This is not so much horror as psychological drama and thriller, it is incredibly dark subject matter, and yes, the director should get points for putting this to film. "It Knows" is a film about extreme trauma and abuse, and how people deal with it, wrapped in an unendingly bleak "supernatural" story. There are some parts that are badly executed, largely some of the acting and the hokey costumes used(couldn't they have done better?), and some poorly written dialog. "It Knows" is a low budget film, and unfortunately, in most low-budgets, you must be willing to let go of some of these shortcomings. What this film gets right is what another user defines as constant whining and crying, it is in a constant emotional fever pitch, but justifiably so. How pray tell, are people supposed to deal with these extreme and emotionally and personally disturbing scenarios? By smiling and laughing? The subject matter itself demands that people have either no reaction or an extreme one, and we actually do get both here.
This film, in some ways, it does fare better than "Incident in Ghostland" in dealing with extreme trauma, while "It Knows" is not as technically astute or as slickly made, and again falls very short in a few areas, even with it's faux ambiguities, it mostly works. It puts things a bit more front and center with trauma, the ending is left rather open in a good way, and even though it is a bit over the top, I couldn't help empathise with the main character. I know more than a few abuse survivors who survived abuse not far off from the main character, and I have seen it drive some people completely over the edge into madness; it is truly sad to watch. "It Knows" very well conveys the pain of a long-term abuse victim, although exaggerated, and the long-term side effects. That is what this film gets right. I don't believe it is necessarily trying to hit us with some grand twist, you can see where the story is going, what it does hit us with is it's non-stop and unfiltered view of abuse, and this carries through to the end.
Again, the acting is not good from some players, it is grossly over-the-top in some places, particularly the father, he should have been less over the top and more sinister and quiet, and this does bog the film down. I've been around drunks, the mother actually is not over the top. She's pretty spot on. Still,most of the time, the ambition of this film does not exceed it's grasp. The music can be a little overbearing at times, but either I got used to it, or it got better as the film progressed.
The cinematography is far better than in most very low budget films, and the music itself is well-done, just too loud sometimes. Though the opening credits with it's show one name, show a scene, was beyond annoying, I almost shut it off over that. The audio is well-mixed other than that, what really will kill this film for most people, is aforementioned over-the-top acting. The story itself is not groundbreaking, but what sets it apart is it films it with so much honesty, and it declines to pull a single punches, it goes for the gut every time, low-budget non-studio films can make tough subject matter a lot more honestly than a studio backed one.
I would give this a pass if any of the flaws above will irk you, or if the subject matter of an abuse victim coming to terms with her abuse in an extreme way doesn't appeal to you, then avoid. Note, there is some nudity, of a non-sexual nature in here as well.
God Bless ~Amy
