Review: It Knows

Director: Mark L. Maness and Rob Winfrey

Screenplay: Mark L. Maness and Rob Winfrey

Year: 2019

Synopsis: Claire starts receiving enigmatic visits from her past that uncover the horrors she lived during her childhood. If the events that happen are real or a product of her imagination is for her to decipher while she tries to solve the puzzle that is her past and her actual life.

"It Knows" starts with a disturbing scene where we see the protagonist Claire as an adult facing a situation we cannot well understand but that becomes important later in the film. The next scene is one of house terror where we see Claire's father, she this time as a child, wreaking havoc in a neighbor's house that had given refuge to Claire and her mother. Ib this scarce minutes co-directors and writers Mark L. Maness and Rob Winfrey show how the movie will develop.

On one side we have Claire as a child, interpreted by Lauren Lasseigne, living the sadistic behavior of her father herself and seeing it on others. On the other side we have Claire as an adult, interpreted by Carmen Patterson, who lives with the consequences of her father's abuse with a severe case of what seems to be post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I say that it seems PTSD because it also hints some paranormal stuff happening and it gets hard to make up if the events are happening in reality or in Claire's head.

These events start taking place when adult Claire starts being visited by her younger self and she starts reliving events from her childhood she had suppressed related to her father's abuse. The retrospectives she has start putting out pieces of the puzzle that is her repressed past and that now projects on her present life in the form of situations that surpasses human logic.

"It Knows" was developed with a short budget, but it overcomes this limitation. Although it is expected that it will have some technical flaws, these do not affect the way this intriguing story is told. My only critique is that the editing makes some dialogues feel a bit unnatural, but it does not affect the understanding and enjoyment of the story.

The acting helps the story feel convincing and the work of all actors is good. Patterson, as well as Lasseigne do a great job, but it was Dan Michael who impressed me the most with his interpretation of Monroe, Claire's father. The convincing way in which he portrays this character gives goosebumps and makes you feel very uncomfortable. An example of this is a scene where he is about to commit an atrocious crime and he drools just by thinking about what he is going to do; a frightening image.

"It Knows" is a well-crafted movie that explores the horrors of psychological traumas caused by abuse. It shows how these acts can follow you like a ghost until breaking apart your emotional health. Claire manages to put together the pieces of the puzzle that is her past but at a high price, which shows the consequences that a sadistic an abusive person can have in the health and life of its victims.