“Please! Haven’t you ever made a mistake?”

The above line is pleaded by Evan Webber (Keanu Reeves) to his gleeful tormentors, and you can’t help but be reminded of how many other home invasion films—an increasingly bloated genre—begin that way. And even though the trappings of Knock Knock make it feel like this one might be different, it still succumbs to a lot the same pitfalls that previous entries in the genre have. Even though the film might feel like director Eli Roth’s most accomplished picture yet, a number of issues hold it back from being the great definitive genre piece that it wants to be.

With a plot that very much resembles a Penthouse letter, two soaking wet damsels in distress, Genesis (Lorenza Izzo, fresh off of her role in Roth’s The Green Inferno) and Bel (Ana de Armas), come upon Evan’s house and beg him for help. Evan acquiesces, but as time goes on his peaceful, humble life begins to be dismantled apart in front of him, with him never going to be the same. The film seems to be so entrenched in Roth’s usual sensibilities that you’d be surprised to learn that this is actually a remake of Peter Traynor’s 1977 exploitation film, Death Game.

Before all of the chaos breaks loose, Roth takes him time, movingly slowly to help establish a tone. It’s also appreciated that in this prelude to everything you actually get to meet Evan’s family and see him interacting with them. Instantly they have more weight and the stakes feel higher when they are at risk because they’re not just names or random photos. We’ve met them. In spite of this beginning section taking its time, you know pretty much exactly where all of this is heading. Just like how Evan is constantly moving his position in the room or switching chairs as Genesis and Bel get closer to him, we too are never fully lulled into a sense of security through this narrative. Genesis and Bel pepper Evan with compliments, playing coy, and exuding uninhibitedness with every flirty touch and smile, and yet, the hanging guillotine is always present and Evan is nearly as aware of it as we are.

Knock Knock operates how a lot of Roth’s films do where it appears that characterization it not the priority and you might not be left caring about these people (especially in the case of Genesis and Bel where most of what they say is a lie anyway). In fact, you’ll likely resent Genesis and Bel as you essentially just see them act privileged and selfish before the danger sets in. The difference here comes in the form of Reeves’ Evan who is out of the age bracket that Roth is typically playing in, adding a little more dimension and “real worldliness” that his characters can often lack.

As Genesis and Bel carry on their wanton destruction there’s a bunch of veiled dialogue between them that hints at something more from their past. Their sexual behavior is also so often steeped in heavy daddy issues and infantilization that feels symptomatic of sexual abuse in their childhood that has stunted them psychologically and manifested as mental illness. This film is not interested in being torture porn, with it instead being more messed up on an internal level, which feels like an important distinction to make.

The moments of Genesis and Bel acting out behavior that shows them stunted mentally are the ones that hit the hardest and tease a somewhat original movie, even. Home invasion scenarios have certainly been done to death at this point and the mere subversion of swapping the gender roles is hardly enough to make a film feel fresh, but the idea of two victimizers who have psychologically regressed and have no way to be logically reasoned with is something different.

The villains in Roth’s other films have been driven by things like money and power in Hostel or instinct and tradition in the case of The Green Inferno, but this is the first film of his where the antagonizers feel like they might be this way because of something that’s happened to them and shattering who they are. That they are almost just as much as victims as Evan is, and it’s in that respect that Knock Knock is fascinating to me and becomes a much deeper picture than it lets on to be. The problem is that this dimension of the film isn’t explored nearly as much as it could be, which results in more scenes of Genesis and Bel seeming like they’re putting on an act, have no history of abuse, and are in control (there are lines referring to a larger organization and clean up crew at hand, and that they have done this many times before), as opposed to two unhinged victims that are acting out of psychosis, which I think is the much more interesting (and frightening) of the two scenarios. This feels like the film that the survivors of Roth’s other films would end up making due to the trauma they’ve been through.

Bel and Genesis’ sadistic chemistry with one another is very strong and probably the best part of this film. As these two sync up together and become increasingly intimidating, you can’t help but feel frightened and outnumbered like Evan does. There’s a sly line in the first half of the film where Evan mentions not being too scared of their physical prowess and that he could comfortably take the two of them. When the shoe is finally on the other foot though, it’s not their physical strength that matters, but their mental manipulation of Evan and how they team up on him in that respect. Him being outnumbered here isn’t dangerous because it means a second set of fists to pummel him, but rather another voice to play out his insecurities and feed the lies that have been wearing him down.

In a similar vein, there’s a through line of sexual violence that the film wallows in as much as it can. One piece of Genesis and Bel’s torture to Evan is framed like a pedophile-themed game show for instance, with the punishments being like-minded accordingly. This is the right sort of idea and the focus that the film should take more often. Like a more damaged version of Hard Candy. Like if Hard Candy had two Velociraptors on the loose in the house. Even the final act is more or less turned into a big game of hide and seek. Intense violence is often being married with juvenility in what seems like the perfect representation of Genesis and Bel’s mental states.

In such a minimalistic film, obviously a lot of it is going to hinge upon Keanu Reeves’ performances, and unfortunately he’s really terribly here, which is puzzle stuff since it almost felt like the actor was having a renaissance lately with stuff like John Wick. It’s very difficult to take him seriously as he screams out lines while tied to a chair, churning out a very Nicolas Cage-like performance. Because of how restricted he is for the second half of the film, so much is dependent on Reeves’ vocal performance and he just sounds downright wooden. Major moments where he’s yelling about being concerned over going deaf or calling the police to help his friend completely fall flat. It’s painful to see Reeves delivering pivotal dialogue life, “You killed him! You killed him!” or “I’m a good father!” and it not at all being taken seriously, as you’re left thinking of the wasted opportunity on what someone else could have done with the part. In the right hands this could actually be a great role—and someone like Dan Stevens from The Guest or even Bruce Campbell would have delivered a much more interesting take on this—but instead you’re sort of left mocking Reeves, which is not at all helpful to the character. You need to be endlessly empathetic to him and want to see him escape, not get further humiliated.

There’s a moment towards the end of the film that’s Evan’s huge scene. It’s a transformative monologue that makes nothing but good points and is a staunch reminder that Evan is the hero in all of this. It’s the sort of speech that the audience should applaud at afterwards but instead I guarantee you that people are just going to laugh, or even cheer when Genesis and Bel respond how they do. I don’t mean to be harping endlessly on Reeves here, but it’s a distracting performance that he puts out, even if he does just go for broke with it all. By the time he’s barking about taking “free pizza,” it’s already too late for him.

Knock Knock’s conclusion also frustrates as Evan really doesn’t deserve the fate that he’s given. The film treats the final moments as if Evan’s angry, raging side is who he really is, whereas that couldn’t seem to be further from the truth. Evan’s more than justified for his anger. With this blunt conclusion and the film offering up no hint of seeing the lasting psychological damage that Genesis and Bel may or may not be going through, the movie as a whole certainly feels hollow and the commentary that it might have been making about abuse is muddled and lost to Roth’s typically loud style. Instead the takeaway that the film wants us to have is on men being inherently unfaithful and “evil” with these two women in fact being some sort of misunderstood angels in disguise.

While Knock Knock can successfully claim that it does present that perspective to some degree, that’s nothing to be proud of. Countless films brandish this “edgy” theme, and for this one to ride out on that makes it merely feel like another face amongst the crowd as opposed to something unique. In Roth’s defense, this conclusion could have gone down a much worse route but he instead shows restraint. His ending does have a strong impact that arguably “works,” but the problem is that Evan doesn’t seem like the terrible person that needs to learn the lesson that he’s taught.

Knock Knock is far from a good movie, but also far from a bad one, with it more than anything seeming to be an interesting piece in the filmography of Eli Roth. It could act as the turning point as he ushers in a more cerebral, psychological brand of horror as opposed to the visceral variety that he’s been focused on so far. I might have thought I was finished with Roth’s outings in the past, and even if Knock Knock hasn’t gotten me back on board with the director, it has shown me that he perhaps has a little more left to say