLAAD List had the initial draft by Steve as one of the most popular unproduced screenplays of 2019. Rupert Grint and Nikki Amuka-Bird have both appeared in Shyamalan productions, with Grint starring in the Apple TV+ series Servant (which I love) and Amuka-Bird in Old. Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge play the couple, Andrew and Eric. Shyamalan reportedly shot the film with 1990s lenses to give it an “old-school thriller” look.
Knock At The Cabin is slated for release in theatres on February 3rd, 2023.
