Don't Knock Twice (2016)

A mother desperate to reconnect with her troubled daughter becomes embroiled in the urban legend of a demonic witch.

Director:

Caradog W. James (as Caradog James)

Writers:

Mark Huckerby, Nick Ostler

Stars:

Katee Sackhoff, Lucy Boynton, Richard Mylan

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Katee Sackhoff	...	Jess
Lucy Boynton	...	Chloe
Richard Mylan	...	Ben
Nick Moran	...	Boardman
Pascale Wilson	...	Ginger
Javier Botet	...	Ginger Special
Pooneh Hajimohammadi	...	Tira
Sarah Buckland	...	Louisa
Jordan Bolger	...	Danny
Ania Marson	...	Mary Aminov
Callum Griffiths	...	Michael Flowers
Lee Fenwick	...	Middle Aged Man
David Broughton-Davies	...	Caretaker
Melissa Woodbridge	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Michael Lindall	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Storyline

The sculptor Jess unsuccessfully tries to retrieve the custody of her teenage daughter Chloe. During the night, Chloe and her boyfriend Danny play a prank challenging an urban legend: and they knock twice on the door of the witch Mary Aminov. Soon Danny is hunted down by a fiend and vanishes. When Chloe is haunted by the evil spirit, she flees to the house of her estranged mother and her husband Ben to stay with her mother. Soon the demon finds her and haunts the house while Ben is traveling. Jess' model Tira sees darkness around Chloe and she researches the Internet about the mystery. Meanwhile Detective Boardman is investigating the disappearance of Danny and suspects Jess is manipulating her troubled daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

overalls | three word title | british | abandoned house | house | 

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Taglines:

Pray she doesn't answer

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence and language

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 February 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Don't Knock Twice

Filming Locations:

Wales, UK

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,081,591

Company Credits

Production Co:

Red & Black Films, Seymour Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Don't Knock Twice shares its name with a video game - Don't Knock Twice (2017) which was released in 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch and is loosely based on the same story.

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Connections

Referenced in 31 Days of Horror: Quick Takes (The Rejects) (2018)

User Reviews

Don't even knock once

This review of Don't Knock Twice is spoiler free

** (2/5)

Don't Knock Twice is a lot of things: a supernatural legend about a witch, has murky shadows for intent on better impact just to name a couple of points, but is it original? No. There are so many things this could have been, even scary but unfortunately it isn't. Among the flaky jump scares that hit you with a seemingly decent flow but you rub them off without a shudder; it's also a warmed hash-over of Candyman, Oculus, Insidious and a half-dozen other spook-shows, in addition there is no recollection as to where this is going. With that and the slower than usual pacing this is about as interesting as watching a hamster on a wheel.

The demon is also a rehash, from Lights Out it lurks in the shadows chasing after its victims slow at first but gains speed over time, this speed of course is still slow. Director Caradog W. James (The Machine) seemingly didn't know now what he wanted to do here whether he wanted to make a drama about a depressed mother reconnecting with her estranged daughter, or if he wanted to make a supernatural horror about an urban legend instead it's a mixture of the two. Although that is an interesting touch he forgets to go back to its original idea, the concentration on the two central characters sculptor Jess (Katee Sackhoff), and her artsy daughter Chloe (Lucy Boynton) is also the problem it tries too hard to make their story interesting, they both have a past filled with neglect, drug addiction and later regret, and for a while it has a decent flow, they're wobbly chemistry shatters it to pieces.

The idea comes early into the film when Chloe knocks on the door of a thin house in the middle of London, in a belief that a witch resides there "Once to wake her from her bed," her friend says "twice to raise her from the dead." Of course as is the idea with these supernatural horrors she wakes up and steals anybody who wakes her up, one gets away and she chases down the one who got away. It's the same, all this is, is just a horribly thought out rehash of other spook-shows and although there are some decent scares in place, the rest is a flaky, sadly clichéd mess that means nothing in the world of horror. Miss this one out, it'd be better to watch the original, if you can figure out what the original is.

VERDICT: Don't Knock Twice is an awfully thought out horror with an all too familiar story at other spook-shows. Ultimately leaving it as a shallow attempt at flaky scares, murky shadows and atmosphere. Miss.