Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

5 thrillers you should see if you liked Knock at the Cabin

When M. Night Shyamalan releases a movie, you better believe it will start a heated conversation within the film community. Shyamalan is one of the few living filmmakers who can attract an audience based on his name alone. His films have become synonymous with supernatural elements and twist endings. With massive hits like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and Split, Shyamalan’s films have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide.

His latest venture is Knock at the Cabin, a psychological thriller with apocalyptic stakes based on the 2018 novel by Paul G. Tremblay. In it two parents and their young daughter head to a remote cabin for a vacation. Their cabin is overrun by four strangers, who hold the family hostage, demanding they sacrifice one of their own to avoid the apocalypse. The film stars Dave Bautista as the lead intruder and Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge as the two parents. If you’re looking for more thrillers like Knock at the Cabin, check out the list below.

Recommended Videos

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Sixth Sense
64%
8.2/10
pg-13
107m
Genre
Mystery, Thriller, Drama
Stars
Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette
Directed by
M. Night Shyamalan
Watch on Amazon

Because the list is inspired by Knock at the Cabin, it wouldn’t feel right without including another movie by Shyamalan. We’re going with the film that turned him into an international sensation, The Sixth Sense. In the psychological thriller, Haley Joel Osment is a young boy named Cole who sees ghosts. These ghosts have unresolved problems from their time on Earth and seek Cole’s help to rectify these situations.

The only person Cole tells about his secret is child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), who encourages Cole to use his gift for good. Thanks in part to the “I see dead people” line and the twist ending, The Sixth Sense has reached iconic status. The second-highest-grossing film of 1999, the film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Shyamalan.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project
81%
6.5/10
r
81m
Genre
Horror, Mystery
Stars
Rei Hance, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard
Directed by
Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Watch on YouTube

“Found-footage horror” was not new in 1999, but its popularity skyrocketed thanks to The Blair Witch ProjectSet in 1994, three students — Heather, Mike, and Josh — hike the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, to film a documentary about the legend of a local murderer called The Blair Witch. The students interview local townspeople about the murderer, with many of them warning the students to stay away from the topic.

The students proceed and eventually lose their way in the woods, setting off a series of supernatural events with tragic consequences. The students go missing, but their (fictional) footage is found, discovered, and presented in the movie. The Blair Witch Project became a massive hit, grossing nearly $250 million on a budget of less than $1 million, and ignited the found-footage revival in horror.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

The Cabin in the Woods
72%
7.0/10
r
95m
Genre
Horror, Fantasy
Stars
Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams
Directed by
Drew Goddard
Watch on HBO Max

Cabins never seem to be a safe place in horror films, and the featured cabin in The Cabin in the Woods is no different. Five college students head to a remote cabin for a weekend vacation. Unbeknownst to them, the cabin is monitored and controlled by two engineers in a lab (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford), who turn it into a house of horrors. The engineers release ghouls and monsters to stalk and kill the students, who serve as sacrifices for a sacred ritual.

When the students become aware of the cabin’s secrets, they try to fight back and eventually discover the underground facility that’s calling all of the shots. The Cabin in the Woods is a fresh take on the horror comedy that incorporates gore and satire to poke fun at horror stereotypes.

Green Room (2015)

Green Room
79%
7.0/10
r
95m
Genre
Horror, Crime, Thriller
Stars
Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat
Directed by
Jeremy Saulnier
Watch on HBO Max

Green Room is equally terrifying as it is thrilling. Like Knock at the CabinGreen Room predominantly takes place in one location. In Green Room’s case, the location is the green room at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar. A punk band (Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, and Callum Turner) is hired to serve as the opening band. When one of the band members discovers a dead body in the green room, he tries to alert the authorities. A few of the bar’s neo-Nazi employees and residents capture the band, trapping them in the green room.

When the bar’s owner (Patrick Stewart) decides to kill the band, the band fights back, capturing one of the employees. The thrilling cat-and-mouse game between the neo-Nazis and band members turned Green Room into a critical hit as the film ended up on many top 10 lists by the end of 2016.

The Purge (2013)

The Purge
41%
5.7/10
r
86m
Genre
Science Fiction, Horror, Thriller
Stars
Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder
Directed by
James DeMonaco
Watch on Amazon

In 2022, the U.S. is led by the New Founding Fathers of America. Unemployment rates are low, and the country is essentially crime-free. The secret to success is the “Purge,” an event where crime, including murder, is legal for 12 hours. Emergency services, like the police and EMS, are temporarily suspended during this time frame.

James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) and his family plan to wait out the Purge in their gated Los Angeles community. Their house is guarded by a high-tech security system designed by Sandin’s company. When James’s son lets in a wounded man, they are confronted by a masked, heavily-armed gang who demand the Sandins release the man or face an invasion. The subsequent violence and chaos helped the film become a huge hit with audiences. It spawned a television series and four sequels, with a fifth movie in development.

Movie images and data from:
Topics
Dan Girolamo
Dan is a passionate and multitalented content creator with experience in pop culture, entertainment, and sports. Throughout…
Harrison Ford shares candid response to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny failure
Harrison Ford sits and looks up in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Harrison Ford is not concerned with the commercial failure of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. In true Harrison Ford fashion, the 82-year-old used a two-word response when asked about the film's poor box office result.

"S*** happens," Ford told The Wall Street Journal Magazine.
Released in June 2023, Dial of Destiny grossed $384 million worldwide, falling well short of Lucasfilm's expectations. For comparison, the fourth Indiana Jones movie, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, grossed over $786 million in 2008. Dial of Destiny carried a budget of $387 million, making it one of the most expensive films of all time. Disney later reported a $130 million loss on the fifth Indiana Jones movie.
Despite the underperformance, Ford is proud that he donned Indiana Jones' hat and whip one last time.
“I was really the one who felt there was another story to tell," Jones explained in the same interview. "When [Indiana] had suffered the consequences of the life that he had to live, I wanted one more chance to pick him up and shake the dust off his ass and stick him out there, bereft of some of his vigor, to see what happened. I’m still happy I made that movie.”
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | Official Trailer
Dial of Destiny's director, James Mangold, gave a different reason for the disappointing box office haul, citing a disconnect between an aging hero and the younger audience.
“You have a wonderful, brilliant actor who’s in his eighties," Mangold told Deadline about Dial of Destiny's financial debacle. "So I’m making a movie about this guy in his eighties, but his audience on one other level doesn’t want to confront their hero at that age. And I am like, I’m good with it. We made the movie. But the question is, how would anything have made the audience happy with that, other than having to start over again with a new guy?”
Stream Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on Disney+.

Read more
Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard weighs in on Karla Sofía Gascón controversy
A woman stares into the camera.

Jacques Audiard, the writer and director of Netflix's Emilia Pérez, is the latest creative to weigh in on the controversy surrounding the film's star, Karla Sofía Gascón.

In an interview with Deadline, Audiard addressed the discovery of Gascón's old tweets promoting hate speech, which ranged from defending Hitler to insulting Muslims. What disappoints Audiard even more is Gascón's half-sympathetic approach in the aftermath of the tweets resurfacing. For now, Audiard has no plans to communicate with Gascón.

Read more
5 Super Bowl deals to get you ready for game day
Two Eagles run on the football field.

The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, at 17-2 and 17-3 respectively, face off at Super Bowl LIX this Sunday, and these Super Bowl deals will get you ready for the game. Whether you're concerned about what to watch the game on, how to hear it, food, or pregame entertainment, these five deals will get you ready. Most of these Super Bowl deals come from Amazon, so if you want to take advantage of quick shipping on the cheap, be sure to check if you can get an Amazon Prime free trial -- many of these deals need faster-than-default shipping to get to your home on time. May the best team win!
75-inch Hisense U7N — $900 $1,500 40% off

We consider the Hisense U7N to be the best TV for the Super Bowl for most people, as it's not absurdly expensive, yet also not a lower quality budget pick — a Goldilocks TV, you could say. It's bright, people look great on the screen as you can see above, and the 144Hz refresh rate with motion rate 480 make for accurate sports viewing. Our Hisense U7N review notes that it's also a great TV for gaming on if you're looking to compete yourself. This TV's downside is that it isn't superb for off-angle viewing, making it best for intimate gatherings of your closest pals on the couch and not a block party. From the button below, you can also find the 55-inch version of this TV on sale for just $498, or even the 85-inch version for a mere $1,299, a truly economical TV for all.

Read more