Caffeinated Clint
Like a shallow grave scattered with ashes, M.Night Shyamalan’s latest has nothing much to fill it’s grandiose plot with and yet, it remains perfectly entertaining.
Likely sold on concept alone – because it’s a doozie of a concept – and well before it’s multi-hyphenate helmer had scribbled anything down on paper, The Sixth Sense filmmaker’s feature film adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s 2019 novel The Cabin at the End of the World features the same exciting premise but little of the intrigue or sting that Tremblay managed to fit into his 288 pages.
The dark thriller, similar in tone and execution to Jordan Peele’s Us, sees a young girl (Kristen Cui) and her parents (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge) taken hostage by four strangers – led by Dave Bautista’s seemingly conflicted Leonard – at their, of course, cabin in the woods.
The family are offered a choice, sacrifice one or their one to avert the apocalypse or be a statistic themselves.
It’s a prom that’s forgotten to cater, lacking punch. Main issue seems to be that Shyamalan, who has made a bit of a comeback in recent years with more modestly budgeted, intimate thrillers, rewriting a script by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman, has made such radically tweaks to the original source material (and the flashbacks here add nothing to the movie) that place what should be a laser offering in the mono corner. Someone at Universal needed to dare challenge the filmmaker to better explain the core elements of the plot, as what’s offered in the film is astoundingly foreseeable and lazy, and the ending is an obstruse letdown.
At the same time, the always interesting filmmaker – known primarily for his ‘twist’ (which, by the way, he doesn’t incorporate here) does fill his frame with some interesting elements – notably, some remarkable performances, particularly from the likes of Bautista, in a multi-layered and effectively emotional turn, and as the victimised couple, Groff and Aldridge, and holds attention with his unique and very painterly directing style.
