Don't Knock Twice

Highly strung sculptress Jess (played by American TV star Katee Sackhoff) wants to reconnect with her estranged daughter Chloe (Lucy Boynton) in this polished British horror from director Caradog James (The Machine). Problem is Chloe stupidly knocked twice on the door of a murderous witch and now the demon won't stop following her. So to save Chloe from the grave, Jess must solve the mystery at the heart of this urban legend in an over-complicated shocker directed with inventive camera trickery providing plenty of major jolts. Chills permeate the well-staged scares, including a haunting bonfire of (therefore unknockable) doors, spectral manifestations in the unsettling mode of The Ring, and myriad ghostly visions of water running red and soup turning bloody. Detective Nick Moran complements the escalating tension as a possible red herring, but it's essentially the intuitive accuracy of shattered Sackhoff's performance that makes this Old Dark House chestnut worth catching.