Film adaptation of a novel with artistic liberties
M. Night Shyamalan tends to be at his best when he sets his stories in as little space as possible, as this restraint creates good dynamics between the characters. This time, however, this only works to a limited extent, because repetition effects prevail and you get a pretty quick idea of how things will continue. There is something schematic about the plot, which makes the ending predictable as well.
I can’t decide to what extent this has anything to do with the template, since I don’t know the novel the film is based on. Shyamalan was inspired by Paul Tremblay’s “The Cabin At The End Of The World”, but did not aim for a film adaptation that is true to the original, but allegedly made a large number of changes to the story in his script. Anyone who was familiar with the work in printed form can therefore expect (unwelcome?) surprises.