Vacationing in the woods can never bore, when such nice folk arrive and knock knock at your door, as they proceed to make an offer, if you'd be kind enough to proffer, the essence of what makes you, what you are. In return you'll get to save humanity, who'll be forgiven for their crimes, sins, vanity, although I fancy they won't alter (or visit one either), will not stray from onward falter, but your sacrifice brings immortality (might even get a few pages in a book along with plenty of real estate and songs too). The only downside is, that one must take a life, as the big cheese wants to instil grief and strife, but there can be no selfishness, someone else must take the stress, before the human race, becomes a lot less rife.

While films like this might provoke a bit of conversation in the pub about what you might or might not do in similar circumstances, it should also leave you on the edge of your seat, heart pounding and left dangling as the tension builds and the reality or otherwise escalates exponentially to an incredible, unpredictable climax; sadly however, you get none of that, which leaves it little more than a forgettable addition to the director's expanding list of previous near misses.

Knock at the Cabin (2023) is a new M. Night Shyamalan picture my wife and I caught at an A24 Advance Screening last night. The storyline follows two men and their daughter on vacation at a cabin in the woods. They are visited and captured by four individuals who come out of the woods with an ultimatum...one of the three must die at the hands of the other two or the world will end. As time runs down the family sees the death and destruction the visitors promised. Will the family let everyone die, will they save the world or is it all an elaborate game being played by four psychopaths?

As previously referenced, this picture is directed by M. Night Shyamalan (Signs) and stars Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Rupert Grint (Harry Potter), Ben Aldridge (Our Girl), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Jupiter Ascending), Jonathan Groff (The Matrix: Resurrection) and Abby Quinn (After the Wedding).

The storyline and characters in this picture had a lot of potential; but unfortunately, every situation is straightforward and predictable, all the way to the final scene. It's too bad because the cinematography and camera angles are very good and Dave Bautista delivers an outstanding performance. His character was easily my favorite. However, the characters backstories needed to be more developed, more like The Stand, before they all met at the cabin. I didn't really care what happened to those characters (the decisions were too easy to make for the family). The kill scenes themselves needed more gore and intensity. They definitely could have been better executed to highlight the situation the parents were in. The conclusion is straightforward and you know what's going to happen and how.

Unfortunately, this movie needed more twists and turns, which is a strange problem for a M. Night Shyamalan movie to have. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.