I think pretty much everyone as a child must have done some kind of prank. One of the most common ones of these are to either ring the doorbell or knock on someone’s door and run away. One has to wonder now what was so fun about something like that, but children seem to really have a barrel full of laughs while doing this. Why am I bringing something like this up? Is it some kind of misplaced sense of atonement for the pranks that I used to do as a kid that I am doing here? No, really no worries about that. The reason I am bringing this up, is that someone took this childhood prank and turned it into a horrormovie. Well…kind of a horrormovie anyway.
Don’t knock twice focusses on mother Jess, who nine years ago had to give up her daughter Chloe to an orphanage. Now, she wants her back, but Chloe wants nothing to do with her anymore. One night Chloe and her boyfriend visit an old house, where according to legend a witch resides. They knock twice on her door, and then quickly leave. This seemingly innocent event, soon begins to have very dire consequences. Chloe begins to see strange things, and weird events force her to leave her own house. In desperation she flees to her mother, who at first though very happy to see her, does not believe her story. However it isn’t long before Jess has to face the fact that a demonic spirit is targeting her daughter. Will she be able to save her, or will Chloe end up as yet another victim of this ancient evil…..
I have to say that the premise for this film was very original. Based in part on the legend of Baba Yaga (from Slavic folklore), it was the storyline that grabbed my attention for it. While there certainly are some horrorelements in this movie, I would classify this film more as a thriller. Unfortunately, it is not a very suspenseful one. The movie has a few interesting scenes, but it was not enough to keep me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire film. The acting in the movie was pretty decent, especially by Katee “Starbuck” Sackhoff, who played the role of Jess. She really plays a very convincing role as the desperate mother, who will stop at nothing to win back the love of her daughter.
This movie isn’t terrible, but it is not great either. The film is at times pretty slow, and some of the twists you can definitely see coming from miles away. The movie obviously had a low budget, but still it managed to hide that fact pretty decently. All in all there are worse movies out there, and together with the original story and the acting, just manages to keep it’s score on the positive side.
I give Don’t knock twice a 6 out of 10 score.
Okay, that screenshot of a shadowed figure in the dark hallway is creepy af. It’s shots like that that makes me certain that I’d die of pure fear if I were ever in a horror movie scenario. Give me things I can punch any day thank you.
Ahem.
So, yeah, sounds like a cool premise. I hear Baba Yaga’s name often in written works but not in films…not that I watch a lot of films. Pity it’s not that good though.
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Haha, yeah I at least had to include one creepy screenshot lol. It was one of the more terrifying scenes of the movie. And well, you can punch that creepy thing as well right? 😂 But true, I wish it had been a bit better, especially with such an original premise. Oh well, better luck next time😀
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I am intrigued, but only by your comment about it linking with Baba Yaga. I’ll keep an eye out for this one
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Oh, I love folklore-inspired horror! Shame that this one didn’t quite deliver on the suspense. It still sounds interesting though, so I’ll probably give it a go. Thanks for the introduction to this film! 😀
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Lovely review, Michel 🙂 I would probably watch this solely because I’m quite the sucker for folklore, and it’s nice to know the movie’s not incredibly horror-focused but more of a thriller. That would be best for me XD
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I was considering skipping this one till you said the premise was unique and based on Baba Yaga. I came across a few stories of her that I somehow really loved as a kid despite being completely scared by them lol. It’s disappointing to hear it wasn’t great but I’ll still check it out if I ever come across it 🙂
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6/10 is a respectable score. I’m not familiar with the folklore origin, but now I’m very intrigued about it.
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I love horror movies. I should checkout this movie.
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