Knock Knock (2015 film)

Plot

Architect and happily married man Evan Webber (Keanu Reeves) has the house to himself and his dog Monkey on Father's Day weekend due to work and a physical therapy appointment due to a shoulder injury while his wife and children go on a family-planned beach trip. His wife Karen (Ignacia Allamand), a successful artist, leaves their assistant Louis (Aaron Burns) in charge of her sculpture that needs to be moved to an art gallery.

Two women, Genesis (Lorenza Izzo) and Bel (Ana de Armas) knock on Evan's door. He opens the door and they say that they are looking for the address of a party. As they have no means of communication, Evan allows them in to use the Internet and get hold of the party's host. The girls make themselves at home and Evan plays a few of his old vinyl records he has from when he was a DJ. They then disappear to the bathroom when their driver arrives. Evan tries to convince them to leave, but as they start forcing themselves upon him, he gives in and has a threesome with them.

Evan finds out that his wife's sculpture has been vandalized by the girls. When Evan threatens to call the police, the girls reveal they are underage. Vivian (Colleen Camp), a friend of Karen's, stops by to see if Evan needs help. Seeing Genesis, Vivian angrily leaves. When Evan threatens to report a break-in, they give in and agree to be taken home.

He then returns home, cleans the mess, and tries to go back to his work. Just as he is getting closer to completing his project, he hears a shattering noise. He finds a broken picture frame of his family and Genesis knocks him out with one of his wife's sculptures. Bel climbs onto him trying to arouse him while role-playing as a school girl in his daughter's school uniform. Evan initially refuses, but the girls threaten to FaceTime his wife with him unless he agrees with their methods. Bel rapes him, and Genesis records everything. However, Evan releases himself, knocking Bel off. He charges at Genesis, but is then disarmed by her and Bel who tie him up to a chair with an electrical cord.

Louis arrives to collect the sculpture and finds Evan tied up to a chair, but before he can help him he hears the girls smashing the vandalized sculpture. He runs to stop them, but then has an asthma attack and realizes they took his inhaler. As he tries to get it back, he slips on a piece of the sculpture, hits his head while falling, and dies. They turn Louis' body into a red sculpture and dig a makeshift grave in the backyard meant for Evan. They tie him up with a hose, then bury him in the hole, leaving only his head above ground. Genesis shows Evan the video she recorded earlier with his phone of him and Bel having sex. As Evan watches on, she uploads it to his Facebook profile. They depart and take Monkey with them, leaving Evan to his fate. Karen and the kids arrive home to the entire house ruined while speechless.

Cast

Production

On April 4, 2014, Keanu Reeves was added to the cast to play Evan Webber, a happily married family man and architect. The shooting was filmed in Santiago de Chile. Eli Roth stated that filming in Chile is easier than in the US. Chilean actress Ignacia Allamand also joined the film.

Release

On January 26, 2015 Lionsgate acquired the distribution rights to the film. Knock Knock premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2015. The film was released on October 9, 2015 in the United States.

Critical reception

Knock Knock received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a rating of 33%, based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's consensus states: "Knock Knock brings a lot of talent to bear on its satirical approach to torture horror, but not effectively enough to overcome its repetitive story or misguidedly campy tone." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 55 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Dread Central awarded it a score of four out of five, saying "what we do have is a home invasion film for the social media generation (yes, it does feature social media in its plot) that should make you think twice before offering warmth and shelter to a stranger on a dark and stormy night."