I like Keanu Reeves. He's starred in some of my favourite films (Bill and Ted, The Matrix, The Gift) and, by all accounts, he's a stand up bloke in real life. For those reasons, I'll cut him some slack for his godawful performance in Knock Knock. We all make mistakes.
Eli Roth, however, doesn't get off so lightly. He's the biggest hack working in the horror film industry today, his attempts at shock cinema are childish in the extreme, and his braggadocio is thoroughly annoying. Just once I wish he would back up his arrogance with something worthwhile, but, if anything, he gets worse with each film he makes.
The atrocious Knock Knock stars Reeves as Evan, a family man who is almost as perfect as the actor in real life: loving husband, doting father, and talented architect. One rainy night, while Evan is home alone hard at work (his wife and kids having gone to the beach for the weekend), there is a knock knock at the door; Evan goes to see who it could be and is greeted by two young women (wearing very little and soaked to the bone), who claim to be lost. A good samaritan, Evan allows the girls, Bel and Genesis (Ana de Armas and Lorenza Izzo), into his home to dry off and to wait until a taxi arrives; as they pass the time, the young women initiate sexual banter with Evan, eventually seducing the poor man into a wild threesome.
What follows is a masterclass in terrible film-making, with clumsy writing (a whole neighbourhood out for the night. Really?) and woeful acting from its three main stars, who seem to be in competition with each other to see who can turn in the worst performance. As the unhinged girls toy with Evan, Roth's script leaves the viewer wandering what the point of the whole exercise is: it's not scary, it's not suspenseful (largely thanks to the terrible acting), and it doesn't work as a morality play, Evan obviously a decent fellow who, in a moment of weakness, understandably crumbles as two hot and eager young fillies soap each other up in the shower before offering themselves to him on a plate (a scene that earns the film at least one point).
Roth, either unaware of how dumb his film is or simply not bothered, blunders on regardless, giving us a train wreck of a movie that even he will find hard to beat in terms of sheer crappiness.
Eli Roth, however, doesn't get off so lightly. He's the biggest hack working in the horror film industry today, his attempts at shock cinema are childish in the extreme, and his braggadocio is thoroughly annoying. Just once I wish he would back up his arrogance with something worthwhile, but, if anything, he gets worse with each film he makes.
The atrocious Knock Knock stars Reeves as Evan, a family man who is almost as perfect as the actor in real life: loving husband, doting father, and talented architect. One rainy night, while Evan is home alone hard at work (his wife and kids having gone to the beach for the weekend), there is a knock knock at the door; Evan goes to see who it could be and is greeted by two young women (wearing very little and soaked to the bone), who claim to be lost. A good samaritan, Evan allows the girls, Bel and Genesis (Ana de Armas and Lorenza Izzo), into his home to dry off and to wait until a taxi arrives; as they pass the time, the young women initiate sexual banter with Evan, eventually seducing the poor man into a wild threesome.
What follows is a masterclass in terrible film-making, with clumsy writing (a whole neighbourhood out for the night. Really?) and woeful acting from its three main stars, who seem to be in competition with each other to see who can turn in the worst performance. As the unhinged girls toy with Evan, Roth's script leaves the viewer wandering what the point of the whole exercise is: it's not scary, it's not suspenseful (largely thanks to the terrible acting), and it doesn't work as a morality play, Evan obviously a decent fellow who, in a moment of weakness, understandably crumbles as two hot and eager young fillies soap each other up in the shower before offering themselves to him on a plate (a scene that earns the film at least one point).
Roth, either unaware of how dumb his film is or simply not bothered, blunders on regardless, giving us a train wreck of a movie that even he will find hard to beat in terms of sheer crappiness.