Keanu Reeves and Eli Roth Team up for Thriller ‘Knock Knock’

Sandra Miska

Keanu Reeves has taken on an explosive bus in “Speed,” “The Matrix,” and countless dangerous criminals and evil masterminds, but this month he’s up against a couple of teenage girls.  In “Knock Knock,” the latest thriller from Eli Roth, Reeves plays a suburban dad who lets a few seemingly harmless and lost young women into his home, completely unaware of their sinister motives.

Reeves stars a married architect, Evan Webber who finds himself home alone on Father’s Day weekend after a shoulder injury prevents him from joining his wife Karen (Ignacia Allamand) and their kids on a beach trip.  Complications arise after two young women, Genesis (Lorenza Izzo) and Bel (Ana de Armas), show up at his door lost with dead cell phones.  Evan invites them in to call a cab, but when it arrives, they refuse to leave.  Instead, they become determined to seduce the Good Samaritan dad.

To make matters worse, Genesis and Bel also vandalize a priceless sculpture of Karen’s.  In true “Fatal Attraction” style, it’s not long before Evan finds himself in real physical danger.

“Knock Knock” was filmed in Santiago, Chile.  Allamand is a native of Chile, as is Izzo, and starred in last month’s “The Green Inferno,” another Roth film.

Roth broke into film in 2002 with his indie horror film “Cabin Fever.”  He went to direct and “Hostel” and act in films such as “Inglorious Basterds” and “Scream 4.”

“Knock Knock” was the first of either Reeves or Roth’s films to show at Sundance.  While there earlier this year, Roth spoke with Indiewire about Reeves, who has experienced recent career resurgence due to his success with “John Wick.”

“I definitely think that there’s a Keanu-sance happening. We had the McConnaisance. I’m so happy. When you think about it, there’s very few people that have been movie stars in four decades. Keanu has been a movie star since the ‘80s.”

“Knock Knock” opens Oct. 9 in select theaters and on VOD.