A little girl is out in the woods collecting grasshoppers. She is approached by a tattooed stranger who is kind and sweet but has a scary proposition that she needs to take to her dads.

M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin turns an idyllic cabin getaway for dads Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff) and their about-to-turn eight daughter Wen (Kristen Cui) turn into a nightmare by putting forth a simple but difficult choice. Would they sacrifice one of them to save humanity?

If you are looking for a big reveal, this is not the M. Night Shyamalan film for you. Unlike other Shyamalan films which hinge greatly on a twist, Knock at the Cabin, adapted from Paul Tremblay’s book Cabin at the End of the World, focuses more on a moral and existential dilemma. Which is actually more effective than some of the director’s recent films — before he redeemed himself with Split and Glass — have been.

Andrew, Eric and Wen are taken hostage by four strangers — Leonard (Dave Bautista), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), Adriane (Abby Quinn) and Redmond (Rupert Grint) — who have a shared vision and who tell the family that they must choose to sacrifice one of themselves to save the world from the apocalypse.

Are they psychopaths? Doomsday cultists? Are they speaking the truth? What about the footage that is on television every time they refuse to make a choice and one of the four strangers gives up their lives and releases a plague into the world.

The audience is right there with the two adults as they grapple with what is real and what is staged and what is the sign of a delusional mind. And despite not getting a lot of backstories for Andrew and Eric, some flashbacks give us an inkling of their relationship and therefore their attitude towards what is going on and what the stakes mean for each of them. The unnerving close shots of the actors make the film feel really sinister.

The film however belongs to Bautista as the mild-mannered, tattooed giant who plays the leader of the group, and Wen, who he forms a connection with. A primary school teacher who is torn about the choice he must put to the family, could Leonard be as sincere as he seems to be? Or does his quiet, shy presence hide a deviant mind? A very Shyamalan move. Cui as Wen steals your heart and makes the stakes seem even higher.

While Knock at the Cabin is not Shyamalan’s best, it is definitely one of his better ones.