A review by harrietj
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

2.0

I really didn't like this much at all. It was a kind of Sophie's Choice meets The Mist. Initially, I thought perhaps the sacrifice being the only way to save the world thing was going to be some kind of metaphor for environmental disaster, but if it was then I don't really think it works. 

It was a quick read. I think it would have been more compelling if the ending hadn't been so predictable. I didn't find that I was especially attached to any of the characters, despite them all being well written and convincing. I think maybe the whole book was so hinged on whether what the intruders were saying was true or not that the characters really were of such secondary importance that it was hard to get especially invested in them. That said, I love that this was a gay couple with an adopted child, and that wasn't really relevant to the plot. I LOVE that.

It was always going to be an ambiguous ending. There was no way that Tremblay would put so much effort into building up the arguments on each side only to come down on one or the other. But the ending strongly suggests that the intruders were right, and the film apparently outright confirms it. I believe firmly that this was the wrong choice. It absolutely saps the emotional weight of all the conversations the parents had about trying to protect Wen from the reality of bad people existing if actually these people are right.