M. Night Shyamalan has come back in a big way in recent years. The latest from the acclaimed director is Knock at the Cabin, a horror film of apocalyptic proportions that recently received a new poster.Shyamalan found his niche at Universal by making a series of mid-budget thrillers where his eye and storytelling chops can excel without having to worry about budgets so big the studios sit on his shoulder and ride every decision he makes. The official Twitter account for Knock at the Cabin just released a poster for the movie, setting up audiences for what the film is going to be about by centering the villains as they stare down the cabin they’ll soon descend upon when the action gets underway.The Knock at the Cabin poster shows the cast of villains for the movie, led by Dave Bautista, as they face down the titular cabin at which they’ll soon be knocking. The poster itself does a good job of setting up the tensions for the movie, yet has received a fair amount of criticism online regarding its lack of attribution for the author whose novel the story is based on, Paul Tremblay. It’s not the first time M. Night Shyamalan has downplayed his collaborators in favor of stoking the wunderkind persona he’d developed early on, and Twitter users were criticizing the fact that Tremblay's name doesn’t appear on the poster (or trailers in a significant capacity), yet somehow Shyamalan's name appears twice.
Even if it were a case of Shymalan only being loosely inspired by the novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, the lack of crediting the author would stand out, but the movie is right along the lines of the novel. The Tremblay novel is about a gay couple who take their adopted Asian daughter to their cabin only to be beset by four strangers who tell them that their sacrifice will be key to stopping the apocalypse. The Knock at the Cabin trailer reveals that in Shyamalan's take on the story, the same events occur. This wouldn’t be the first time Shyamalan has been caught downplaying the original person who inspired his movie, as Old saw a similar turn of events.
Old was based on a graphic novel called Sandcastle that audiences had to look for if they wanted to find out it wasn’t Shyamalan's original idea. Fans rushed to Tremblay's defence in the comments following the post, as Tremblay has become something of a genre darling within the horror community of late, earning the praise of veterans like Stephen King as well as his contemporaries, and has several other adaptations of his works in development, including A Head Full of Ghosts coming from Focus Features and being directed by Oz Perkins. So far the author seems pleased with Shyamalan's movie, but he was taken aback by his lack of credit for Knock at the Cabin.
Knock at the Cabin comes to theaters on February 3rd, 2023.
Source: Knock At The Cabin/Twitter