Knocking (2021) User Reviews

Who's there?

[begob · 6/10 · 9 January 2022]

After her release from psychiatric care, a woman's attempt to settle into a new apartment is disturbed by a series of upsetting events.

Not-so-tight psychological thriller that left me unsatisfied. The main strength is the lead performance, which presents a difficult character who causes everyone around to take a step back. Plenty of close-ups, and a couple of scenes where psychotic-breaks are represented by body-cam focused on the actor's face as she moves around.

The story tries to have the apartment block stand in for society, with its well-meaning but uncomprehending reaction to the protagonist's deteriorating state. But it also seems to stand for her own psyche, as she insists that a woman is dying within its walls. It might have helped if we knew what she was actually missing through the unspecified tragedy in the flashbacks. Just companionship? But why would that induce psychosis? In the end the story seems to insist that the experience was all literally true, and does it through voice-over rather than imagery - not a great way to finish off a piece of cinema.

Just too many discrepancies left for me - am I supposed to believe the other residents and the social services were in bad faith? - and I always thinks it's a mistake for a psychic story to insist on literal truth, because it takes away the nuance that allows meaning to find a place in the gaps in the official version.

The editing is good, but the pace was a bit of a drag, mostly because the woman's behaviour became tiresome. Music and sound design created good tension.

Overall: Simple story that sedated its own psychology.

Psychological thriller with no surprises

[MiguelAReina · 5/10 · 8 February 2021]

A psychological thriller that is handled with a certain suspense, although from the visual point of view it does not have bright ideas. The story benefits from an adequate length (short film based on a short story), although it gives the impression that the path takes us not very far from where we were at the beginning. Good performing by Cecilia Milocco, which is above the predictability of the story.

Cliche But Entertaining Enough

[sweidman-28016 · 6/10 · 30 January 2021]

Knocking is about a woman who leaves a psychiatric ward after a nervous breakdown, but she soon begins hearing mysterious knocking sounds in her apartment. Of course, any midnight horror movie is going to catch my attention and this happened to be one of the ones I really wanted to see. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to what I wanted it to be. Knocking follows a typical indie slow-burn about someone who may or may not be crazy. The movie tries to play smart, but we're all immune to any shock factor that comes our way. Everything is something we've seen before, yet I still found the movie entertaining. Cecilia Milocco gives a good performance that drives the whole thing. We know her history in mental health and an event that has scarred her which is fine for character development. My issue is because we know this, the whole time we're thinking she's crazy and hearing this. The end does play around with us leaving an ambiguous answer. For a 78-minute runtime it didn't feel all there, but maybe as a short this would've worked wonders. It's serviceable but nothing too special.

What's in a mind?

[markustiercher · 6/10 · 21 March 2022]

Knocking is more of a psychological thriller than a classic horror film, dealing with the idea of gaslighting and mental illness.

The story could be summed up in a sentence and the pacing is rather slow, but the cinematography is great - and as the film progresses so do the mental prisons of it's protagonist break and reveal the true reality.

Tense performance

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 25 September 2021]

After leaving a tragic accident - the film begins with our heroine embracing her girlfriend who runs into the water and is never seen again - and a stay at the mental hospital, Molly moves into a new apartment where a strange knocking keeps on getting louder and louder. No one else can hear it. And it's not going away.

Adapted from a novel by Johan Theorin, this movie lives and dies by the intense performance of lead Cecilia Milocco and the so tight you're face-to-face cinematography of Hannes Krantz. The tension keeps increasing and much like so many "is it supernatural or mental illness" movies, the questions keep increasing as Molly begins taking increasing risks to determine where the knocking and sobbing is coming from.

At just 78 minutes, this is a short film that nearly begs for even more time and it's rare that I feel that way. The end just arrives after the slowest of builds, but I've been obsessed with the moments that exist between waiting for something to happen and the actual second that everything changes.

Unfortunately,

[tchitouniaram · 4/10 · 26 March 2022]

But this film is trying hard to be something ,but never succeeds ... heavy influenced by much better directors , has no voice of it's own... result is pitiful and boring. 4 stars for a decent performance of the lead.

Social Commentary Film, More Sad Than Scary

[thalassafischer · 7/10 · 6 April 2024]

This is marketed as a horror film on Shudder but instead it is just a slow-burn art house drama about Molly, who has apparently lost her wife or girlfriend in a terrible accident in the past year, and is now a middle-aged woman on her own who has recently exited a mental institution where she resided following the trauma of her partner's death. This is all insinuated via flashbacks but there's strong evidence that a real world tragedy has occurred that triggered Molly's nervous breakdown.

She is not too excited about being back out in the "real world," and seems more depressed and apathetic than anything. Her therapist prods her over the telephone to "do what she used to do" so Molly in the absence of her life partner showers, applies make-up, and puts on a dress just to dance alone to her favorite music with a drink or four in the solitude of her low-income apartment. She attempts activities like taking walks, buying fruit, and various other little things to feel alive again. But what preoccupies her more than anything is a persistent knocking which all of her neighbors in the apartment building deny is happening. It gets to a point where Molly is threatened by her landlord, the police and even the local psych ward that her behavior is out of line due to the extreme actions she takes to free an invisible woman whom she is convinced is dying alone somewhere upstairs.

It turns out that all of these people - mostly men - gaslighted this poor struggling woman, and indeed, after Molly gets drunk and sets the apartment building on fire the emergency crew discover a young woman chained and hidden in a male neighbor's apartment.

This film says important things both about the social invisibility of single women approaching menopause, as well as how individuals suffering from mental illnesses are infantilized and ignored. There's really no horror other than the real-world monstrosity of modern society.

If you have a spare hour or so . . .

[svader · 4/10 · 28 October 2021]

Go out and do something or find someone else to watch.

Long drawn out nonsense that started nowhere and went even further away.

I slept like a baby after watching though.

Not bad, not memorable

[paulinewasser · 6/10 · 31 March 2023]

Knocking, directed by Frida Kempff, is a slow-burning psychological thriller that is equal parts haunting and frustrating. The film follows a woman named Molly who is released from a psychiatric hospital and moves into a new apartment, only to be tormented by a persistent knocking sound that nobody else seems to hear.

The film's cinematography and sound design are excellent, with Kempff using close-ups and atmospheric soundscapes to create an eerie and unsettling atmosphere. The film's lead actress, Cecilia Milocco, also delivers a strong performance, conveying both the vulnerability and the resilience of her character.

However, the film's pacing is a major issue, with the slow-burn approach feeling unnecessarily stretched out and repetitive at times. The film also struggles to balance its psychological and supernatural elements, with the latter feeling tacked on and underdeveloped.

The film's themes of trauma and gaslighting are timely and relevant, but the film's execution falls short of fully exploring them in a meaningful way. The film's ending, while intriguing, is also frustratingly vague and leaves too many unanswered questions.

3.8/10. Not recommended

[athanasiosze · 4/10 · 4 February 2023]

I don't like bashing at movies, especially low buget movies. I feel much better when i write a positive review. But i've got to be honest. At the end of the day, we write reviews in order to help other people to know what is this movie about. Not to help the directors or the actors, in all due respect.

So, this is one of the worst movies i have watched recently. It's only 78 minutes, but still slow and boring. Nothing interesting, predictable as it gets. It's difficult to find something that i liked. Leading character was kinda likeable and i felt sorry for what she is going through. But i can't find anything else positive to say. At some point, i didn't really care for anyone, i just wanted it to end. Some turns of events were laughable. Male characters looked like caricatures, seems like an alien from outer space create those characters, or someone who really dislikes men. Leading female character is well written though.

If you wanna watch a really slow psychological drama (I don't see any mystery or thriller elements here), you might like it.

I quite liked it.

[jmdillehay · 8/10 · 30 January 2021]

Great performance from the lead. I felt her fear and anxiety the entire runtime. My wife and I were both felt so stressed and empathetic to the protagonists suffering.

After sitting with the ending overnight, I also really enjoyed it. It leaves me feeling happy, oddly enough.

Perhaps my favorite horror from Sundance? Censor was good too.

Give it a watch and stress out with our hero!

dull, dull, dull

[Neptune165 · 3/10 · 12 May 2022]

It's quiet because it doesn't have that much to say - weird from a film that spends all of its time centered on the inner feelings of one person. It's strange to spend this much time with someone and still feel like you haven't learned anything of consequence. Knocking has a script so light, I wouldn't hear it if it were moaning through the vents. A weak script, and somewhat lost direction leaves the actors out in the cold. Whatever atmosphere was crafted gets muddled and instead of working out well it just stunts the growth of the plot and its points. That said I really did enjoy portions of this and had the emotions been a little bit more well thought out and introduced this easily could've caught me by surprise. What's left is a film that's only somewhat interesting and a premise that doesn't realize itself near enough. This is a thriller that is less than thrilling see it if you really want to. Otherwise, you do not need to see this one.

The End Is Certain From The Beginning

[olcayozfirat · 3/10 · 27 February 2022]

The movie is not horror. As a genre it can only be psychological drama.

This is the second one of the movies that I get bored of watching even though it is 1 hour and 18 minutes.

--- spoilers ---

A woman who has lost her daughter and whose psychology has been destroyed because of this is discharged from the hospital. Settles in an apartment. She constantly hears the sounds of hitting the wall in her apartment and pleas for help. She tries to find the apartment where the sound came from. Nobody believes it because he has a serious psychiatric patient in his past. She finally burns down her apartment. While rescuers are trying to resurrect him, those who come to the apartment manager's house find a woman chained in that apartment. The event is just that.

--- spoilers ---

The woman is very repulsive, the movie is very boring, the ending is obvious from the beginning, the subject is simple.

intense but slow...

[ops-52535 · 4/10 · 16 November 2021]

For the mental healthy sane, a real horror show for everyone living in the shadowland of reality. Its a no recommend from the grumpy old man, who isnt knocking on your door.

An impressive debut and a breathtaking performance from the lead actress!

[Humblecritic · 10/10 · 8 February 2021]

This film is a must see! A solid thriller drama with breathtaking acting from Cecilia Milocco. The story is rather simple in one sense. It follows Molly, a women coming home from a psychriatic clinic after dealing with the loss of her girlfriend. Back home she hears noises, knockings, in the walls and ceiling. It sounds like a woman in pain. It drives Molly to investigate where the sounds comes from but no one believes her conviction that a women in the building is getting hurt. This is the setting for this drama taking place in the suburbs somewhere in Sweden. But the big sucess of this film is not a smart plot or a who-done-it-mystery for the viewer to solve. Its the brilliantly performed emotional journey of Molly and the bold storytelling of relying in the moods and senses of the lead role that makes this a magnificent debut film from Frida Kempff. The visionary camerawork is highly emotionally driven and the script makes plenty of room for both moods and tensions far beyond the written dialogue. The movies core is the suggestive and subjective experience of loneliness and the effects of not being heard. In that sense, this movie suceed of being both a deeply moving drama and a thriller full of suspense. Cecilia Miloccos moving potrayal of Molly, a women struggling with sorrow and depression is masterly performed and makes this film a masterpiece.

Great Movie.

[fabbio786 · 9/10 · 28 May 2022]

Great movie. I worked at a Psychiatric Hospital and the character Molly, magnificently played by the actress Milloco, is an example of how a psychotic in crisis lives. Perfect direction, congratulations.

... on heavens door?

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 13 February 2022]

Well not really - on the other hand what do I know? Not that much to be truthful. I could tell you what happens at the end of the movie - but it would be - well there are certain ways to interpret what actually happens or rather happened there (and before).

The central performance is qute something. Yes this is a slow burning independent movie - I don't think this should come as a surprise. Neither that it uses certain proven tropes (or I guess you could call them "cliches"). Still and because of that powerful performance and because the movie keeps you guessing ... this may tickle your interest. And if it does and it manages to tickle all the right parts ... you will be entertained - for sure.

Having said that, you have to be in the mood for this. And for possible explanations. I read one about the ending and I have to admit that ... well it's not that I disagree, but whoever wrote that, seems too certain to know what the ending meant and how we should interpret it ... I on the other hand am telling you ... you can read it exactly opposite to what I read and what someone else wrote. So if ambiguity does not get you annoyed, I can recommend the movie for sure.

Tense, anxious, and satisfying thriller (mild spoiler)

[PutneyTrope · 8/10 · 21 February 2022]

Nearly everything about this film was a pleasant surprise. Cecilia Milocco was an outstanding lead. Conveying much without words. An honest representation of a fragile human. I was immediately immersed in her journey.

Direction, cinematography, and sound were all stellar and lent to the air of tension.

1 hour 18 minutes was the perfect length. Both the story and it's brevity recall "Alfred Hitchcock Presents..." or "Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected" with slowly ratcheting intensity and (to me) satisfying conclusion.

Spoiler warning:

I had to watch the ending three times just to make sure it was as clear as it seemed. As much as I love twist endings...NOT having one was the actual shock here.

Wow! A amazing, artistic, heavy and beautiful film! Perfect horror and psychological thriller!

[alexanderliljefors · 9/10 · 1 August 2023]

Stunningly beautiful visuals and beautiful perspectives of filming! PERFECT AND ARTSY FILMING!

CANT UNDERSTAND THE LOW RATING!

One of the best thrillers ive seen!

This is a film which you will notice early, deserves a much higher rating then the imdb as of now 5.7.

A truly fantastic and BRILLIANT performance by Cecilia Milocco!

Unbelievably good well-made! AMBIENCE AND THE STYLE IS PERFECT! Perfect horror and a perfect surrealistic, raw, artistic, beautiful, dark, heavy, sad, emotional and psychological thriller! A genuinely captivating film with true feeling and atmosphere in it!

BEAUTIFULLY EDITED AND BEAUTIFUL SOUNDTRACK BY Martin Dirkov!

Great ending!

A must-see! I totally recommend it!