Movie Review: Don't Knock Twice (2016)

The movie stars Katee Sackhoff, Lucy Boynton, Nick Moran, Richard Mylan, Pooneh Hajimohammadi and Pascale Wilson.

I saw a preview for this film on one of our movie channels a few days ago and, since it looked somewhat interesting, I decided to record it so I could watch it with my wife at a later date. We ultimately started watching the film a couple nights ago and, after finally finishing it last night, my opinion of it was a bit mixed.

One thing I found I loved about this movie was the way it managed to give off a creepy vibe throughout. The farmhouse Jess (Sackhoff) and Chloe (Boynton) occupied seemed way too large from the start and this added something to the film because there were plenty of corners and doors something could be hiding behind. I also loved the fact the house was as secluded as it was. It made it much more difficult for them to simply run outside and yell for help.

I think my biggest problem with this movie is the plot seemed a little too similar to other films I've watched. The fact Chloe is haunted because she knocked on a door, for example, isn't much different than films like Bloody Mary and Candyman. Not to mention the truth behind the disappearing children wasn't overly difficult to figure out, making the overall film somewhat predictable as a result.

The one exception to that was Jess' spiritual friend, Tira (Hajimohammadi). I was a bit intrigued by her from the start because, while she seemed friendly, there was also something that seemed a bit off about her. As a result, I spent a good chunk of the movie watching for some sort of surprise twist involving her and, as it turns out, I was ultimately rewarded. Unfortunately, since I was kind of expecting the twist, I kind of have to lump that in the whole predictable category as well.

This was an OK movie. However, largely because of the setting and the overall tone of the film, I feel it had a lot of potential that was ultimately wasted because of the predictable plot.

My Grade: C