Is Knock at the Cabin based on a book?

Is Knock at the Cabin based on a book? The new movie from M. Night Shyamalan is in cinemas now, but is it based on a book?

The king of twist horror – depending on how you view his movies – M. Knight Shyamalan, is back once more, with upcoming movie Knock at the Cabin. You can check out our review here.

The film, which stars Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Ben Aldridge, centres around a family whose vacation at a cabin comes to a horrifying halt as three strangers break in, and tell the family that one of them must be killed in order to prevent the end of the world.

That’s an intriguing enough story, but to those who have read a certain book, this plot may sound familiar…

Is Knock at the Cabin based on a book?

This upcoming film will be based on the 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World, which was penned by Paul Tremblay. Tremblay confirmed this in a recent interview with CNBC.

Audiences may argue that Shyamalan’s films can be a little… come and go, let’s say, in terms of plot. But rest assured, this novel won the author his second Bram Stoker Award, along with his first Locus Award for Best Horror Novel. So it’ll likely be a gripping tale.

The official blurb for The Cabin at the End of the World is as follows…

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake, with their closest neighbours more than two miles in either direction.

As Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young and friendly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologises and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault”. Three more strangers arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out, “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.”

So begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are intertwined.

The author was involved in the making of the film

Adapting a novel into a film can be hard, so it’s often great when the writer himself gets involved.

Even though he wasn’t involved in creating the screenplay, Tremblay revealed to CNBC that he acted as a consultant to Shyamalan, and gave him answers to questions that he’d had about the book.

“Night and I discussed the book and I answered a bunch of his questions about character and story, about why I did what I did,” Tremblay explained. “I can’t speak to his screenwriting process. I did get to visit the set and watch him and the crew work for two days. I came away impressed with the positive creative atmosphere he engendered.”

The award-winning horror writer also made sure to praise the film’s cast: “The actors were fully committed, engaged, and emotionally connected to the story, and embodied the spirit of the characters from what I could see.

“Between shots, they asked me thoughtful questions about the book, and they were beyond generous with their time and attention. Getting to chat with them was one of my favorite parts of the set visit.”

Knock at the Cabin will premiere in cinemas on February 3, 2023.