Movie: Knock at the Cabin (2023) Caution: Spoiler Alert

 Knock at the Cabin

Came out; 2023

Time; 1 hours 40 minutes

Watched: Amazon

Rating; R for violence and language

IMDB Rating; 6.1/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring.

Dave Bautista as Leonard

Jonathon Groff as Eric

Ben Aldridge as Andrew

Nikki Amuka-Bird as Sabrina

Rupert Grint as Redmond

Abby Quinn as Adriane

Kristen Cui as Wen

Story Line.

Wen, only seven years old, is vacationing with her two dads, Eric and Andrew, at a remote cabin. While catching grasshoppers, she is approached by a stranger named Leonard. Initially friendly, he explains that he needs Wen and her parents' help to save the world. However, Wen becomes suspicious when three other people appear with makeshift weapons. Wen flees to warn Eric and Andrew, but the visitors break into the cabin and tie them up, with Eric sustaining a concussion. Leonard and his companions claim that they have never met before this day and have no intention of harming the family. However, in the past week, they have been driven by visions and an unknown force to find the family as they are predicting an impending apocalypse. Vision or illusion?

Thoughts:

This is a pretty slow-going movie, but it's always on point with where it's at and what they want you to see. This is pretty typical for this director.

The tension feels real, with every second you can feel what the family is feeling. Are these crazy people or are they telling the truth?

I also loved how the movie would jump into a back story then back to what's happening now.

I personally thought this was a very good movie.

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

Wen, a seven-year-old, is vacationing with her adoptive parents, Eric and Andrew, at their remote cabin in Burlington County, New Jersey.

During her stay, Wen is approached by a mysterious stranger named Leonard. Initially charming, Leonard explains that he needs Wen and her parents' help to save the world. While the two spend time together catching grasshoppers, Wen becomes suspicious when three other people show up with makeshift weapons. Wen flees to warn Eric and Andrew but the visitors break into the cabin before tying them up, with Eric sustaining a concussion.

Leonard and his companions-Sabrina, Adriane, and Redmond-claim to have never met before this day and have no intention to harm the family, but in the last week, they have been compelled by visions and an unknown power to find the family. The group foresee an upcoming apocalypse in which Leonard claims oceans will rise, a plague will descend, the sky will fall, and finally an unending darkness will descend. This can only be averted if the family kills one of their own as a sacrifice. They are warned that, while they will survive the apocalypse, if they do not choose, they will be doomed to be the last people alive. Eric and Andrew believe the group is lying and the attack is rooted in hate and delusions.

When the family refuses to choose, the visitors conduct a strange ritual in which Redmond covers his head with a cloth and they beat him to death with their weapons. Eric, who is concussed, believes he sees a figure of light as Redmond dies. On the TV, media reports devastating tsunamis, which Leonard says is the start of the apocalypse. Andrew comes to believe that Redmond is actually Jeff O'Bannon, a homophobe who assaulted him in a bar years ago, for which he went to prison. Andrew believes O'Bannon tracked him down as revenge. Leonard, Sabrina, and Adriane question if Andrew is right and struggle with their guilt, but maintain that they believe their visions. They reveal that Redmond's death has temporarily delayed the apocalypse. The next day, the intruders sacrifice Adriane as Eric and Andrew refuse to choose a sacrifice.

The disasters continue as a plague spread across the globe. Andrew insists the disasters are coincidental and the visitors were anticipating pre-scheduled news broadcasting. Sabrina describes how she and the other visitors were led by their visions and compulsions to find each other online, execute details of their plan such as their weapons, and to continue forward when they wanted to resist. Andrew manages to escape and retrieves his gun from the car and shoots at Sabrina until she runs away. Andrew finds Redmond's wallet and proves to Leonard that he was Jeff. Injured from his attack and their tires slashed, Andrew believes the four came in a truck nearby and locks Leonard in the bathroom. Sabrina breaks into the house, and Andrew fatally injures her. Leonard then tricks Andrew into coming into the bathroom and overpowers him, stealing the gun.

Leonard still sacrifices Sabrina, and the broadcasts shows spontaneous plane crashes taking place around the world. Realizing their time is almost up, Leonard takes the three onto the back deck as the sky begins to blacken and lightning begins to set the earth on fire. Before sacrificing himself, Leonard tells them they have only minutes to decide before it is too late and slashes his throat. Eric now believes that the events are real, and the intruders each represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Not wanting Wen to grow up in a destroyed world, Eric offers himself as the sacrifice. He claims that he saw a light before the visitors killed Redmond, and that he saw a future of the world still surviving and Wen is grown up, and Andrew is still there for her. Eric feels that they were chosen to sacrifice their family because their family's love was pure. Andrew then reluctantly shoots and kills Eric.

Andrew and Wen find the visitor's truck with their belongings that corroborate their stories. They drive to a crowded nearby diner, where news reports on the TV confirm that the disasters have subsided, and the world is saved. Returning to the truck, the radio turns on and plays "Boogie Shoes" by KC and the Sunshine Band, the song Eric played for them on their drive to the cabin, as the two drive back into the world.