Click here to copy URL

Knocking

Knackningar

2021

Frida Kempff

Ville Virtanen, Meliz Karlge di Grado, Albin Grenholm, Kristofer Kamiyasu ...

5.0

131

Thriller A woman leaves a psychiatric ward after a nervous breakdown, only to start hearing mysterious knocking sounds in her apartment.

	Media	Author	Review
		Kate Erbland IndieWire	"Kempff’s film gets under the audience’s skin almost immediately, but that early power diminishes over the course of a slim 78-minute movie"
		Alix Turner Ready Steady Cut	"Far too often, films centred on women focus on their victimhood (...) 'Knocking' takes a refreshingly different approach (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Wendy Ide Screendaily	"Kempff borrows tropes from horror filmmaking but the picture lacks the nerve-shredding peril (and the gore) that would fully recommend it to hard-core horror audiences."
		Guy Lodge Variety	"Frida Kempff's well-made debut feature knows its genre traditions, but not how to rework them."
		Michael Frank The Film Stage	"[Kempff] crafts a film that grabs hold of you and doesn’t let go, one that’s equally absorbing in look and performance, despite a diminished importance mere hours after it ends."
		Chris Evangelista SlashFilm	"As a sensory experience, 'Knocking' is stunning. The heightened sounds mixed with a stuffy, collapsing ambiance create an unforgettable experience. Pity that the narrative in the midst of all of this fails to match that power"
		Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter	"[A] smart, disquieting film (...) Kempff embraces and revamps genre tropes, casting them in a trenchant feminist light"
		Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"It’s hard not to feel like 'Knocking' is an effective short film stretched past its breaking point even at only 78 minutes, despite a strong central performance and sweaty sense of existential dread"
		Nicolas Rapold The New York Times	"The film does strike one long, nerve-jangling note, but the style leaves Molly with nowhere to run."
		Eric Ortiz García Screen Anarchy	"Milocco's performance is its strongest element (...) 'Knocking' seeks to translate into film language a mental disorder, a trauma linked to loss that reaches the point of no return. The film is effective at times"
		Phuong Le The Guardian	"The film still feels a tad long for the simple narrative it offers, but moments of visual ingenuity and a deep understanding of psychological suspense show that Kempff is one to watch (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Marta Bałaga Cineuropa	"[It] almost works, for the most part, but something is missing, some mystery unanswered, and the ending is, frankly, not worth the wait"

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.