Knock Knock


Starring: Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo, Ana de Armas, Ignacia Allamand, Colleen Camp
Directed by: Eli Roth
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A father (Keanu Reeves) alone for the weekend answers his door and helps two stranded girls (Lorenza Izzo, Ana de Armas). His kind gesture soon turns into an unexpectedly dangerous encounter.

Review:

Tim: I went from having never seen an Eli Roth movie to watching his two 2015 films in less than a week (the other one, The Green Inferno wasn't very good. Both films starred Lorenza Izzo, so it offered an interesting compare-and-contrast. I figured this movie had to be better than the cannibal movie. Unfortunately, they are neck-and-neck in mediocrity. This film had its moments, but I'd never consider it very good.

I guess the basic idea is a decent one- a guy opens his door to two girls needing help. They proceed to torture him. The concept of a good deed spiraling out of control is a worthwhile one to explore. It's interesting how one mistake really can ruin your life. That aspect of the film is solid. The rest of the movie isn't very good.

This film featured some terrible acting. I like Keanu Reeves a lot, but he's not the greatest actor. He needs directors who can work around his limitations. That doesn't happen here. His performance is wooden, forced, and it made my physically cringe at numerous points. I don't know what Roth was doing, but when your lead actor is crapping the bed with his performance, things are going to start falling apart very quickly. Lorenza Izzo was decent- about the same quality of performance as The Green Inferno. She wasn't great, though, and some of her more erratic behavior felt too over-the-top. I didn't always believe her performance. She was significantly better than Ana de Armas, I just never bought her performance. When Izzo is the best of your top 3 cast members, you know you have a problem.

One thing Roth does well is capture how little control we have over other people. The change in behavior in the two girls from the first night to the next morning is startling. What struck me is that if people wanted to behave badly and create chaos in your life, we're fairly powerless to stop them. There's so much damage that can be done, especially in this age of technology. If someone wanted to cause problems for you, they could. That sense of helplessness comes across in the film. Roth does a good job of escalating the insanity of the situation. There's a few powerful lines that really convey the new level of danger confronting Reeves' character. While the movie as a whole is a mess, there are some compelling sequences.

I did have a hard time buying the larger picture of what happens in the film. It pushes the limits of credulity past the safe zone. Eventually, you kind of roll your eyes at the ridiculousness of what happens on screen. That's too bad, because there are legitimate ideas here. Roth just doesn't execute on them well enough.

Knock Knock could have been an unforgettable exploration of how one lapse in judgment can ruin your life. It could have done this in a suspenseful, harrowing way. Instead, Roth's film feels too sophomoric and amateurish. It felt like he gets caught up in the glee of seduction and bloodshed, rather than truly diving deep on any of these points. A great director would have mined the vivid moments for everything they're worth. Roth's film is far too much on the surface- what you see is what you get. Quite a few effective pieces were present here, but Roth isn't able to get them into the right places or capitalize on them. That creates a lackluster film all around.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Green Inferno