★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Intensity 🩸🩸🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed and written by Eric Yoder
Death Came Knocking is much more than a gore-soaked valentine to 1970s exploitation horror and a formal exercise in recreating drive-in–shocker atmosphere. It transcends the usual trappings to deliver a grim, brutal, highly successful slice of throwback fear fare.
Official synopsis
In the summer of 1978, two cousins are trapped inside their childhood home by a group of strangers. As the night continues, survival slowly turns to murder.
Review
Throwback 1970s-style horror films are pretty much their own subgenre, and the quality ranges from poorly done pastiche to absolutely nailing the vibe. I’m pleased to announce that Writer/Director/Cinematographer/Editor/Special Effects Makeup Designer Eric Yoder’s Death Came Knocking sits squarely in the latter camp.
The opening sequence sees Aunt Carolyn (Caroline Williams) stopping by her deceased sister’s house and humorously jibing while instructing cousins Julie (Jacqueline Barone) and Aaron (Mario Silva) about getting the place in order for moving out. The abode is being demolished so that a new shopping mall can be built there.
Left alone to pack and clean, the cousins go about their duties until a man named Daniel (Rey Marz) and his quite pregnant wife Marlene (Bix Krieger) ask for help as their car is broken down outside. The cousins reluctantly let them inside until a tow truck arrives, and naturally things get progressively weirder, with Daniel pulling out one of the most discomfiting ventriloquist “in the annals of horror!”, as the old movie ads used to say. The aforementioned cast members give stellar performances, joined by Dawson Keehn as the tow truck driver and Michaela Cathey as a realtor in solid supporting roles.
The 16mm Kodak filming provides the proper visual tone, and everything from set design to costumes feels authentic to the decade without distracting by overdoing it. The violence and gore are on point when considering seventies shockers such as The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yoder, Special Makeup Effects Artist/Makeup and Hair Department Head, and Additional Makeup Artist Jake Porath did an incredible job on the jaw-dropping kills and aftermath scenes.
Yoder paces the film and escalates the terror and suspense masterfully, going from Julie, Aaron, and viewers being suspicious about Daniel and Marlene to the grue-strewn events that take place. Honestly, I’m not big on home invasion horror, so me giving a strong recommendation to Death Came Knocking means something.
Sometimes a filmmaker wearing too many hats leads to a movie that an extra hand or two might have helped in reigning in overreaching elements. This is a rare case of just the opposite. Yoder had a vision and followed it through to exactly what he wanted to see on the screen, and it absolutely works. Highly recommended for fright-fare fanatics of all stripes, Death Came Knocking has secured a place on my list of best horror films of 2026.
Death Came Knocking screened as part of Nightmares Film Festival, which ran October 15–18, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio.
Review by Joseph Perry
