The ending of Knock at the Cabin has one of M. Night Shyamalan's best twists

Few things in film over the last two decades are as synonymous as M. Night Shyamalan and twisted endings. Even if the director has moved away from the earth-shattering, film-defining twists that characterized his early films The sixth Sense, UnbreakableAnd The villagehe couldn’t quite resist some 11-hour swings in movies like 2016’s Splits or 2021er Old. But in his latest film Knock at the hutShyamalan finds one of his smartest and best turns of events in dealing with his own reputation.

[Ed. note: End spoilers ahead for Knock at the Cabin.]

What is Knock at the Cabin about?

Knock at the hut adapted from a 2018 novel by Paul Tremblay, The hut at the end of the world. Both the book and film tell the story of a couple and their young daughter on vacation in a rural rental cabin, until four people break into a doomsday cult and claim that the family must sacrifice a member or the world will end. The longer it takes the family to decide who must die, the more tragedies will strike the earth, including earthquakes, tsunamis, and plagues. Or at least that’s what the cult members claim.

While a bit of doubt about claims like these is only natural, Shyamalan’s film version elegantly sides with the cult members, never making them goofy or overly ridiculous (thanks in large part to an excellent, career-best performance by Protector of the Galaxy And Army of the Dead Star Dave Bautista). Her dead seriousness and conviction lend credibility to her claims and, most importantly, make the family’s doubts – particularly the anger of hot-headed Andrew (Ben Aldridge) – seem more misguided than the four gun-wielding lunatics who claim the world’s ending.

Jonathan Groff hugs Kristen Cui with Ben Aldridge in the background

How does Knock at the Cabin end?

But Shyamalan, in another excellent decision, doesn’t let audiences see these apocalyptic events firsthand. Instead, he lets us catch a glimpse of them through cable news shows, sometimes live and sometimes pre-recorded. Similarly, he omits any flashbacks to the visions the cult members are said to have seen and lets in the fact that they originally met on an internet forum. All of this lends an air of doubt to the cult members and their message, which gives the film its uneasy, gripping suspense.

By making the end of the world seem so close, Shyamalan uses his own reputation against viewers, challenging audiences to anticipate a “everything was fake all along” twist that they might believe is out of a mile distance comes. Then the expected twist never comes. Actually there is no twist. The film’s ending comes with a shattering rainless thunderstorm that threatens to set the entire earth on fire, just as the cultists said it would. And we find out that the world really was come to an end, except that Eric (Jonathan Groff) actually saves everyone by choosing to sacrifice himself. It’s exactly the sincere and serious love and sacrifice film it seemed to be all along.

Rupert Grint with a gun in Knock at the Cabin

Is Knock at the Cabin good?

Like many of Shyamalan’s other films, Knock at the hut will be divisive specifically because of this ending. By playing on the idea of a fake twist for the entire film and then never delivering the twist, he keeps the ending from feeling definitive – until the final moments you feel like yet another emotional shoe has to drop.

To some, this lack of closure might just represent the characters’ continued grief over what they’ve lost, even if that loss prevents the end of the world. For others it may just be unsatisfying considering how many unanswered questions are left at the end. But no matter where you fall on that spectrum, Knock at the hut still has the kind of weird, intriguing, and ambiguous ending that only Shyamalan and his 20+ year reputation for final act twists could have earned.