KNOCKING (2021)

Knackningar, Knocking (2021)
Directed by: Frida Kempff
Written by: Emma Broström, Johan Theorin
Starring: Albin Grenholm, Cecilia Milocco, Krister Kern, Ville Virtanen

KNOCKING (2021)
aka Knackningar
Directed by Frida Kempff

This Swedish tale delivers the paranoia and more grown up horror, but does it do enough to entice and thrill?

Knock Knock…….who is there?….Knock Knock….

That may seem like the worst Knock Knock joke being told by someone who has never heard or told that gag before but its generally the plot for this Swedish horror from Frida Kempff who delivers a smart feature debut, that will find a core audience of fans, but may leave most of you wanting something more with a bit of bite.

Plot-wise, its as simple as can be! Molly (Cecilia Milocco), is a fragile woman, recovering from a personal tragedy and struggling with life who has just been released from a psychiatric hospital, hoping for a fresh start and a new chapter to begin.

Settling into a new apartment that reeks of dread, Molly tries to adapt, making friends with her neighbours and yet every night as she tries to get to sleep, the sound of knocking rings around the walls, Is its coming from upstairs? And if so….where?

Molly begins to investigate. Is Pete (Krister Kern) hiding something? Or is her fellow neighbour Kaj (Ville Virtanen) carrying a secret? Or is it nothing at all and is the mind of Molly unravelling, more so as the knocking intensifies on each passing night?

With no one believing her tale, with all many questioning her mental state, we the viewer begin to join in with the doubts, Why is Molly seeing a woman jump to her death from a nearby apartment and yet there is no body? What is it with that damp spot that seems to grow on her celling? Why is the knocking now replaced with whimpering and cries? Why have I wrote two paragraphs with loads of questions?

You can see its a film that requires answers and its the puzzle that keeps you entertained. There is not much down right scares to get the horror brigade jumping out of their seats and the gore hounds will lose attention way before the half hour mark, but a terrific central performance by Milocco carries the film through the brief saggy moments, her role as a woman desperate to be proven right in a world where she is often dismissed means we the viewer too want to see her succeed.

Does she manage it?

Fans of a paranoia slow burn will no doubt lap up every single second of what is on offer.

The Hughes Verdict: Rating: