Knocking arrives on blu-ray courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures, one of Vinegar Syndrome’s many partner labels.

Molly (Cecilia Milocco) has just moved into a new apartment after an implied tragedy in her recent past which landed her in a psychiatric hospital for a stint. Not long after settling in, she begins to hear rhythmic knocking from somewhere above her. She begins questioning the other tenants of the building. Do they hear the knocking? Do they know where it’s coming from? Are they causing it? She is met on all sides with negative responses, hostility, weariness and concern for her mental well-being from various neighbors. Over time the noises escalate from knocking to something Molly finds much worse. Is it all in her head or is something more sinister at work?

In the grand tradition of Bergman’s Persona, another depiction of a woman’s fractured psyche from Sweden which the movie even references early on, comes this slow burn low budget psychological thriller that does a very good job of building tension through the commendable lead performance from Milocco and the extremely tight camera work that really drives home the feeling of paranoia and isolation that Molly is suffering from. In fact, it’s that tight camera work that actually draws more stylistic comparisons to Darren Aronofsky’s Pi than anything by Bergman.

While the ending won’t be a tremendous surprise regardless of how you are looking at it (it’s an “is she or isn’t she” kind of plot point after all), I feel like the journey to get there is well worth the relatively short time investment. At only 78 minutes, the movie feels like a good length for how tightly wound it is. Much longer, and the tension would raise to uncomfortable levels.

On the technical side, this disc does an admirable job of representing the film as intended. The many low light sequences are represented as cleanly as the more light-saturated sequences. The sound is well-mixed with the titular knocking sounds coming in clear and unobscured. There’s a nice selection of efforts highlighted by a virtual Q&A session with the director, cinematographer, lead actress and producer of the film which offers some nice insight into the potential social implications of the film and its place within the #metoo movement of insuring women’s voices are heard. We also have two short films from director Kempff, one a documentary of an elderly woman who joins a bathing club (which is apparently a thing?) and Dear Kid also starring actress Milocco as a woman concerned about a potential sexual predator at a city pool. Dear Kid in particular is an interesting little companion to Knocking in how it shows the subtle inner struggle of a woman passively determining whether to speak up and say or do something about a perceived threat. In addition to a couple trailers, the disc is topped off with an enclosed booklet with an essay from Anya Stanley which offers some additional insight into the film and expounds on some of the social issues potentially at play within the narrative as well.

Overall Knocking is an emotionally resonant and intense experience that is well worth checking out for fans of slow burn psychological horror.