Knock Knock (2015) – A Movie A Day #84
Knock Knock (2015) – A Movie A Day #84
I have a like/dislike relationship with Eli Roth’s movies. I like Eli Roth as an actor and as a person. He and I seem to have largely similar tastes when it comes to horror movies we like. I tend to thoroughly enjoy the influences Eli Roth uses when making his own films. And, I generally enjoy the ideas he has. My only real problem is that he and I have greatly different sense of humor, and Roth tends to put his own brand of humor into every one of the movies he directs. In Cabin Fever it’s the “pancakes” kid and the gun in the store that made me groan. In the Hostel movies it’s the general silliness of the gore. In The Green Inferno it’s the pot and diarrhea jokes. Those things aren’t necessarily movie killers for me, but they were all prevalent enough to leave me feeling underwhelmed by each of those movies. I think it’s about tone for me. I want those movies to be tough to watch, but they end up feeling like goofy comedies by the time it’s all over. With that in mind, I skipped Knock Knock when it came out in 2015.
But.
After seeing Ana De Armas in Knives Out late last year, I’ve become increasingly interested in seeing more of her work. Plus, I’ve been a big fan of Keanu Reeves for forever. So at this point it was two to one (Ana & Keanu vs Eli), so I decided to give Knock Knock a try. I’m almost entirely glad I did.
Knock Knock is basically a home invasion movie. Keanu Reeves plays Evan, a seemingly happily married man with a wife, two kids, and a great house. He ends up needing to stay home and work as the rest of his family goes on a weekend trip. While Evan is working late into the night, he gets a knock on the door. Standing outside, stranded in the rain, are Genesis (Izzo) and Bel (Armas). They claim that they got lost on their way to a party, and the taxi they rode in on has already left them all alone. Evan, being a nice guy with a proclivity for flirting (at least according to his wife), eventually invites the young women inside so they can dry off and wait for a car to pick them up. The atmosphere starts to get steamy pretty quickly as Genesis and Bel attempt to get closer and closer to Evan. One thing leads to another, and, a few bad decisions later, Evan can’t get rid of his guests.
From there the movie gets darker as Genesis and Bel’s intentions become more clear. Evan is harassed and terrorized, and it slowly dawns on him that he’s in a situation that will not end well for him. The only question is: how bad will it get?
I liked the movie overall, and I thought the performances from the three leads were a lot of fun. Izzo and Armas come across as sufficiently bonkers, but their actions also touch on some of the trauma they’ve experienced that might have led them to do what they’re doing. Reeves goes back and forth from desperate to furious, and he gives a great speech towards the end where all of his anger finally explodes.
I also enjoyed Eli Roth’s directing. The movie does feel sort of campy at times just because of the way it’s sometimes staged and shot, but overall it has a nicely sinister tone. Mostly. For once I thought Roth was going to make a movie without making me roll my eyes at some stupid joke, but alas, he snuck some stuff like that in right at the end. It didn’t spoil the movie for me, but it did leave the movie feeling more light-hearted than I would have liked. That’s just a personal preference though. Other people might like the dumb joke at the end. And really, the joke ending is MUCH better than the alternate ending included on the blu-ray. THAT ending would’ve spoiled everything for me.
Also, I found out that Knock Knock is actually a remake of a movie from 1977 called Death Game. I definitely need to track that down now. Colleen Camp and Sondra Locke star in Death Game, so that absolutely has me interested. Plus, Colleen Camp (who I remember best as the maid Yvette in Clue) has a cameo in Knock Knock.
So yeah, Knock Knock is good. I’m glad I finally saw it.