Acclaimed writer and director, M. Night Shyamalan, recently detailed a tough choice he had to make for the Knock at the Cabin trailer. Although Shyamalan already had two films under his belt, the director made a name for himself with The Sixth Sense in 1999. He continued to please audiences with his psychological thrillers to include Unbreakable and Signs. After a lull in his career due to critical failures likeThe Happening and The Last Airbender, Shyamalan bounced back with his terrifying found-footage film, The Visit, and followed that up with the lauded Split. Although the director serves as an executive producer on his Apple TV television series, Servant, he is set to return to the big screen with his next film, Knock at the Cabin.

Total Film recently caught up with Shyamalan who recalled a tough decision he had to make for the latest Knock at the Cabin trailer. After introducing the film's main characters and their summer cabin in the woods, the trailer ends on an ominous note where Dave Bautista states: "Your family has been chosen to make a horrible decision. If you fail to choose, the world will end." Shyamalan explained that he and executives at Universal Pictures discussed how much of the details the trailer should divulge. Read what the director said below:

"We talked a lot, Universal and I, about whether to say, at the end of the trailer, what is the thing that they have to do. And we came to the decision of saying no, we just have to get everyone to understand that the thing is not going to be good!"

Related: Knock At The Cabin Could Be Shyamalan's Riskiest Film Yet

Everything We Know About Knock at the Cabin

Knock at the Cabin Sabrina bag over the head

Shyamalan's upcoming psychological thriller is based on the Paul G. Tremblay 2018 award-winning novel The Cabin at the End of the World. Mindhunter's Jonathan Groff stars as Andrew who decides to vacation at a remote cabin in the woods with his partner Eric (Ben Aldridge) and their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui). However, when a mysterious stranger, Leonard (Bautista), leads his group consisting of Adriane (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Sabrina (Abby Quinn), and Redmond (Rupert Grint) to the cabin, they take the family hostage and leave them with the terrible unknown decision that was teased in the trailer.

Following an option Tremblay received on his original book, Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman wrote a screenplay that was featured on Hollywood's 2019 edition of The Black List, a collection of the most popular unproduced screenplays. Shyamalan previously claimed that he read that script before quickly rewriting it, calling it the fastest movie he has ever written in his career. Although the director continues to acknowledge Tremblay's work and inspiration for the film, the author was displeased that his name was left off the movie's theatrical poster. With Knock at the Cabin, Shyamalan completes his two-picture deal with Universal Pictures. His previous film, Old, was his first with the movie studio.

Knock at the Cabin will also be second film in Shyamalan's filmography that has received an R-rating. The film has received the restricted rating due to "Violence and languag," according to the MPA. The only other Shyamlan movie to receive the restricted rating was The Happening. With Knock at the Cabin premiering in theaters on February 3, 2023, audiences do not have to wait that much longer to see what horrible, and likely violent, decision Shymalan hid from the trailer.

Next: Are Knock At The Cabin & Cabin In The Woods Connected?

Source: Total Film

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