Knock at the Cabin

The subtext overshadows the scares in Knock at the Cabin, a muddled morality play about social-media conspiracy theories, fringe belief systems, 24-hour cable news cycles, and half-cocked doomsday scenarios.

The latest cinematic guessing game from director M. Night Shyamalan is a tightly wound attempt to prey upon lingering pandemic angst and paranoia, except that its surface provocations aren’t persuasive enough to raise the stakes as intended.

The film establishes an unsettling tone right from the get-go, even before the first titular knock, when a stranger named Leonard (Dave Bautista) approaches a precocious young girl (Kristen Cui) collecting grasshoppers in the woods.

It turns out she’s vacationing at a nearby cottage with Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Eldridge), the two fathers who adopted her as an infant. But Leonard already knows that. He has some urgent business.

Shortly afterward, Leonard and his three associates — mild-mannered Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), neurotic Adriane (Abby Quinn), and loose-cannon Redmond (Rupert Grint) — descend on the cabin with weaponry in hand. Conveniently, there’s no cell-phone service.

At first, Leonard offers only cryptic clues about their motives. “We’re trying to save a whole bunch of people, but we need your help to do that,” he explains with all sincerity, insisting that the future of humankind is in the balance.

A confrontation leaves Andrew with a concussion as Eric loses patience with Leonard’s mind games, suggesting that their intrusion is fueled by bigotry and intolerance.

The screenplay, adapted from a horror novel by Paul Tremblay, is driven by coincidences and deliberate misdirection in anticipation of the inevitable climactic twist — which is Shyamalan’s hallmark, of course.

It’s more effective as a slick and straightforward trifle about a home invasion and ensuing hostage standoff with occasional outbursts of brutal violence. The filmmaker uses the confined setting where almost all of the action takes place to enhance the tension.

Bautista conveys a menacing charisma aside from his hulking physical presence. However, the film overall never feels sufficiently grounded to generate much emotional investment, and flashback snippets detailing Eric and Andrew’s backstory are time-wasting detours.

Spinning its narrative wheels between an intriguing setup and payoff, Knock at the Cabin isn’t worth walking through the door.

Rated R, 100 minutes.