Knock Knock
Director: Eli Roth
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo, Ana de Armas
99 mins; Class 15;
KRS Releasing Ltd
In Knock Knock, Keanu Reeves plays Evan Webber, a former DJ and now high-flying architect who lives a perfect life in a perfect house with his perfect artist wife and two perfect children.
One evening, when his wife and kids are away at the beach for the weekend, Evan opens his door up to two rain-soaked women asking for directions to a party they have been invited to.
Evan invites them in, calls for a cab for them, and as the ostensibly happily-married man succumbs to the women’s flagrant flirtations during the wait his perfect life takes a horrific nightmarish tumble into hell.
What follows are numerous scenes in which Evan is terrorised, brutalised, and violated by his aggressors Genesis (Lorenza Izzo) and Bel (Ana de Armas); while they simultaneously destroy his home, vandalising his wife’s sculptures and defacing the numerous family photos that adorn his walls.
Knock Knock aims to be an erotic thriller, but is a film that ultimately has nothing of import to say and zilch by way of entertainment value. It follows a bland and ultimately obvious narrative with characters that are very superficially drawn.
The film’s director and co-writer Eli Roth says he was intrigued by the idea of an individual’s home and sacred personal space being brutally violated. It is certainly a fascinating premise yet the film at no point attempts to explore this very rational fear. There are hints of a morality play here – but its message that if you are led into temptation, evil will be delivered to you is too broad.
It could also have been an ironic commentary on Hollywood’s treatment of women, proffering a scenario where, for once, it is the handsome male protagonist that is exploited.
But that idea also backfires, given the all-too-obvious depiction of the women as pouty sex kittens at best and violent, vindictive bitches at worst, while Evan comes off as a spineless representative of his gender.
There were also a couple of fleeting moments when I wondered whether this was supposed to be a comedy, but as a sick joke it is certainly stretched too far and there is certainly little funny about it. It is a film that is exploitative and shocking in and of itself; and I genuinely struggled to find anything of value within it.
We get to know little about them or their motivations
His portrayal of Evan has got to be one of Reeves weaker performances. You can’t blame the actor entirely – the script offers very little in terms of characterisation with an opening scene which serves merely to sketch him as happily married man who clearly adores his kids.
But that picture is soon erased for despite his initial discomfort at the women’s overtly sexual behaviour, he succumbs to temptation way too easily with barely-credible protests.
As his predicament becomes more dangerous, he hurls expletives at his attackers with the vehemence of a teen throwing a tantrum, but at no point does Reeves convincingly project the horror and fear the situation calls for and is difficult to sympathise with him.
Izzo and de Armas throw themselves into their roles with glee, vacillating between giddy delight, wide-eyed rage, hysterical screaming and quiet threats, but their swinging moods and reactions incorporate neither range nor depth and so lack any conviction.
We get to know little about them or their motivations. Are they victims of abuse? Women whose husbands or partners cheated on them? Or just two women who get their kicks out of very violent sex games? Who cares?
Knock Knock is an unpleasant film. It is also pointless, unless for reasons best known to yourself you have been holding your breath in anticipation of a film about a man being brutally exploited by two sociopaths, or you simply hate Reeves with such a fiery passion you want to revel in the ferocious humiliations he suffers.