Knock Knock (2015) Review - Director Series
Though the return on The Green Inferno was a measly 12 million, that was on a one-million-dollar budget, making it a success. After a six-year hiatus, Roth dove head first back into movie-making with The Green Inferno and Knock Knock just two years apart.
Knock Knock is a remake of a 1970s horror film called Death Game. One of the stars of this film Colleen Camp makes a cameo in Roth’s film. Where his previous film was just an inspiration from a 70s classic, this is a straight-up remake.
Keanu Reeves plays Evan Webber, an All-American family man married with two kids. His wife and kids are off for the weekend but Evan has to stay behind to work. During the night two young and beautiful women Genesis and Bel (Lorenzo Izzo, Ana de Armas) knock on Evan’s door.
They claim they’re lost looking for a certain house for a party. Evan lets them inside to dry off and orders them an Uber. While waiting for the Uber Bel and Genesis seduce Evan and they have a threesome.
The next morning, Evan believing they had gone home, wakes up to a nightmare that Bel and Genesis had planned.
I have not seen 1977’s Death Game, so I cannot compare this film to its predecessor. However, this is the first film in this Roth rewatch that did not hold up.
I didn’t think this was a masterpiece when I saw it in its initial release. In Roth’s first four films, I found underlying themes that remain prevalent in society today. Maybe not in Cabin Fever. However, with Roth’s fifth film, I don’t see any kind of message to be heard.
There is one line near the end of the film uttered by Roth’s then-wife Lorenzo Izzo, how all men are the same. That is the theme that this film should’ve explored, it completely whiffs on this if that is what they’re trying to say.
The script doesn’t seem to understand Bel and Genesis. Their behavior is all over the map. Not in a controlled chaotic way, but in an underdeveloped way. It’s evident the film was written by three men and didn’t have a single female touch to the page.
This is the movie when I discovered Ana de Armas, I think like most Americans did as this was her first English language film. You could tell she had it, seven years later she received an Oscar nomination.
Lorenzo is good as well, with what she has to work with. She and Ana both hold the screen and keep the audience on their toes; just a shame the script does them no favors.
Reeves is decent in his mild-mannered getting pushed to the brink. Some people have called this a Nic Cage-esque performance. He does have one monologue that if delivered by Cage would’ve been meme’d like many other moments of his career. “It was free pizza!”
Not that critiquing a film should include what you would do differently, but if the film could’ve focused on why Bel and Genesis do what they do and why they picked Evan, it could’ve been a better film.
2.5/5 Stars
