The Knocking (2022 film)

The Knocking (Koputus) is a 2022 Finnish supernatural horror drama film written and directed by Max Seeck and Joonas Pajunen. It tells the story of three adult siblings who go examine their late parents' house in the middle of a forest. The film's cast includes Inka Kallén, Saana Koivisto and Pekka Strang.

Plot
A dilapidated detached house is located in the heart of the forest in Sydänmaa; the childhood home of the now grown-up main characters, Mikko (Pekka Strang), Maria (Inka Kallén) and Matilda (Saana Koivisto), to which they return years later to settle their parents' estate. The house and the forest are overshadowed by a dark history: 15 years earlier, the father (Niko Saarela) was found brutally murdered in the house, the mother (Olga Temonen) was declared missing at the time, and the youngest of the children, Matilda, was wheeled into a small cage in the corner of the bedroom. When they get there, they notice that the forest makes them behave strangely. Will the environment bring out the siblings' childhood traumas, or will something supernatural happen in the forest that belonged to their missing mother's family? And what the growth rings of trees have to do with this? As darkness descends, the events of the past begin to repeat themselves and no one is safe.

Cast

 * Inka Kallén as Maria
 * Linnea Skog as young Maria
 * Saana Koivisto as Matilda
 * Hilma Temonen as young Matilda
 * Pekka Strang as Mikko
 * Kristian Stierncreutz as young Mikko
 * Olga Temonen as the mother
 * Niko Saarela as the father
 * Janina Berman as old lady
 * Mikko Leppilampi as lawyer

Release
The Knocking had its first screening at the Sitges Film Festival on October 9, 2022. In Finland, the film was released in cinemas on February 22, 2023. In the United States, the film premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival on March 24, 2023.

In September 2022, the film's distribution rights had been sold to more than 70 countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Indonesia, Taiwan and Latin America.