Knock at the Cabin is M. Night Shyamalan, a taut, expertly crafted thriller that will have viewers on the edge of their seats. Movie stars Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, and Rupert Grint as a family of three who have their secluded rental property invaded by four intruders.
The aliens explain to the shaken but composed family that someone in the family must be sacrificed if the planet is to be saved. Shyamalan has made several memorable films and is known for his twisting and overly ambitious (often to a fault) ventures. His most successful films, like Knock at the Cabin, keep viewers wondering until the end.
The director has created an uncomfortable, unsettling, beautifully presented story about family and faith by taking what works about the source material and modifying some essential components.
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Knock at the Cabin is one of Shyamalan’s best films because it doesn’t try to accomplish too much and instead tells a surprisingly moving story that benefits much from its setting and actors on the way to an unavoidable but rewarding conclusion.
Knock At The Cabin Ending Explained
The film’s premise enables the action to take place in an isolated apartment. Every time the family refuses to pick a sacrifice, one of the four invaders—Leonard, Sabrina, Adriane, or Redmond—dies. As a result, Eric and Andrew, together with their almost-8-year-old adopted daughter Wen, start to worry as disastrous events seem to follow the deaths of the invaders.
Although their integrity is questioned, Andrew and Eric watch the grim news on television. Human rights attorney Andrew, who was once attacked for being gay, is sure that the invaders are a cult suffering from mass hysteria and shared illusions, especially since one of the invaders, Redmond, appears to recognize Andrew as the guy who attacked him.
On the other hand, Eric is more likely to believe the invaders, even though his concussion when they broke into the cottage has caused him to question everything, even his sanity. With each new development in the plot, the family grows more robust while the invaders kill each other.
Eric and Andrew are bound to chairs throughout the film’s first half, but they break free following Adriane’s death, leaving only Leonard and Sabrina alive. Andrew kills Sabrina with a gunshot, but Leonard pulls the trigger, releasing a new scourge upon the world. As the clock ticks down, Eric and Andrew tell Wen to hide out in a treehouse while they have a final conversation with Leonard.
The dying Leonard assures them they will have a few more minutes to decide but that if they fail or refuse, all humanity will be destroyed, and the three of them will survive. Just as the clouds roll in and the lightning strikes the earth, sparking numerous fires, Leonard slits his throat.
What Happens At The End Of Knock At The Cabin?
Now that he’s regained his composure, Eric assures Andrew that the invaders’ claims are credible. He says the intruders were all meant to teach the family a lesson about humanity: Andrew was attacked by Redmond, who represented humanity’s innate cruelty; Leonard, the instructor, represented humanity’s direction; Sabrina, a nurse, represented humanity’s ability to heal; Adriane, a cook, represented humanity’s ability to nurture; and so on.
Eric draws parallels between these figures and the four horsemen of the apocalypse, concluding that countless families may have paid the same sacrifice throughout history and that, despite humanity’s many flaws, it is salvageable. Eric tells Andrew directly that he is the one who has to die. Andrew, giving up, shoots him and then goes to Wen’s treehouse to console her.
As they flee the cottage in the invaders’ vehicle, Andrew and Wen stop for breakfast at a neighboring eatery. They enter, only to discover that the calamities have ceased because of Eric’s sacrifice and that the invaders were telling the truth all along. This knowing gives Andrew and Wen the strength to get in their car and leave, determined to put the past behind them and go on with their lives.
