KNOCK AT THE CABIN

KNOCK AT THE CABIN is an apocalyptic horror movie about two homosexual men and their adopted Asian daughter who are rightly skeptical when four weird people carrying makeshift weapons invade their vacation cabin and tell the men one of them must murder the other in order to stop the coming “Apocalypse” and save humanity, including their daughter. Too bizarre to be really scary, KNOCK AT THE CABIN is an abhorrent, distasteful horror movie with lots of strong foul language, dark themes of suicide and murder, and a false and unbiblical, if not anti-Biblical, understanding of Apocalypse, a Greek term that has a particular biblical meaning. Ultimately, KNOCK AT THE CABIN is just another Hollywood movie that misuses the Greek word for Apocalypse, which has nothing to do with global death and destruction, but simply means a revelation, disclosure, instruction, or manifestation of truth, especially a truth that’s been hidden or heretofore unknown.

The movie opens with the two men’s adopted daughter, Wen, catching grasshoppers in front of the “family’s” vacation cabin and putting them in a large jar. A large, ominous looking but soft-spoken man named Leonard approaches her and takes up a conversation with her. He introduces himself. Then, after talking about grasshoppers for a moment, he tells Wen he’s come to see her two “fathers” to propose something to them.

Wen gets scared, however, when three other people appear, two women and a man, and the people seem to be carrying weird makeshift weapons. Wen rushes into the house as the people approach the cabin. She tells her two adoptive “fathers,” Andrew and Eric, not to let the scary people into the cabin as Leonard knocks firmly on the door and demands the men let them into the nicely furnished, but rustic, cabin.

Eric and Andrew refuse, but the four people won’t take no for an answer. They bust through a window and the two doors and tie up Eric and Andrew in two chairs in front of the fireplace.

Leonard, the main spokesperson, tells the two men that, unless one of them kills the other one, the “Apocalypse” will start to kill everyone on Earth except Andrew, Eric and Wen. Darkness will descend upon the Earth, Leonard says, and they’ll be forced to wander the land in misery.

Of course, Andrew and Eric don’t accept what Leonard and the three other people predict. Unexpectedly, the other man, a sullen and angry guy by the name of Redmond kneels before Andrew, Eric and a scared-out-of-her mind Wen. “Part of humanity has been judged and found wanting,” Redmond says, while Leonard and the two women hit Redmond to death with their sharp weapons.

After they carry Redmond’s body outside, Leonard and the two women turn on the TV news, which reports that two massive earthquakes have struck the Aleutian Islands near Alaska. The quakes cause a massive tsunami to hit the Oregon and Washington state coasts in. America. Terrifying smartphone footage from an Oregon beach shows a massive wave striking the beach and all the people running for their lives.

Leonard tells them this is only the first of four consecutive disasters that ultimately will wipe out humanity. He and the two women, Sabrina and Adrianne, say they’ve all had visions of the disaster that are coming. They also say the visions brought the four of them together.

However, Eric, and especially Andrew, remain skeptical about the visions. In fact, Andrew notes that the four “prophets” seem to be timing everything that’s happening. He also claims the news report about the earthquakes is actually a rerun of something that already aired recently on TV, while the two men and Wen were vacationing at the cabin, away from Civilization.

The question becomes, however, will Andrew and Eric change their minds when another global disaster strikes?

Too bizarre to be really scary, KNOCK AT THE CABIN is just another Hollywood movie that misuses the Greek word for Apocalypse, which is translated in our English Bibles as “Revelation,” as in “The Book of Revelation” in the New Testament. The Greek word Apokalupto or Apokaloopsis just means a revelation, disclosure, instruction, or manifestation of truth, especially a truth that’s been hidden or heretofore unknown. In its verb form, it means “to make known, make manifest, disclose what before was unknown,” according to THE NEW AMERICAN STANDARD NEW TESTAMENT GREEK LEXICON. Apocalypse or Revelation can also mean a series of future events that “are made visible” (THE NAS LEXICON). Thus, the word Apocalypse or Revelation doesn’t mean a global disaster or global destruction of a big chunk of humanity, much less a mass extinction of some kind. Also, in THE BOOK OF REVELATION in the New Testament, John discloses a new truth and a “testimony” from Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, which has been given to him by God the Father. This new truth or testimony involves a “prophecy,” a description of future events that “must soon take place” (see Rev. 1:1-3). Some of these future events do indeed predict some terrible disasters and horrible man-made calamities, but they also involve victories engineered by God. For example, Rev. 5:10 says that Jesus has made all His followers to be a kingdom and to be priests who serve God and who “will reign on earth.” Thus, true followers of Christ serve God from the moment they believe and will reign after they convert. As rulers, they eventually will be able to “rest from their labors” when they die (Rev. 14:13). Ultimately, therefore, THE BOOK OF REVELATION is more of a prophetic message, an Apocalypse, of victory (Rev. 5:1-14, healing (Rev. 22:2) and blessing (Rev. 22:14) through Jesus Christ, not a prophetic message of mass destruction and death.

KNOCK AT THE CABIN provides no biblical context for its fictional “Apocalypse.” Also, although, sacrifice solves the movie’s plot problem, that sacrifice involves murder and suicide, without any references to Jesus or God. KNOCK AT THE CABIN also contains lots of strong foul language, including about 20 “f” words and two Jesus profanities. In addition, it sends some politically correct, pro-homosexual messages. Media-wise moviegoers and other discerning viewers will want to stay away from KNOCK AT THE CABIN.