Knock at the Cabin Brings Shyamalan Back to His Weird Brand of Horror

It’s often hard to judge an M. Night Shyamalan movie before you see it. The likes of Signs looked intriguing until it sucked, and conversely Split looked terrible but turned out to be fantastic. That being said, the next Shyamalan film, Knock at the Cabin, looks absolutely fantastic from the trailer that just dropped today.

With an establishing shot ripped directly from Evil Dead, Knock at the Cabin seems to be hinting that Shyamalan is returning firmly to his horror roots. The film, which is based on the book The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay, definitely starts out looking like something akin to a traditional horror movie, but like in all his films, things quickly change as the friendly family vacationing in the woods is suddenly attacked by four strangers who claim that they must make a horrible choice in order to prevent the apocalypse. It’s definitely the kind of setup that would lead to a fantastic Shyamalan twist, though if it stays true to the exceptional book, then it wouldn’t be his jolting ending at all.

As the trailer reflects, the Knock at the Cabin cast is simply fantastic as Shyamalan can still pull names to his projects. It includes Dave Bautista (Dune, Guardians of the Galaxy franchise), Tony award and Emmy nominee Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, Mindhunter), Ben Aldridge (Pennyworth, Fleabag), BAFTA nominee Nikki Amuka-Bird (Persuasion, Old), Abby Quinn (Little Women, Landline) and Rupert Grint (Servant, Harry Potter franchise). There’s also newcomer Kristen Cu, who seems like she could topple Haley Joel Osment as the best child actor in a Shyamalan film. Shyamalan, of course, also wrote the film, but he was joined by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman in adapting the novel for the screen.

Knock at the Cabin is in theaters on February 3.