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 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.

The Caradog's movie is trying to find a balance between being an indie horror movie and typical, wanting to be, scary pseudo-blockbuster.

Unfortunately, because of hesitancy of director, the movie fails, by being too much, or not enough, of everything.

We have great shots, cold atmosphere, really climatic music and sound effects. But on the other hand, film is attacking us with cheesy dialogues, not so original scenes (don't want to say clichés)and really rushed ending.

To end on a positive note, I must say, that movie is better than most of nowadays horrors, and it can scare you with a few scenes.

Director: Caradog James

Well, let's get down to it then. Being an avid horror fan for manys a year now, I would consider myself fairly clued up on current and upcoming releases within the genre. It was then more than a bit of a mystery how this flick somehow managed to slip through the net until I found out about its existence this very week! Needless to say, it went straight to the top of the must watch pile...

BASIC PLOT: A woman tries to regain custody of her teenage daughter after years spent apart. The daughter however has struggles of her own, with close friends vanishing simingly at the hands of an old urban legend surrounding a sinister house nearby. As things escalate and apparitions become more violent, can the estranged family finally put the past behind them to try and save their future?

REVIEW: This is a tough one. I can easily see why the internet is awash with such mixed reviews and agitated confusion regarding the movie. A simple explanation for this is no doubt because of the promise the film holds in its premise. A straight forward storyline to be sure, witches and curses a plenty, but don't we all love that in horror when it's done right? The film jumps straight into it and although it can be stated that it perhaps suffers from a lack of character development (particularly in the early stages), it did also surprise me how quickly it gets down to the initial scares. My hopes weren't all that high in the 'scare' department going into this one, but absolute credit where it's due, there were indeed some unnerving scenes scattered throughout which almost called for the flip of a light switch! The cinematography is what really drives this piece however. The camera work and shot choice help to propel the overall tone of the film, keeping things very bleak and murky but with a beautiful depth and clarity also. The acting of the 2 leading ladies is to be commended also. Both Katee Sackhoff & Lucy Boynton do their upmost to sweat out anxiety and fear for the full 93mins that the movie plays out, and indeed without these convincing performances playing off each other, the movie would have been a sure bust. It is fair to say then that the real unraveling of Don't Knock Twice is in its screenplay. It's all there-a scary urban legend, heavy and dark cinematography to back it up and strong leading actresses to deliver the characters, but when the initial story and dialogue that's drafted is mediocre at best and at worst bogged down by countless plotholes and underdeveloped characters, then the amount that an audience truly invests in the story and it's characters fates will always suffer. The ending itself is testament enough, with what should have been a thrilling and indeed terrifying conclusion instead playing out as what felt more like a rushed half-explained brush off.

VERDICT:: Beautiful visuals, strong acting, a good creepy musical score throughout and a few genuinely disturbing moments help keep an underdeveloped and messy plot afloat. Well worth a watch for a fan of the genre, just don't expect the world. (6/10)