Knock At The Cabin (Collector’s Edition) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge

Release Date: May 9, 2023

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 7/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

KNOCK AT THE CABIN is a thriller about a tight-knit family who are taken hostage by four armed strangers while vacationing at a remote cabin. The visitors, led by Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Dune), demand that the young girl and her parents make an unthinkable choice: to save their family or save humanity.

Please Note: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Knock at the Cabin’ tells the tale of a loving family enjoying a peaceful vacation in a quiet cabin out in the middle of nowhere when a group of four individuals armed with peculiar, ancient weapons arrive and knock on their door. Determined to get in whether peacefully or by force, once the four strangers eventually find their way indoors they inform the family that they will be required to make a terrifying choice; they must either willingly sacrifice one of their own or else be responsible for the apocalypse and the end of humanity as they know it.

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan (Old, Glass) from a screenplay written by M. Night Shyamalan and Steve Desmond & Michael Sherman and based on the book “The Cabin at the End of the World” written by Paul Tremblay, Shyamalan does a solid job at the helm of ‘Knock at the Cabin’ guiding along the tense ride with style and beauty. The film’s cast includes Dave Bautista (Glass Onion), Jonathan Groff (The Matrix Resurrections), Ben Aldridge (Spoiler Alert), Nikki Amuka-Bird (TV’s Citadel), Kristen Cui (making her feature acting debut), Abbey Quinn (Little Women 2019) and Rupert Grint (TV’s Servant) who each offer altogether capable and fitting performances for the most part in their respective roles.

‘Knock at the Cabin’ is a largely enjoyable, tense and occasionally somewhat unnerving film that explores the terrifying concept of what a good, loving family would do if they were forced to make an unthinkable decision; sacrifice one of themselves or risk letting the world suffer and all of humanity be potentially eradicated. It’s both a fitting film for filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan that fits with his type of offbeat stories, while also curiously enough serving as one of the most straightforward films of his unique career. A different type of apocalyptic tale that as opposed to following the end of the world and all of the visually insane moments that might accompany it instead explores the possibility of it and one loving family’s unthinkable decision; not to mention the difficulty of accepting such a possibility based primarily on the word of four dangerous strangers with seemingly violent intentions.

It’s a powerful and undeniably enticing premise that is approached in a more composed manner than you might expect and while much of it does work quite well, it also has a tendency to falter on occasion and become bogged down by some questionable choices. As a whole it’s still well worth taking the time to give a shot and it shouldn’t have much trouble holding your attention for most of its duration, thanks largely in part to the capable cast led by a drastically different performance from Dave Bautista and some interesting ideas at play throughout. It may not be Shyamalan’s greatest film to date, but it’s also far from his worst and has a lot of positive elements and ideas to offer.

Overall, ‘Knock at the Cabin’ delivers an intriguing premise with an emotional struggle at its core revolving around a terrifying concept and some talented stars to back it up. It serves as both a familiar type of outing from filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan in many ways, while also very different in other areas and somewhat surprisingly one of his most straightforward directorial efforts as a whole. It’s not one of his finest works, but it’s far from one of the worst at the same time and has a lot of positive elements going for it. ‘Knock at the Cabin’ is recommended, especially for fans of M. Night Shyamalan who does a solid job at the helm and/or of Dave Bautista who delivers a very different and notably emotional performance in one of the leads. If you’re already even somewhat intrigued or interested in this one then it will probably be worth the time and price of a rental to give a whirl whenever you have the chance.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Knock at the Cabin’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks magnificent as a whole and provides a sharp, richly detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any noticeable issues or glitches to be uncovered along the way. It holds up wonderfully throughout and delivers a sharp, filmic presentation that offers impressive detail and clarity across the board in nearly every area including character clothing and facial specifics, along with backgrounds both inside the cabin and outdoors, and everything else that appears onscreen throughout its duration. The Dolby Vision addition also contributes a beautiful color palette that never disappoints and delivers gorgeous, lifelike colors throughout which are only further complemented by deep, rich darks that are always absent of any crush or other potential troubles. Overall, this is a wonderful Ultra High Definition video presentation that looks impressive every step of the way and should easily thrill fans and newcomers alike.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack makes a great compliment to the outstanding video presentation and provides a crisp, clean and at times notably aggressive audio presentation throughout. It regularly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to accentuate the film’s ambiance and send some pounding, nature content such as lightning and other aggressive weather, bits of dialogue and plenty more throughout the various speakers quite frequently and at every plausible opportunity, while never allowing it to conflict with any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously; all dialogue and audio content remaining sharp, clean and fully audible every step of the way. Overall, this is a very nice Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that delivers impressively throughout and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Collector’s Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Knock at the Cabin’ includes some entertaining bonus content that fans of the film should enjoy. Included on the release are a few ‘Deleted Scenes’ (running approximately 5 minutes in length altogether) from the film, along with the ‘Chowblaster Infomercial – Extended’ (running approximately 1 minute) and some behind the scenes Featurettes that explore the process of bringing the film to life featuring interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Choosing Wisely: Behind the Scenes of Knock at the Cabin’ (running approximately 23 minutes), ‘Tools of the Apocalypse’ (approximately 5 minutes), ‘Drawing a Picture’ (3 minutes) and ‘Kristen Cui Shines a Light’ (4 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 7/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘Knock At The Cabin’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Blinding Edge Pictures & Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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