Don't Knock Twice

The ever-likeable Katee Sackhoff strands herself in a well-made but trite Candyman knock-off that desperately strives to franchise itself out, but leans back on moldy haunted house tropes for the majority.

I do enjoy a good scare and a proper horror movie. I had not known about "Don't Knock Twice" prior to finding it by random luck. And being the horror aficionado that I am, I did of course sit down to watch it.

And it turned out that "Don't Knock Twice" was genuinely creepy and had a very compelling and immense storyline. So the movie instantly reached out and pulled me in, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

The storyline shown in "Don't Knock Twice" was unpredictable and director Caradog W. James was doing an excellent job of building up suspense and keeping the audience in the dark. And these build ups of drama and suspense were always well-finalized with fulfilling results as the climax of such a moment was reached.

"Don't Knock Twice" has some good acting performances by the cast hired to portray that various characters and roles throughout the movie. And it was nice to see some unfamiliar faces in a movie, and especially so when these actors and actresses were doing such good jobs at bringing the characters to life in the creepy story.

The characters in the movie seemed fairly well-enough fleshed out, although you could of course always argue for characters needing more time on the screen to evolve and show more aspects of their personalities. But in overall, the character gallery in "Don't Knock Twice" was good and deep enough in terms of characteristics and personalities.

Now, this is not the type of horror movie that depends much on having an impressive and in-your-face display of effects and such. No, this is more of a deep-rooting horror movie that plants a seed and lets it fester and slowly sink into your psyche. And for me, at least, it was a nice switch of approach to a horror movie. And I ended up being quite entertained by what director Caradog W. James mustered here.

I will say that "Don't Knock Twice" was actually one of the more interesting and entertaining horror movies to make it to the screen in 2016. And if you haven't already seen the movie, I can highly recommend that you take the time to do so. I was genuinely entertained by it and it turned out to be a nice surprise of a movie.

A good portion of whether something is watchable is not whether it has been done before (most things have been) but whether it is done well.

Don't Knock Twice does nothing that has not been done before. That said, what it does do, it does awfully well. This is a very atmospheric horror, sounds as well as visuals, play a key part in its success. As does things hinted at or glimpsed, as well as things that are seen.

The pacing is good with well timed scares occurring throughout this flick. Moreover, it manages to feel fresh and new even though its a well worn proposition. I personally put this down to decent acting and directing.

Ignore the detractors and give Don't Knock Twice a go. Seven out of ten from me.

Worth a watch. Good storyline, good twists and keeps you guessing! Some scary parts.

A troubled teen is released into the custody of her estranged mother, but a demon from the past comes back to wreak deadly havoc.

Dramatic horror with a completely incoherent mythos, but an iron determination to ramp up the tension in every scene. The daughter's peril is introduced immediately with the urban myth key to the plot, then we switch to the mother's predicament, and nothing is normal or easy going - every scene infested with unsettling '80s synth. It ends with flash-back reminders of how the plot is supposed to make sense, culminating in a clumsy twist.

The mother is well played, with good emotion in her regret at being inadequate yet loving. The detective is poorly played, and there's hardly any point in the character of the husband. The initial feel is London soap opera, and at various points tributes to The Shining, Ju-On, and Time Bandits.

There's one interesting sequence in the photography, when the cliché of ghost passing in the background is repeated three times - otherwise it's ordinary. Bad judgment on the music, but it fits the story telling style of constant huffing and puffing to maintain interest.

Overall: meh.