Fathers Eric

and Andrew live with their 8-year-old adopted daughter Wen in a cabin that receives an unexpected visitor.

A gang led by the whiny muscle man Leonard breaks in.

Is it a hate crime or home invasion?

Well, the odd invaders have met on an online forum, share a supernatural "vision" and their mission is to stop the end of the earth.

Without receiving any source reference as to why, the Rainbow Family is asked to sacrifice the life of one of its members.

If they don't, the aliens must slaughter one of their own - which is then followed by news reports of tsunamis and pandemics.

It's been hard to miss the trailer for "Knock at the cabin", which is a shame because those short minutes convey the same information as three quarters of the film's full running time.

It's easy

to wonder, "Haven't I already seen this?", "Who cares if they belong to a crazy cult or not?"

and finally "Is this the twist we've been waiting for?".

The film has a 15-year age limit but is never scary and relatively poor in graphic atrocities.

The script also insults the intelligence level of most people over 13 with its convoluted discussions meant to illustrate America's divide between conspiracy-theorizing fundamentalists and liberal values.

Between faith in God's will or in chance.

Excessively high-pitched lines sometimes sound like distilled twitter chatter and break what little tension there is.

Twist king

M. Night Shyamalan has created hits like "The Sixth Sense" and the alien invasion in "Signs" both of which have brilliant elements.

There are more bogeymen, like the disaster movie with deadly wind in "The Happening" and "After Earth" — often called Scientology propaganda.

The comeback "Split" (2016) expanded on the characters from the unconventional superhero film "Unbreakable" with new innovation.

Unfortunately,

the last film "Old" was a minor disappointment, and with its high school premise and religious overtones, "Knock at the cabin" is not an artistic step forward.     

- Knock Knock.


- Who's there?


- One hundred minutes of your life you will never get back.