Warning: Major spoilers for Knock at the Cabin to follow.
Knock at the Cabin won’t be a film that writer-director M. Night Shyamalan will want to soon forget; as his latest release has scored plenty of points from critics and audiences alike (or at least a fair bit more than the nearly unwatchable Old), here’s hoping that this much-needed win for the filmmaker will translate into positive momentum for his next film.
But let’s get right into the big question: how about that ending? We already knew the ending of Knock at the Cabin would be different from the book that it’s based on (Paul G. Tremblay’s The Cabin at the End of the World, for those not in the know), and knowing Shyamalan and his reputation for twists, it seemed safe to assume that this film’s ending would involve such a fake-out.
But it wasn’t to be, and, even though defining oneself through big plot twists can backfire in its own right, the lack of one in Knock at the Cabin was ultimately worse for it.
What happened at the end of Knock at the Cabin?
Following Leonard’s death by his own hand, in which the apocalypse begins to enter its final stages, husbands Eric and Andrew are left with a handful of minutes to decide if one of them are to be sacrificed for the sake of humanity (the sacrifice of their daughter Wen, of course, was off the table). Eric, now fully convinced that the apocalypse and need for a sacrifice is real, turns to Andrew and calmly tells him that he (Eric) will be the sacrifice.
Andrew, realizing that Eric won’t have his mind changed, suddenly begins to feel his heart sink as Eric describes a vision of his own to his husband, in which Wen and Andrew go on to live happy lives, with Wen surrounded by love and leading a life she’s proud of. The fathers tearfully agree that that is the life they want for Wen, and Eric reassures Andrew that the reason they were chosen likely had to do with how pure the love within their family was. Andrew shoots his husband, completing the necessary steps for the sacrifice, and bringing the apocalypse to an end.
Andrew then goes to find Wen, who had been hiding in her treehouse, and they embrace; both of them now safe, but with unimaginable psychological scars. Later, as they’re sitting in a car together, they flick on the vehicle’s stereo, which begins to blare “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band; the song that the three of them chose for their family anthem, as it were. They solemnly let the cheerful song play in order to keep Eric’s memory alive, and head toward what they only hope is the future that Eric saw in his vision.
Knock at the Cabin ending analysis
One bit we left out in the above synopsis was how Eric finally convinced Andrew that the apocalypse was real, namely by making him realize that the four intruders — Leonard, Adriane, Sabrina, and Redmond — represented the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; information that he gives to Andrew more-or-less in the same way we just gave it to you. So before we even get into the meat of the denouement, Shyamalan has already thrown his hat in the ring for the biggest insult to the audience of 2023, which is where the sour taste begins.
Admittedly, the actual lack of a twist ending is neither here nor there; this was one of those endings that seemed so obvious that you might have forgotten you expected it on account of it just being too easy of a route.
But it’s not the predictability of the ending that’s the problem; it’s the murky interpretations that are birthed by way of the two parents being two fathers. Throughout the film, the couple’s experience with harassment and discrimination, ranging from adoption struggles to Andrew being the target of a dangerous attack at a bar, is well-documented, so it’s no stretch to say that Shyamalan was looking to paint a picture of the world that these two — and so many other queer folk all over the world — are subjected to.
So when the decision is made to sacrifice Eric, whose death ultimately does prevent the apocalypse (an apocalypse which, unfortunately, can easily be read as the way that homophobes see the world as it becomes more and more accepting of queer people and relationships), it makes space for the very dangerous interpretation that queer erasure will benefit the world.
Now, this probably isn’t what Shyamalan was going for; Eric’s remarks about the love between him, Andrew, and Wen being pure enough to prevent the apocalypse creates a much more touching interpretation of what power and beauty queer love, much like all love, holds, but the fact that a gay man nevertheless had to be killed to create a world that was safe for everyone is tone-deaf at best and irresponsible at worst.
Indeed, Knock at the Cabin‘s ending was easily the film’s weak point for a variety of reasons, and while we’re pretty much certain that Shyamalan had no ill intentions, it nevertheless highlights the dodgy-at-best understanding that Hollywood has with telling queer stories and, by extension, connecting with the queer community at large. There is work to be done.
Knock at the Cabin is currently playing in theaters.