Review of Knock Knock (2015) by Mark M — 09 Oct 2015

The second film to release this year by Eli Roth, and the better of the two, Knock Knock is - like many Roth films - a cautionary tale, only not as ham-fisted as Hostel (2005) and Hostel: Part II (2007) or as misconceived as The Green Inferno. In Knock Knock, Roth forgoes the horror overseas or in the woods, and instead brings it closer to home, in what could very well be mistaken as softcore porn, or at the very least, an R-rated erotic thriller on late night cable.

It even begins like how one would expect. Opening on Father's Day with scenes establishing Evan Webber as a successful architect living the dream with an equally successful wife - an artist - and two children, Knock Knock wastes no time in sending the 'distractions' away so that Roth - who co-wrote the screenplay - is able to focus on Webber being seduced by two promiscuous, scantily-clad girls who arrive at his doorstep drenched from head to toe on a dark, stormy night. What follows is part erotic, nightmare and terribly comedic, as Webber soon finds out the morning after a sexual romp with his 'guests'.

One has to wonder if Roth's direction for Reeves from the second act and onwards was "Less Keanu, more Cage", because that is essentially what happens as Reeves goes full Nicholas Cage, hollering and bellowing lines in the unhinged style Cage is infamous for, with the ending sequence paralleling the bee scene from the 2006 remake of The Wicker Man. But for the most part, Reeves pulls it off in the beginning, playing it straight as a man trying (really hard) and failing to control his urges. And really, it's Keanu Reeves' star power that carries Knock Knock through sustained mediocrity that seems to be conceived solely to deliver a one-note punch line involving adultery.