Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Knock at the Cabin, as well as mentions of suicide. Please be especially aware of the latter before reading on.
M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin is adapted from the 2018 novel by Paul Tremblay, The Cabin at the End of the World — naturally, there are differences between the book and the film. The family at the center of Knock at the Cabin never anticipated that their vacation would be disrupted by a group of home invaders looking to put a stop to the apocalypse.
While the horror film still carries the spirit of its source material, Shyamalan takes creative liberties with the details, leaving the film’s ending in an entirely different place than Tremblay’s novel. In Knock at the Cabin, Eric sacrifices himself. Andrew and Wen thereafter drive away from the cabin and into the world, still in shock and not knowing what to expect in the immediate aftermath or of their own lives moving forward. Most of the biggest changes from the book happen in the second half of Knock at the Cabin, which ultimately alters the way the entire plot and characters are received by audiences.
Leonard Isn’t The Last To Die In The Book
Dave Bautista’s Leonard is the last to die in Knock at the Cabin — by his own hand, as he attempts to convince Andrew and Eric once more about making a sacrifice to stop the apocalypse. However, in Tremblay’s novel, Sabrina, played in Shyamalan’s movie by Nikki Amuka-Bird, is the one to kill Leonard before dying by suicide. The order of Redmond and Adriane’s deaths remain the same, though Adriane is actually killed by Andrew instead of her associates. In Knock at the Cabin, Andrew kills Sabrina, who is the third to go.
Shyamalan likely saved Leonard’s death for last because he had the most influence on Andrew and Eric. He was also the appointed leader, explaining to Eric and Andrew about the apocalypse, the foursome’s visions, and the decision that had to be made to thwart the apocalypse from killing billions on a global scale. Within the scope of Knock at the Cabin, it makes sense that Leonard’s death was saved for last; what’s more, Leonard’s death being the final of the four invaders means Bautista got to flex his acting chops for a little longer than his co-stars.
Andrew & Eric Both Survive At The End
Knock at the Cabin’s ending sees Eric sacrificing himself, which stops the apocalypse. Oceanic waves from the tsunami stop rising and planes stop falling from the sky. In Tremblay’s novel, however, Eric and Andrew make it out of the home invasion alive, and Eric doesn’t appeal to Andrew to let him die no matter the grief it will cause. Shyamalan’s film underscores the purity of Eric and Andrew’s love for each other, and how they choose loving each other and Wen over the hate the world has for their existence. Eric’s death is pivotal to the conclusion of Knock at the Cabin, even if it doesn’t follow the book exactly.
Wen Is Accidentally Killed
Knock at the Cabin makes it clear that Wen’s life was never in any real danger. Leonard and his associates weren’t going to kill, and neither were Eric and Andrew, for obvious reasons. It would have been grim to kill off the only child in Shyamalan’s film. However, Tremblay’s novel does end with Wen’s death. It happens accidentally, but it happens nonetheless. When Andrew and Eric fight for control of the gun — because the latter doesn’t want the former to have it anymore after killing Adriane — the weapon fires and ends up killing Wen in the process. The loss is insurmountable, and the moment is rather dark.
Wen survives Shyamalan’s movie, and Eric even has a vision of what her adulthood will look like. It’s a stark difference to the novel. To be sure, Wen is present for a lot of the blood and deaths that occur throughout Knock at the Cabin, but Andrew and Eric ensure that she never actually sees the deaths happen; it curtails the trauma Wen will surely have to overcome while growing up, as it’s an ordeal that will haunt her. But at least she lives through it in Shyamalan’s movie adaptation.
The Apocalypse Isn’t Thwarted By Wen’s Sacrifice
Eric’s death effectively stops the apocalypse in Knock at the Cabin. Wen’s death in the novel, on the other hand, does not. One would think that a child’s death — in what turned out to be an unintentional sacrifice — would cease the apocalyptic events, but nothing changes or stops. It comes as a shock and forces Eric and Andrew to reassess everything about the apocalypse and the belief system that is behind the entire invasion. Wen’s death is huge, but whatever visions Leonard and his associates were having up to that point were ultimately proven wrong because the apocalypse wasn’t stopped.
Eric and Andrew wonder what kind of people would do this and what kind of god they serve if a child’s death wasn’t even enough to stop the end of the world from happening. It’s a far darker ending than that of the film, which is hopeful and hints Wen will go on to do great things. Killing her off in Knock at the Cabin wouldn’t have made sense for the story; the focus was more on Eric and Andrew’s love for each other — that, by extension, included Wen. They went to great lengths to protect her throughout the film, and her death wouldn’t have served the purpose it intended in the book.
Knock At The Cabin’s Book Was More Vague About The Apocalypse
Shyamalan’s movie ending leaves the audience guessing about the apocalypse, and whether the catastrophic events meant the end of the world or if it was all a coincidence. That said, Knock at the Cabin does have more of a definitive end. The disastrous events have ceased, and it seems Leonard and his associates were being truthful, after all. Andrew and Wen are left to make sense of what happened, though it is less of a resolution and more of a question: Was the right thing done?
With Wen’s death in the book not preventing the apocalypse at all, Tremblay leaves the story hanging in some ways. Were the home invaders telling the truth? Why did they really target Eric and Andrew’s family? Was the apocalypse even real? The Cabin at the End of the World ends with a lot more questions than it has answers, ambiguous drawing the plot together while leaving space for readers to come to their own conclusions. Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin functions similarly, but there is a firm handle on its ending regarding the apocalypse precisely because it ends differently than Tremblay’s novel.
