‘Pray she doesn’t answer’
Don’t Knock Twice is a 2016 British horror film directed by Caradog W. James (The Machine) from a screenplay written by Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler (Howl; Me and My Monsters; Creepschool).
The movie stars Katee Sackhoff (Oculus; Riddick; The Haunting in Connecticut 2), Lucy Boynton (I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House; The Blackcoat’s Daughter), Javier Botet (Insidious 4; The Mummy; It) and Nick Moran (13 Eerie).
Plot:
To save her estranged daughter, a guilt-ridden mother must uncover the terrifying truth behind the urban legend of a vengeful, demonic witch…
Release:
The film premiered at the Raindance Film Festival on 29 September 2016. On August 1, 2017, Don’t Knock Twice was released on Blu-ray in the US and Canada by IFC Midnight/Scream Factory.
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Wales Interactive are also developing a first person virtual reality horror game based upon the film.
Reviews:
” … somewhere between knock-down-ginger to Drag Me to Hell, as Caradog proves himself an adept horror director, his camera moving with the unpredictable eeriness of Sam Raimi and his effects carrying the practical creepiness of David Cronenberg – it’s only a matter of minutes until we get our first genuinely heart-stopping encounter with our spooky spectre…” Ivan Radford, VODzilla
“Like a grab bag of horror sub-genres and conventions, there’s nothing too familiar or unfamiliar that the film won’t use in an attempt to scare its audience. There are mirrors and lighting effects, haunted houses, old hags, a distinct Japanese influence and even some Skype-horror. It’s a tour of the genre both old and new.” Caroline Preece, Den of Geek!
“There’s nothing here that indicates that these two actresses, let alone the supernatural threat that their characters face, have a relationship that exists off-the-screen. Jess and Chloe make decisions that are consistently ludicrous and their secondary relationships are equally under-done. There’s an interesting movie here, buried underneath a mountain of weak jump-scares and illogical twists.” Simon Abrams, RogerEbert.com
“The characters are extremely well developed, their interactions are believable, and there’s something instinctually compelling about seeing how far a mother is willing to go in order to protect her child. It might not be the most original family-oriented horror movie ever made, but Don’t Knock Twice is still a charming and well-crafted thriller.” Luiz H.C., Bloody Disgusting
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“Aside from successfully delivering a couple creepy scenes, Don’t Knock Twice is a pretty standard horror flick, specifically story wise, where it doesn’t really give us anything we haven’t heard of or seen before. Even its attempts at last minute twists proved nothing new. Despite that, the pacing is solid, along with the performances and production values, resulting in an overall decent watch.” UHM
“It has terrific monster design (courtesy the busy Dan Martin), evoking the Russian folkloric figure of Baba Yaga as an elongated, looming, oily creature – but the demon witch only gets standard jump-scare stuff to do and some of those ‘boo’ moments aren’t especially well-timed.” The Kim Newman Web Site
Filming locations:
Cardiff, Wales
Related:
Don’t Read This!!! – article
