What is the significance of the four strangers in ‘Knock at the Cabin?’

Knock at the Cabin became new territory for M. Night Shyamalan when it premiered in theaters on Feb. 3, 2023. The movie is based on the novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay and is the filmmaker’s first to be adapted from pre-existing material. It’s also his first not to feature a signature Shyamalan twist and his first to star two gay men as the leads.

These firsts have relatively paid off for the 52-year-old director, scoring the movie a fair amount of positive criticism – something that hasn’t happened since 2016. Now, the only thing left is to make sense of it all.

How do the four strangers arrive at Knock at the Cabin?

Even though Shyamalan took a fair amount of liberties with this adaptation, he managed to hold onto the spirit of the film, which heavily revolves around four strangers attempting to convince husbands Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) to willingly sacrifice either themselves or their seven-year-old daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) in order to prevent the apocalypse.

These strangers include Leonard (Dave Bautista), Adriane (Abby Quinn), Redmond (Rupert Grint), and Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird). Their arrival is both sudden and foreboding. As Wen fiddles with some grasshoppers one afternoon outside the rural cabin where she and her fathers are vacationing, Leonard approaches her and asks if he can join. His substantial size is alarming, but he attempts to win over Wen’s affection and eventually tries to coerce her into letting him and his friends inside their cabin.

The request is denied for obvious reasons, but within a matter of time, Leonard, Adriane, Redmond, and Sabrina find a way to break in, at which point chaos ensues.

What is the significance of the four strangers?

Upon their arrival, Leonard and his accomplices appear to be regular, ordinary people with distinctly unique personalities. Leonard informs Eric and Andrew that he’s a second-grade teacher and a basketball coach; Adriane tells them she’s a line cook and a mother; Redmond is a Metro worker and reformed criminal; and Sabrina is a nurse.

The four strangers divulge this information to Eric and Andrew in individual monologues in the hopes of building a rapport. That way, they’ll be less inclined to think of them as crazy people. Because, in fact, they’re not crazy at all – they are the Four Horsemen of the Apolocapyse.

Each time Eric and Andrew refuse to sacrifice themselves or their daughter Wen, one of the strangers – or should we say horsemen – is brutally murdered by their colleagues, and a plague is then unleashed on humanity. The first stranger to be killed is Redmond, and his death ignites a severe earthquake and a subsequently enormous tsunami that engulfs the west coast of North and South America.

Next to go is Adriane, whose death unleashes disease upon the world, followed by Sabrina, whose death causes over 700 airplanes to fall from the sky. Finally, Leonard is the last to sacrifice himself, and his death will ultimately engulf the world in fire.

The four strangers represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Only after Eric finally accepts that the apocalypse is real do we learn why each of these strangers was unique to the other. In the Book of Revelations, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent a means of humanity’s end: Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. However, in Knock at the Cabin, Eric interprets them as the four qualities of humanity: Malice, Nurture, Healing, and Guidance.

Redmond’s background as a criminal and a man with a temper makes him the personification of Malice. Adriane’s background as a line cook, lover of food, and mother makes her the personification of Nurture. Sabrina’s background as a nurse makes her the personification of Healing. And Leonard’s background as a teacher makes him the personification of Guidance.

In the end, each aspect of humanity is wiped away as Eric and Andrew refuse to sacrifice themselves or their daughter, and each of the Horsemen is extinguished. However, after every plague is unleashed on the world and Eric and Andrew begin to see the consequences of their actions, in the end, they make the impossible decision to follow through with the ultimate sacrifice just as the world begins to crumble around them.

Knock at the Cabin is available to rent or buy through Amazon, Vudu, iTunes, and Google Play. It is also available to stream via Prime Video and Peacock.