‘A knock at the door’: explained ending of the new M. Night Shyamalan film

If you have already gone through the box office and have been fooled by this wonderful story of tension, confinement and apocalypse, you can face our Explained ending of ‘There is a knock on the door’, the new film by M. Night Shyamalan. If you haven’t seen her on the big screen yet, get out of here, you fool!

This warning should not be necessary, nor should it be to advertise a product by Shyamalan, director of the incomparable ‘The Sixth Sense’ and, after those lost dead, of some of the best films of the 21st century such as ‘El protegido’ (2000), ‘Señales’ (2002), ‘El bosque’ (2004) and ‘La joven del agua’ (2006).

It is true that ‘The incident’ (2008), ‘Airbender, the last warrior’ (2010) and ‘After Earth’ (2013) came later, but nothing happens, the good old Shyamalan showed that the director of several of the best horror movies of cinema history He still had tricks up his sleeve with jewels like ‘The Visit’ (2015), ‘Multiple’ (2016) and ‘Glass’ (2019).

While his fans were fighting ordering the best ‘plot twists’ of M. Night Shyamalan’s films, the filmmaker released the disparate ‘Time’ (2021) and began preparing his adaptation of ‘The Cabin at the End of the World’, the novel by Paul Tremblay about four strangers who force a family to make an impossible decision: sacrifice one of them in exchange for the apocalypse unleashing on Earth.

“Few directors are left capable of displaying such apparently simple language to tell a story so brilliantly”, Fausto Fernández points out in his review of ‘They knock on the door’. “Every camera movement, every framing, every Shyamalan decision in what he teaches us and how, is for the benefit of what he wants to explain to us, all with amazing elegance and subtlety.“.

With the film already released, it’s time to explore its end, but not before one last warning:

SPOILERS FOR THE END OF ‘THEY KNOCK ON THE DOOR’

After a harrowing plot in which the prophets of the end of the world are underlining the veracity of their death to death story, four finalists arrive alive at the end: the apocalyptic Leonard (Dave Bautista), the believer Eric (Jonathan Groff), the incredulous Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and young Wen (Kristen Cui).

With the girl hidden in the treehouse, Leonard proceeds to commit suicide so that the end of the world begins, but not before notifying Eric and Andrew that they will have one more chance to avoid the apocalypse since, after his death, there will be a small margin of time for them to decide and one of the two sacrifice the other.

Leonard slits his throat and the sky immediately darkens, prompting Eric to dive in and tell Andrew he will sacrifice himself to ensure a future for his daughter. Andrew, tearfully, agrees.

After the sacrifice, the sky lights up again and we hear on the news reports about how all the catastrophes that devastated the world have suddenly stopped, that is, the apocalypse was real and Eric’s death has prevented it, thus ensuring a future for Andrew and Wen.