There Comes a Knocking

Left me wanting more to explore more of the story.

This is not a bad short film. It's good. The cinematography and lighting were an easy 10/10 for me and this whole thing was clearly a high quality project.

However, my biggest gripe is with the narrative. First off, I know it's hard to create a lot of substance in nine minutes. But for me, this story is full of cliches that I've seen before and doesn't even try to present things in any new way.

It's just the whole "grieving character brings a creepy object into the house which makes scary things start happening" story has been done so many times before. Maybe I'm being too harsh and maybe the filmmakers were trying to do more than just that, but that's the general interpretation I got from it.

So overall, it's not bad. People also need to keep in mind that it's a proof of concept so it's unfair to be too hard on it. And to be honest, I don't think it deserves the 1/10 ratings that it's getting. I will be on the lookout to see if this gets turned into a feature someday.

It's a shame to see someone like Ryan Connolly, after years of videos teaching low-budget/accessible filmmaking methods, make such an empty vessel of a short. Is it shot nicely? Oh yes, very. You can tell a lot of effort was put into the technical aspects of this short, from camera work to lighting, to the set dressing etc. However the story was absolutely lacking in content. I'm still squeezing my brain trying to get anything out of it. It's the most bare bone "ghost horror" short one could come up with. It's baffling to think there's a whole team of people out there who believe this is strong enough to be made into a feature film. All style, absolutely no substance.

In essence, it's no more than a technical filmmaking test.

If you're taking time out of your day to scroll to the reviews section, chances are you are a Film Riot fan like myself. This man puts out great quality videos aimed to solely help filmmakers of all skill levels for FREE on their YouTube channel. This short has gorgeous camera movement. I mean, take pity on this short, there is no underdogs here, there's big time equipment being used, men and women with high skill level, and they all have eyes set on them to deliver. But do they? No, like Ballistic, it falls short. It's wise to mention this a condensed version of a feature film they are aiming to make, rather get funds for. That's a great idea and it has worked for many projects in the past, I just think this project was too weak. It without a doubt reminded me of the Black Mirror episode Be Right Back (who did it unimaginably better, though also flawed). So to me then just translates to a been there done that scenario. Let's get into the main piece of this short, the door. Our female lead loses a weird looking key down the bottom of this mysterious awesome looking door from inside her home while she's setting it up and is somehow unable to walk outside through another structure opening to retrieve it. (If this makes no sense, it's because it doesn't.) But don't dwell on it too much because the key reappears magically. Not to spoil anything, but the ending was cringe-worthy, anticlimactic, and obvious just like that god-awful hilarious title name. I wish these talented people the best of the best, they deserve big budget projects, I just hope this isn't one of them. I encourage new viewers to still watch this and all other works by this team including Justin Robinson's Guest of Honor which I am a big fan of. Shoot. Edit. Repeat. is their motto. Just gotta keep trying, with heads up.

Folks, its classic film riot. Looks great. Story lacks. I understand it's a concept for a feature but Ive seen film students tell better stories then There Comes A Knocking. Full of cliches. Nothing new or refreshing. Well made however, looks like something you would see in a theater.