Knock Knock (2015)
Directed by Eli Roth
When a devoted husband and father is left home alone for the weekend, two stranded young women unexpectedly knock on his door for help. What starts out as a kind gesture results in a dangerous seduction and a deadly game of cat and mouse.
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19 films that influenced Knock Knock
What critics say influenced Knock Knock
It’s like Fatal Attraction for the naked-selfie generation.
Before you can whisper "Fatal Attraction," Evan breaks his marital vows with the women in graphic fashion (the movie earns its R rating).
Evan lets trouble into his life, but the response is deliberately, absurdly disproportionate — Fatal Attraction with questionable consent, Funny Games as ranted out by a men’s rights activist.
"Fatal Attraction" turns into "Funny Games," though, when in the morning the girls reveal a feverish terroristic agenda that involves upending Evan's life: tying him up, trashing his house, threatening exposure to his wife and preparing to kill him.
Part cautionary tale, part satire, part horror film, part erotic thriller, it’s Fatal Attraction for the social media era—yet that description does little to indicate just how riveting it is.
And there have been other decent home-invasion movies, going back to 1971’s “Straw Dogs” and 1964’s “Lady in a Cage.”
You can probably imagine the general direction of Knock Knock’s story going in, particularly if you’ve ever seen Play Misty for Me or the aforementioned Fatal Attraction (or Polanski’s Death and the Maiden, for that matter).
They have a motive, unlike the terrifying duo in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games , but hints about their existence outside of torturing Evan detract from their power more often than not.
Eli Roth’s derivative Knock Knock unspools like a gender-swapped version of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, the frightful tale of a random home invasion by two male psychos.
The next morning, “Knock Knock” shifts abruptly and becomes an insanely over-the-top version of Michael Haneke ’s “ Funny Games .”
Knock Knock has more than a passing resemblance to Haneke's Funny Games - about two young male intruders who hold an entire family hostage.
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That the picture also happens to be the most diabolically entertaining black comedy since The War of the Roses is just the icing on the cake.
The next morning, “Knock Knock” shifts abruptly and becomes an insanely over-the-top version of Michael Haneke ’s “ Funny Games .”
But his work, as with the films of “Cannibal Holocaust” maven Rugero Deodato, is technically assured and has always been slyly satirical, even thoughtful — nuances that are often lost in the pursuit to eviscerate him for eviscerating his characters.
As Julianne Moore says so drolly in “ The Big Lebowski ” while showing Jeff Bridges the porno movie “Logjammin’”: “Lord, you can imagine where it goes from here.”
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And this is pretty much where Knock Knock goes from a tongue-in-cheek episode of Red Shoe Diaries to a patently ridiculous series of psychological mind games.
If you’re expecting anything like intelligence, subversion or social commentary—something that’s no stranger to the horror genre, from classics like Night of the Living Dead to more recent films like The Babadook and It Follows—you’ll walk away from Knock Knock disappointed.