Knock at the Cabin (2023)

 The plot of Knock at the Cabin: A gay couple Andrew and Eric are on holiday with their adopted daughter of Chinese heritage in a cabin when they are approached by four people. A very large man, Leonard a couple of ladies, Adriane and Sabrina and another man, Redmond. They all carry makeshift weapons. Andrew an Eric are told that the four had had similar visions telling them that they were to initiate the end of the world, unless Eric and Andrew decided between them that one of their family should be sacrificed to save humanity. After a tussle the guys are tied to chairs to witness the horrors unfolding. Redmond is the first to kneel in front of them to have his head split open and his body carried outside. They see the US west coast  engulfed in a tsunami. They are told that unless they do what is required each of the four will die which will release further horrors on humanity. Is this really happening, and if it is, which one of them should be sacrificed?

The Content of Knock at the Cabin: There is no sex or nudity and although it is never mentioned, we see the guys tell untruths so that they can adopt a Chinese baby, and also the parents of one of them being horrified on learning of their relationship. A further flashback reveals that Redmond is a man who attacked one of them once in a bar. Other than that Leonard speaks earnestly to them a lot. He is trying to convince them to stop the carnage and we see on the television that a vast wave overcomes the beaches of USA, and that a flu epidemic has devastated some areas, and that aircraft are falling out of the sky. There is a constant level of tension which does not let up.

A View: I admit to having read some other reviews before compiling mine, something I once tried to avoid, and as a result I am aware that quite a few major critics though that this film was, in the words of Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian, “complete bollocks”. I have usually watched films by this director, and enjoyed them right up to the twist in the tail.  Take The Village for instance. Riveting right up to the reveal, which when it comes is absolutely impossible. But I’m not telling you how this one ends.

Dave Bautista is another former wrestler, a sort of poor man’s Dwayne Johnson, but he has quite a filmography. His films reviewed on this site include: Glass Onion, Blade Runner 2049 and Heist.