Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rupert Grint, Abby Quinn, Kristen Cui, McKenna Kerrigan, Ian Merrill Peakes, Denise Nakano, Rose Luardo, Billy Vargus, Satomi Hofmann, Kevin Leung, Lee Avant, Odera Adimorah, Kat Murphy, Kittson O’Neill, Lya Yanne, M. Night Shyamalan, Clare Louise Frost, Hanna Gaffney, Monica Fleurette, Saria Chen.

M Night Shyamalan’s career has been one of extraordinary highs, and even when the film he is connected with has only found an average basis with the crowds, it seems to be one that still finds a way to resonate with the unnerving and the memory of what can leave the audience and watcher alike with a trepidation of the twist that comes in the final moment.

Adapted from Paul G. Tremblay’s The Cabin At The End Of The World, M Night Shayamalan makes the most of an impending apocalypse and the mythic biblical appropriation of The Four Horsemen to whom herald the end of humanity and the world as they know it.

In much the same way as Old, the director’s previous outing, the sense of peril and outcome is perhaps light, it certainly does not find itself on the same platform as Split, Glass, or even The Village, but it does hold its head above the water and swims comfortably in a world of cinema where the implausible can be seen to be reckoned with.

In the casting of Dave Bautista as the remorseful but convincing school-teacher Leonard, and with Nikki Amuka-Bird and Rupert Grint adding a sizeable account of themselves in supporting roles, Knock At The Cabin manages to convey the supernatural and biblical effect with a certain modern gothic natural charm.

The viewer is left questioning the final intention, the validation of belief being the overall discussion piece and how we interpret the actions of those who have been guided to warn the sacrifice, and the big question that envelops all science fiction what ifs, would you be prepared to die if it meant that the rest of humanity survived; an impossible choice even when faced with irrefutable proof.

Knock At The Cabin isn’t the maestro’s finest work, but it asks more of the viewer than first realised, it sees a relatively small cast deal with the confines of the set with fierce admiration, and when the pay off comes, when the truth is presented, so the penny drops of just how much influence an ancient belief can grab a hold of us when faced with the extinction of all that we know and love.

Ian D. Hall