Knock at the Cabin (2023)

I've been nervous about Knock at the Cabin since I first saw the trailer. A story about a home invasion on a queer couple and their daughter was pretty triggering for me, and it being a movie made primarily by non-queer people made me uneasy considering the sensitive nature of the subject matter. But a part of me trusted those involved in the project including the queer actors cast in the lead roles. I was intrigued but a bit terrified by this film. But early in the film's runtime I was comforted that perhaps the film makers did get it and all that a story like this means. 

There is a moment early on when the young girl who has two dad talks about how people always tell her how "cool" that is and yet how that often feels like they are saying the opposite. Boom! That resonated so profoundly. The idea of being placated and tolerated by heteronormative society is such a prevalent and pervasive feeling for so many queer people just trying to exist in this space and the film voiced that from its opening moments. 

But it didn't stop there. Knock at the Cabin embraces the fact that at the heart of this is a queer family, a queer chosen family, who have faced all the alienations from micro-agressions, to systemic barriers, to physical threats and full on violence. It doesn't shy away from this acknowledgement, nor the strength and power this family has from that. It wasn't an easy watch to see this family terrorized, tied up, and threatened... in the unorthodox way the film does (yet it is still a threat). But the film handles this difficult story in such a way that it is not sensationalized nor is it exploitative. Also, quite truthfully, they aren't interchangeable for another family, a more typical family. This is the story of queerness under attack, even the unorthodox attack that this film presents. 

As Knock at the Cabin continues, it becomes not about their victimization, but their vitality and veracity as a family, a real family. In this way the film deviates from the book a bit plotwise but does so to further affirm and centre this family. It was remarkably powerful seeing this play out. I went through such a gauntlet of emotions until I was wrecked and teary by the ending. Knock at the Cabin uses the tropes of the home invasion movie set up but subverts them so powerfully and reveals something greater. Director Shyamalan is so delicate in his handling of the story, barely showing any of the violence yet letting you feel is viscerally. I was shocked at just how deft he managed it all.  

The script does feel a bit Shyamalany a few times with the fantastic elements perhaps not feeling as organic as they should, but this is often overcome by the powerful cast all delivering such amazing performances. I want to give props to Grint (so often belittled next to his more famous childhood co-stars) for giving a brief but excellent turn. Bird, Quinn, and Groff are strong too, along with young Cui, but it is Aldridge who truly gives a knockout turn in a role that I latched on to for strength. He encapsulates all the sides of a very healthy masculinity here in all its strength, anger, and vulnerability that is just amazing to watch. But at the centre of all this is Bautista, easily the best wrestler turned actor there ever was, delivering a layered, complicated, and completely captivating performance. I think the film might not have worked without how tell this cast commits to its premise and delivers on it. 

I can see how Knock at the Cabin will not be everyone's cup of tea, but for me it spoke to some very entrenched emotions and fears about how queer people don't quite fit into the straight world around them and how we are made to accommodate it all, how our trauma from this informs so much of how we structure our lives, and the rage we have living in this world. For me, seeing this played out in such a sensitive story, handled so deftly, had me holding on for dear life as I watched it play out. 

Knock at the Cabin

Starring: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Kristin Cui, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rupert Grint, Abby Quinn

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Writers: Steve Desmond, Michael Sherman, M Night Shyamalan