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The apocalyptic horror movie, Knock at the Cabin, released on February 3, 2023, is based on Paul G. Tremblay's 2018 novel titled The Cabin at the End of the World. The movie's director M. Night Shyamalan, who co-wrote the screenplay with Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman, made significant changes to the story and its ending, to adapt it for the screen.
The story begins with Eric (Jonathan Groff), his husband Andrew (Ben Aldridge), and their adopted daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) vacationing at a remote cabin in Pennsylvania. Their vacation is interrupted when they are visited by four strangers who proclaim the world's apocalyptic end and pressure the family to sacrifice one of them, to save the world.
Knock at the Cabin takes a detour from the sequence of events mentioned in the book and reaches a different conclusion altogether.
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Note: The article contains spoilers. Please read at your own discretion.
Knock at the Cabin movie ending
The movie Knock at the Cabin follows most of its source material during the first half, until Redmond's (Rupert Grint) death. After which, the story diverged in a vastly different direction.
Adriane (Abby Quinn) is killed by the remaining intruders, much like Redmond. Next, Andrew finds his gun and shoots Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) before Leonard (Dave Bautista) slits his throat. After all of the intruders are dead, the couple is left with some very important decisions to make as they witness the world plunge into more chaos in front of their own eyes.
Eric gets convinced that the intruders are, in fact, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Worried about his daughter's future, he convinces Andrew to shoot him and save the world.
But before dying, Eric sees a vision of Wren as a grown woman alongside a much older Andrew. Thus, letting audiences know that the father-daughter duo survive the doomsday and go on to live happily in the future.
At the end of the film, Andrew and Wen walk out together and visit a nearby diner, where they get confirmation on the news that the disasters have stopped and that life has returned to normal.
The biggest, and most surprising plot difference that divided fans was that Wen survives in the movie, Knock at the Cabin. The film's co-writers Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman spoke to Variety at the film's premiere regarding the alternate ending. They said:
“We adapted it slightly different than the book, and then [Shyamalan] had a whole new vision for what the ending could be. The book is the book, and the movie is the movie, and we think they both were exceptional mediums."
They continued:
"This is a big, wide release movie that is meant for a very large audience. There are some decisions that the book made that were pretty dark and may have been a little too much for a broader audience. That was a decision that [Shyamalan] immediately recognized. It’s a great ending now.”
The Cabin at the End of the World book ending
In the book, Redmond is the first to die after offering himself to get beaten to death by his companions. Next in line is Adriane. But she is killed by Andrew, who shoots her with his gun. Andrew and Leonard subsequently fight over the gun when it fires accidentally, killing Wen.
As the parents grieve over their daughter's death, Leonard informs them that her death was not a willing sacrifice and so, it does not count. They still have a decision to make. After watching Wen die, Sabrina freaks out and decides to leave. But, she changes her mind and kills Leonard instead.
Sabrina takes Eric and Andrew outside to Redmond's car and hands them the car keys. She warns them about the fast-approaching doom one last time before committing suicide herself. Eric debates sacrificing his life before Andrew convinces him to fight back against a god who demands human sacrifice (if that's the case) as appeasement.
In the final pages of the book, the two drive off together with Wen's body in the car. Seemingly, the couple braces themselves to face whatever lies ahead in the outside world.
Movie's definitive ending vs book's ambiguous ending
As the plot advances in Knock at the Cabin, the movie provides definitive answers to questions like, is the apocalypse real or just a function of four deranged minds? Shyamalan's narrative leaves no room for open-ended questions. He ties all the loose ends together, by showing that the intruders did get the prophetic visions.
In contrast, Tremblay does not offer readers any direct answers. Eric and Andrew, along with the readers, question the veracity of the doomsday claims made by the four intruders.
In the end, when Eric and Andrew drive away from the forest, there is no way of guessing what they may encounter in the outside world. Their fate and of the world are left open to interpretation. Thus, giving readers a lot to think about once the book is finished.
The author defended his ambiguous ending with the following statement to Variety in 2023:
"I find the idea of what happened in my book — that the two characters reject that, like ‘No, we’re not going to sacrifice. That’s wrong. We’re going to go on.’ That’s a little bit more hopeful."
M. Night Shyamalan's apocalyptic thriller Knock at the Cabin is available to stream on Netflix.
