Knock Knock (2015 film)

Knock Knock
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Eli Roth
Written by	Eli Roth Guillermo Amoedo Nicolás López
Based on	Death Game 1977 film by Anthony Overman Michael Ronald Ross
Produced by	Colleen Camp Tim Degraye Cassian Elwes Eli Roth Nicolás López Miguel Asensio Llamas
Starring	Keanu Reeves Lorenza Izzo Ana de Armas Aaron Burns Ignacia Allamand Colleen Camp
Cinematography	Antonio Quercia
Edited by	Diego Macho
Music by	Manuel Riveiro
Production companies	Voltage Pictures Dragonfly Entertainment Sobras International Pictures Camp Grey Productions Elevated Films Black Bear Pictures
Distributed by	Lionsgate Premiere
Release dates	January 23, 2015 (2015-01-23) (Sundance) October 9, 2015 (2015-10-09) (United States)
Running time	99 minutes[1]
Countries	Chile United States[2]
Languages	English Spanish
Budget	$10 million[3][4]
Box office	$6.3 million[5]

Knock Knock is a 2015 exploitation-thriller film^[a] directed by Eli Roth,^[6] who also co-wrote the script with Guillermo Amoedo and Nicolás López. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas. The film was released on October 9, 2015, by Lionsgate Premiere. Knock Knock is a remake of Death Game (shot in 1974, not released until 1977), which was directed by Peter S. Traynor and starred Sondra Locke and Colleen Camp. All three individuals had a hand in the production of Knock Knock, while Camp also had a cameo in the newer film.^[7][8]

Plot

Architect and happily married man Evan Webber has the house to himself and his dog, named Monkey, on Father's Day weekend due to work and a physical therapy appointment for a shoulder injury while his wife and children go out on a family-planned beach trip. His wife Karen, a successful artist, leaves their assistant Louis in charge of her sculpture that needs to be moved to an art gallery for her show.

Two women, Genesis and Bel, knock on Evan's door during a rainstorm. Soaking wet, they tell him they are looking for the address of a party. As their phone is not working, Evan allows them in to dry off and use the Internet to get hold of the party's host. He gives them robes so they can dry their clothes in his dryer. The girls make themselves at home and flirt with Evan while he orders an Uber for them and plays a few of his old vinyl records from his days as a DJ. They then disappear to the bathroom when their driver arrives. Evan brings them their clothes and finds them nude. He tries to convince them to leave, but as they start forcing themselves upon him, he gives in and has a threesome with them.

The next morning, Evan finds out that his wife's sculpture has been vandalized by the girls. When Evan threatens to call the police, the girls claim they are underage. Vivian, a friend of Karen's, stops by to see if Evan needs help. Seeing Genesis, Vivian angrily leaves. When Evan threatens to report a break-in, they give in and agree to be taken home.

He then returns home and cleans the mess the girls have made. Genesis knocks him out with one of his wife's sculptures. Bel climbs onto him in an attempt to seduce him. Evan initially refuses, but the girls threaten to FaceTime his wife with him unless he agrees to do what they demand. He is tied to his bed, and Bel rapes him while Genesis records everything, calling him a pedophile. However, Evan breaks free and knocks Bel to the floor. He charges at Genesis, but she stabs him with a fork; she and Bel tie him to a chair with an electrical cord.

Louis arrives to collect the sculpture and finds Evan, but before he can help him he hears the girls smashing the vandalized sculpture. He runs to stop them, but then has an asthma attack and realizes they have taken his inhaler. As he tries to get it back, he slips on a piece of the sculpture, hits his head while falling, and dies. The giggling girls turn Louis' corpse into a red sculpture and dig a makeshift grave in the backyard for Evan. They also use both Evan's and Louis' phones to send text messages in order to give the appearance that Evan discovered that Louis had an affair with Evan's wife and because of this, was murdered by Evan. The girls trash the house, torment and torture Evan, cut his hair, and force him to play hide and seek. When Genesis and Bel begin trying to find Evan, he escapes from the house, only to be stopped and held at gunpoint by Genesis. The girls tell him that they have killed other men and announce that he will die at dawn.

At dawn, they tie Evan up with a hose, bury him in the hole, leaving only his head above ground, and tell him they will crush his skull with a large stone. It misses his head by inches, and the girls reveal that the entire ordeal was merely a "game", as they never intended to kill Evan, nor are either of them underage, and that everything they did was part of a hobby of seducing, victimizing, and ruining the homes of married men with children. Genesis shows Evan the video she recorded earlier with his phone of Bel raping him. As Evan looks on, she uploads it to his Facebook profile. They depart for another victim and take Monkey with them, leaving Evan to his fate. Karen and the kids arrive to find the house ruined; Evan's son, Jake, says, "Daddy had a party."

Cast

Production

On April 4, 2014, Keanu Reeves was added to the cast to play Evan Webber. Chilean actress Ignacia Allamand also joined the film.^[9][10] The shooting took place in Santiago de Chile. Eli Roth stated that filming in Chile is easier than in the United States.^[11] Roth wanted the film to have a comedic approach, with physical humor too.^[12]

Release

Knock Knock premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015.^[13] Three days later, Lionsgate acquired the distribution rights to the film.^[14] The film was released on October 9, 2015, in the United States.^[15]

Home media

Knock Knock was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 8, 2015.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 37% of 76 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Knock Knock brings a lot of talent to bear on its satirical approach to torture horror, but not effectively enough to overcome its repetitive story or misguidedly campy tone."^[16] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[17]

Dread Central awarded it a score of four out of five, saying "what we do have is a home invasion film for the social media generation (yes, it does feature social media in its plot) that should make you think twice before offering warmth and shelter to a stranger on a dark and stormy night."^[18]

Jeff Bond of Geek Monthly praised Reeves' performance, saying, "his [dramatic] turn in [the film] ... helps make the movie easily Roth's best work."^[19]

See also

• List of films featuring home invasions

Notes

References

External links

• Knock Knock at IMDb
• Knock Knock at AllMovie
• Knock Knock at the TCM Movie Database
• Knock Knock at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Knock Knock at Box Office Mojo
• Knock Knock at Rotten Tomatoes
• Knock Knock at Metacritic

This page was last edited on 21 March 2024, at 16:09