Knock At The Cabin Continues The One Essential M. Night Shyamalan Tradition

Warning: Contains light spoilers for "Knock at the Cabin"

Plenty of directors have unofficial stamps that make their films their own. Shane Black loves setting his stories at Christmas; Edgar Wright couldn't go a movie without a Cornetto; you'll always know when you're watching a Quentin Tarantino movie when someone shows some feet. In the case of Mister Twister, aka M. Night Shyamalan, it's turning the story on its head for the audience that will always stick with him. Even after blowing our frightened minds over two decades ago in "The Sixth Sense" and then with the likes of "Unbreakable," "The Village," and "Split," turning the tables always is what we wait on. It's also what will make audiences approach "Knock at the Cabin" with a level of dubiousness this weekend when Dave Bautista and a group of strangers rock up to the titular cabin to give a loving family a very tough decision. 

There's also another essential ingredient that Shyamalan nearly always includes in his tangled tales that gives die-hard fans something to spot and smirk over. It's a tradition that plenty of other directors, most notably Tarantino, have also enjoyed — deciding to step away from behind the camera and spend some time in front of it for a change.

Seeing as "Knock at the Cabin" spends most of its time in one location with only a handful of characters to focus on, there's not much room for anyone else to make their way in. That's unless you're the director, of course. With M. Night Shyamalan calling the shots, he manages to check off another absolutely essential entry on his filmmaking to-do list by making a cameo. As Dave Bautista's Leonard is pleading with the homeowners he's intruded on to make a choice that could save billions, Shyamalan sneaks on in the background before exiting as quickly as he arrived, or as soon as a TV program can be interrupted.

Following their first refusal to meet Leonard's demands, Eric and Andrew (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge, respectively) are forced to watch the television to confirm his warnings actually hold some truth. The TV shows a shopping channel with two hosts going to town on some fried chicken. It's here where one of the hosts is none other than Shyamalan himself, right before the special report on tsunamis and earthquakes comes into play. Sure it might not be as much of a big character as he played in his previous films like "Signs" or "Lady in the Water," but it's a nice little nod to show that he still loves rocking up in his own work when he has the chance.