Usually having a ridiculous premise is a death sentence for most movies because if one thinks the main idea that undergirds it is stupid, then they don’t tend to head to the nearest theater to see if their initial impression was the right one.

And M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock At The Cabin has a fairly stupid premise, namely what would you do if you were told that unless you sacrificed one of your family the entire world – as far as humans go – would end.

This is dumb for, off the top of my head, two reasons.

First, people in the United States kill each other all the time (for fairly banal reasons). Unwarranted murder is somewhat of a national pastime here, so the idea that just because it might happen to a family member is hardly a bridge too far for many (Which isn’t to imply that such wanton violence doesn’t happen in other countries but few are as prolific as we are at it that aren’t in an active state of warfare).

Though when you add the not insignificant detail that if someone doesn’t die within a certain period of time the world will end (for people, that is) then it’s a no-brainer.

After all, Jesus essentially did the same thing, as in die for us, and he’s celebrated.

And if the movie worked with that premise exclusively, by my reckoning they’d be nothing that could save it.

Instead Shyamalan zigged when one expected him to zag and had the movie revolve around four individuals who were trying to convince a couple that if one of them doesn’t die by their own hand, then time is up for the human race.

As I said, the premise is fairly dumb but the movie is less about that than the couple beginning to come around to the point of view that one of them must die.

And in that capacity it’s pretty damn engaging.

The couple, Andrew and Eric (Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff) are a same-sex couple though this is fairly irrelevant to the narrative. despite said narrative doing its damnedest to make it seem like it matters.

It just doesn’t though if you happen to be on vacation with your family and there’s a knock on the door, consider not answering it because there’s a price to be paid.

And no matter how silly I think such a question is, someone has to pay.