Directed by: Eli Roth
Written by: Anthony Overman & Michal Ronald Ross (story), Eli Roth, Nicolás López & Guillermo Amoedo (screenplay)
Evan's wife and kids are out of town for the weekend, and he's supposed to get some work done. He is interrupted by two girls who are lost. Evan lets them get inside safe from the rain, but it's soon revealed how big this mistake was.
The first thing I can say about this movie is I'm glad it's over. I didn't exactly enjoy watching this movie, but this is not the kind of "glad it's over" that's result of a really boring, bad movie that mostly made me frustrated. I wanted to see this movie because it is directed by Eli Roth, yet I had no idea it would be this twisted and sick. And when we're talking about horror movies, twisted and sick isn't a bad thing. And the biggest reason for the relief when the closing credits start rolling is the fact that you feel so hopeless during the whole movie. Evan tries his best yet he can't do anything, and all that. While you're watching you think "Even if he is left alive, how could he ever overcome this", and all that.
While Knock Knock is just 99 minutes long, the structure is amazing. The film is very slow, yet that 99 minutes doesn't feel too short. The whole situation develops slowly: at first it's seemingly normal, then turns weird, then turns disturbing, then it's just twisted and you experience all kind of feelings in the "What The Fuck" -spectrum. And that's the most wonderful thing about this film. Every other good technical detail feels kind of blurred after this really fucked up story in general.
Since this film is a remake, it's hard to say which parts of the writing come from the original movie, and what comes from Roth, López, and Amoedo. The dialogue is good. I always say good things about horror movie dialogue: it's natural. Well, maybe not during the most stressful scenes, but when nothing bad is happening, the dialogue is natural, relaxed, and extremely realistic. Another interesting thing are the few humorous moments. The thing is, their timing makes them so bad. They shouldn't be funny but that's why they make you laugh or at least chuckle: they are so horrible, ironic, whatever is the right word.
There are a lot of weird, awkward moments. One semi-annoying scene was when Bel and Evan discussed music, and Evan talks about how diverse his taste in music is. That's like one, two lines, but it feels like it's the writers patting themselves on the back, because they know weird bands or artists they can use in the movie. While all of that chit chat type of dialogue is quite unnecessary, that felt even more gratuitous.
It's hard to say what score Knock Knock would deserve. I was mostly so disgusted and confused it was hard to concentrate to if this is good in the most objective way possible of reviewing a movie. Thinking about the story, cinematography, and all those little things, Knock Knock is average. A viewer's opinion is mostly affected by how you feel during this film. And you without a doubt feel sick and disgusted or maybe even angry about how a movie like this ruined your night. Well yeah, the writers probably wanted that to happen. I don't think a movie like Knock Knock is made so you can enjoy it, it's a sick, twisted horror movie. It's meant to make you feel negatively, so this film definitely did its job.
☆☆☆☆☆☆
6 / 10
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