Knock at the Cabin isn't M. Night Shyamalan's worst movie (we've already sat through a couple of those). But as skillfully made as it is, it's also a little dull, and—a handicap in a horror movie—it's not horrifying, either. The picture is based on a 2018 novel by Paul Tremblay, via a script by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman that Shyamalan rewrote. Why he neglected to tack on the word Door at the end of the title is an issue that will have to be thrashed out between him and his god (please copy me on that, guys).
Tremblay's story has been adjusted for purposes of crowd pleasing but remains largely the same in outline. A pair of gay dads named Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff) have rented a deluxe lakeside cabin for a vacation with their adopted seven-year-old daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui). The little girl is playing outside when a very large and heavily tattooed man suddenly appears. His name is Leonard (Dave Bautista in full gentle giant mode), and he's soon joined by three other strangers: a pair of women named Sabrina and Adriane (Nikki Amuka-Bird and Abby Quinn) and a hotheaded ex-con called Redmond (Rupert Grint).
