Finnish horror films are few and far between, so you always look forward to them with extraordinary interest. This time the final result leaves much to be desired.
The main characters of Koputus are not likeable, but mainly burdensome. SOLAR FILMS
Knock
Finland, 2023
Directed by: Joonas Pajunen and Max Seeck
IL rating: ⭐⭐
Sometimes one good idea is enough to make a working horror film, which goes a long way. Then you don’t even need a big budget or big acting stars.
There are several examples of this in the United States. Tobe Hooper directed 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Murders on a budget of about $100,000. The film grossed $30 million. Published in 1999 The Blair Witch Project was shot on a mini-budget and video cameras. The horror film about young people who get lost in the forest starred amateur actors. It grossed $248 million. Published in 2007 Paranormal Activity told about a supernatural phenomenon tormenting the couple. Israeli Ore Game wrote, directed, produced, shot and edited his films himself. The horror film is mainly watched through the security cameras installed in the family’s home. The film made for less than half a million earned almost 200 million dollars.
So a working horror film doesn’t necessarily need anything more than a genius label and a lot of passion.
A new domestic one Knock-horror film’s crew is strong and the idea is good: The forest is a close and important place for Finns, so what could be more delicious than the horror emanating from the forest.
In the film, which moves in two time planes, three orphaned siblings, now adults, return to their childhood house in the middle of the forest, where repressed memories and horrors quickly surface.
Unfortunately, the positive aspects of Koputus are actually a good basic idea, the initial layout and a compact structure, from which unnecessary idleness has been eliminated.
So many other things are wrong. In the beginning of the film, the three main characters of the story (played by Pekka Strang, Inka Kallén and Saana Koivisto), are sitting in a restaurant eating and discussing their plans. However, the dialogue is incredibly wooden and the acting is confusingly stiff, after all, all three are experienced professionals. A shaky start to a movie is usually a bad sign, and this time too.
When you get a little further in the film, the actors also get room to breathe and their work doesn’t seem as wooden anymore. The problems arise rather from the characters, who have apparently been tried to make them somehow mysterious. However, the result is only three unsympathetic siblings whose fate does not move one way or the other.
The best performance in the film goes to the one who plays the sisters’ father Niko Saarela, 50, whose role is unfortunately just as clichéd as almost everything else in this film. Despite the tiredly written character, Saarela gets a lot out of her role.
What annoys me the most about Koputus is precisely how extremely calculated the product is. Everything, including angles, music, sound effects, scares, plot twists and characters, has been seen countless times in similar films. Risk-taking and surprise are completely missing from Koputus.
Even the scene seen a hundred times in different movies, where one of the main characters closes the refrigerator door and is scared of the character standing next to it, was wanted for some inexplicable reason.
However, as a positive thing about the film, it is worth mentioning that when the horror elements of the story finally start rolling onto the screen, the characters’ reactions to them are believable and genuine, unlike in many other similar films.
Koputus, prohibited for under 16s, arrived in cinemas on Wednesday 22 February 2023.