The embargo for M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin” will be lifted tonight. I liked the film. One of the better ones he’s released in recent years.
However, there’s already some critics out there who are none-too-happy about this film. I reckon, most of the ire will be about how a) the gay couple at the center of the film is depicted and b) the film’s religious themes, which do have correlations to Christianity.
Some have already taken to social media to show their discontent. RogerEbert’s Tomris Laffly wrote
“I didn’t like M. Night’s KNOCK AT THE CABIN, a conservative faith-based film masquerading as a cool home-invasion thriller. The stakes were comical, so was the message. There is also a cringey straight guilt thing in the movie that rubbed me.”
Meanwhile, a VOX correspondent was vehemently unhappy following a screening of the film: “Watching a gay family terrorized for and hour and a half and then they also get beat up in flashbacks lmao […] if you really want to see a manipulative gay romance that takes place at the end of the world please buy a ticket to knock at the cabin.”
As I’ve previously mentioned, it’s a good movie: Taut, tense and terrifying in its fearless nature. There will be a mixed reaction for this one, there’s no doubt about it, but it’s well worth a look.
The folks over at Cahiers du Cinema, who have passionately championed Shyamalan’s films over the years, tackled the religious themes of the movie in what seems to be a very politely written positive review:
The film classifies its characters between believers and non-believers, and operates on its themes to prove that it is always necessary to line up with fiction. A curious decision that tilts this film, which we know is resolutely spiritual, into the religious realm. If surrendering to fiction supposes an act of blind and absolute faith then Shyamalan will always find us in the camp of skeptics.
Official Synopsis:
While vacationing at a remote cabin in the woods, a young girl and her parents are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand they make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse. Confused, scared and with limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what they believe before all is lost.
The film is based on the 2018 novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” by Paul G. Tremblay. Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman wrote the initial draft of the film, and their script was then rewritten by Shyamalan. “Knock at the Cabin” is scheduled to be released by Universal Pictures this Friday.