The film makes a call: Eric will die, so that humanity can be saved. Knock at the Cabin is much more satisfying for it, even if it’s decidedly less twisty than what we’ve come to expect from the director. Shyamalan, king of the striking finale-whether aggravating, unexpected, or both-understandably chose to go against Tremblay’s ending. Make Andrew and Eric’s decisions meaningful in some way, whether it’s that their refusal to play along selfishly ends in the extinction of humankind or is validated, once the apocalypse is disproven. Either make the apocalypse real or don’t. The answer is, to me, by doing the opposite of what Tremblay chose to do: by answering the question put forth by your premise. The ambiguity is a cop-out, a refusal to commit to the stakes that the story sets forth: Is humanity at stake or not? To introduce a story beat as ruthlessly provocative as having a parent accidentally killing their child requires a payoff-how will you regain the reader’s trust after this? How do you make such a death necessary to the plot, if not totally satisfying? There are myriad issues with The Cabin at the End of the World’s ending, from an outside perspective. That higher power’s name is Paul Tremblay, who then ends his book with both men alive, leaving whether the apocalypse was real or not up in the air. Andrew refuses, as he refuses to cave into the will of some higher power who would let Wen die. After they escape and outlive Leonard and his crew, Eric briefly suggests to Andrew that he be sacrificed for the good of humanity. Since Wen’s death was an accident, it doesn’t count.įrom there, Eric and Andrew continue fighting back against the cultists who believe in the apocalypse-as well as their belief that this apocalypse is real. Instead of Wen’s death ending the apocalypse, however, Andrew and husband Eric ( Jonathan Groff in the movie) still have to choose which one of them will be sacrificed. Cool! I totally want to keep reading after this! Thankfully (?), Tremblay keeps on going after deciding to pick off an elementary schooler for dramatic effect.

Cabin end of the world