M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film, Knock at the Cabin, is now playing in theaters, and given that the director is famous for having twists in his movies, many people are sure to go in expecting some major shake-up. However, fans may be surprised to figure out that the film actually subverts this expectation.
Nevertheless, the film as a whole does have interesting things to say, but says them with a bit more subtlety. This may lead to some people not picking up on every hint throughout the film as to what is happening in the film’s conclusion. If you’re one of these people, you’re in luck: We have the answers you’re looking for laid out in this guide on Knock at the Cabin’s ending, explained in a way that’s easier to make sense of.
Warning: *Major Spoilers* for Knock at the Cabin are below
What Happened in Knock at the Cabin? Explained
Knock at the Cabin, which is based on Paul G. Tremblay’s “The Cabin at the End of the World,” is, at the end of the day, a movie about some higher power — assumably God themself — deciding whether or not humanity is worth saving.
In the film, God has plagued four seemingly random people with visions of the apocalypse, which sends the recipients on a quest to stop the world’s impending doom. Apparently, the only way to do this is for the four of them to take a particular family staying at a cabin in the woods hostage, forcing the family to choose to kill one of the three amongst themselves. If the family decides to kill one of their own, the apocalypse stops, but if they don’t, then everybody in the world besides the three of them will perish. The family in question is gay couple Eric and Andrew and their adopted daughter Wen.
God has decided that they want to wipe the world clean once again, just like in the story of Noah’s Ark. However, humanity has one final chance to prove themselves, and that is by having a family who has every reason to hate the world demonstrate that the world is worth saving by sacrificing what they hold most dear.
Throughout Knock at the Cabin, the intruders begin to realize that the reason for God’s choice of the family is because their love is so pure despite the world being such an ugly and homophobic place. For you see, in God’s eyes, only Eric, Andrew, and Wen can choose whether the human race is worthy of another chance or if it is better left to be destroyed by an apocalypse.
As for the intruders, God has instructed the members to kill their small group of four one by one until the family makes their decision, with each death unleashing signs of the apocalypse across the world. It is worth acknowledging that the reason that God has chosen the four intruders as the voice of the apocalypse is unknown even by the film’s ending, with three of the four seemingly being random choices.
The one member of the group who may not have been a random choice is the first one to die, “Redmond,” who attacked Andrew years earlier for being gay. Still, even though it is suspicious that Redmond is a member of the group, it is left purposefully up to the audience to interpret whether or not God chose Redmond for what he did to Andrew.
Who Are the Four Intruders?
This is important because the four intruders are revealed at the end of the film to be the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, with each one representing something different. Redmond represents the negative trait of malice, while the others represent more positive traits such as guidance, kindness, and healing.
It stands to reason that even though God told the Four Horsemen that only one person needed to die, they fully expected all Four Horsemen to kill themselves as that would be the only way to successfully prove to the family that what they were saying was true.
In Knock at the Cabin’s climax, Eric comes to realize everything that is happening is genuine and tells Andrew to kill him because he is ready and doesn’t want Wen to grow up in a destroyed world. This makes sense as Eric is consistently shown to be the more hopeful one of the couple, with Andrew being much more jaded after getting beaten up by Redmond and his parents having an adverse reaction to his homosexuality.
It is fitting, if a bit cruelly ironic, that the one who despises humanity and just wants to let the apocalypse happen is the one who ends up surviving, while the more hopeful one gives up their life.
Who Was the Shadow Next to Redmond in Knock at the Cabin?
Something else worth mentioning that may be confusing is how Eric sees a person standing behind Redmond during his execution. The film is purposefully vague about who this shadow is, but given what Eric explains, it seems likely that this person may be a vision of either God or Andrew, with the person in question showcasing to Eric that if someone sacrifices themself, then both the surviving husband and Wen will have a happy life.
Did They Stop the Apocalypse?
The final moments of Knock at the Cabin have Wen and Andrew, the latter of whom just killed Eric, leave the cabin and discover that everything the intruders told them throughout their kidnapping was true. Andrew and Wen then take the Four Horsemen’s car and drive to a diner, where the surviving pair learn that Eric’s sacrifice was not in vain as the apocalypse has stopped.
The pair take the car to an unknown destination listening to Eric’s favorite song, “Boogie Shoes,” with a humanity that needs to repair itself after almost being destroyed. Also, given that the movie implies that this is not the first time something like this has happened, there is an underlying uncertainty that the next family put in this impossible situation will choose to save humanity.
That is everything you need to know about Knock at the Cabin’s ending, explained a bit more clearly. If you’re interested in reading the source material, be sure to check out the inspiration for the movie, “The Cabin at the End of the World.” You can also find plenty of other pieces we’ve written on movies and television down below.
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