A few years ago when everyone was still laughing at how awful Transcendence turned out to be, some of us were singing the praises of a far superior movie about artificial intelligence. That film was The Machine, which earned strong reviews (including mine) and set up director Caradog W. James as someone to keep an eye on. Well now he's back with a very different film, horror Don't Knock Twice, which looks like it draws inspiration from The Babadook.
Starring Sing Street's Lucy Boynton and Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff, the story follows an estranged mother and daughter who accidentally awaken a mythical witch that haunts their home. Family problems and demonic presences? Sounds like familiar territory, but the film actually received strong reviews when it played at the Raindance Film Festival, with most of the good buzz surrounding its creepy visuals. Here's the official synopsis:
“Knock once to wake her from her bed, twice to raise her from the dead…” So goes a disturbing urban legend involving an abandoned house supposedly inhabited by a vengeful, child-stealing witch. When troubled teen Chloe (Lucy Boynton) raps at the door one night, she has no idea the horror she’s about to unleash. Fleeing to the country home of her estranged mother (Katee Sackhoff)—a recovering addict who’s turned her life around to become a famous artist—Chloe must learn to trust the woman who gave her up years ago in order to stop the bloodthirsty, shape-shifting demon stalking them. This wild supernatural shocker delivers a barrage of nonstop jolts and searing nightmare images.
Don't Knock Twice hits theaters and VOD on February 3rd.
