Nothing would induce me to reveal what happens in "Knock at the Cabin," the new film from M. Night Shyamalan. Nothing, that is, except for the fact that Shyamalan has already given away the basics of the plot in a couple of candid trailers. When did he become so generous in spilling the beans? Remember, this is the guy who made "The Sixth Sense" (1999), which held on tight to its beans right up to the final spill.
The new movie springs from a 2018 novel, Paul Tremblay's "The Cabin at the End of the World," so readers of the book, at least, will arrive at the cinema well versed in the terrors to come. For anyone else, here goes: a seven-year-old girl, Wen (Kristen Cui), goes on vacation with her fathers, Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge). They have taken a remote but cozy dwelling, on a lake, in rural Pennsylvania. This is a clear case of asking for trouble, given that earlier Shyamalan shockers, like "Signs" (2002) and "The Village" (2004), are set in similar seclusion. The happy holiday, in "Knock at the Cabin," is interrupted by four strangers, who bring rusty tools and unwelcome news: the family must kill one of its own-Eric, Andrew, or Wen. Without such a sacrifice, all of humanity will perish. No big deal.
This story is from the February 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) edition of The New Yorker.
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This story is from the February 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) edition of The New Yorker.
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