100 FEET
(unrated)
MOVIE: *** (out of 5)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ** (out of 5)
STARRING
Famke Janssen as MARNIE WATSON
Bobby Cannavale as SHANKS
Studio: The Asylum
Directed by: Eric Red
BY KEVIN CARR
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
After killing her husband, Marnie Watson (Famke Janssen) is sentenced to house arrest in the home where the crime took place. She insists that she acted in self defense, but her husband’s old partner Shanks (Bobby Cannavale) doesn’t believe her. While living in seclusion in her home, she finds herself haunted by the ghost of her husband, bent on revenge from beyond the grave. Her terror mounts over the weeks because she is limited to move only within the 100-foot radius of the house itself.
WHAT I LIKED
In a year that had so many awful horror movies hitting the big screen, it’s nice to see some pretty decent direct-to-DVD releases. “100 Feet” is far from a perfect movie, but it’s a far cry better than films like “The Final Destination” and “Orphan,” which reeked up the cinemas this year.
Though a simple story, “100 Feet” works as a haunted house tale. The writing manages to sidestep a lot of horror movie cliches simply by making Marnie bound to her own home. And she suffers through it because she knows that no one will believe her stories.
Setting a horror film almost exclusively in one location like this can be tricky, but it’s handled nicely by director Eric Red. There’s plenty of suspense and moments that kept me wondering what would happen. And it’s also a brave decision to have the supernatural action happen in such a violent, powerful way. I applaud some of the choices Red makes throughout the movie.
I was very pleasantly surprised by “100 Feet,” especially considering it comes from The Asylum, which is a fun distribution house but is known for distributing much campier and unoriginal films.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
While the film is well acted and decently constructed, there are some old traps it falls into. The biggest problem it has with the scary scenes is that it reveals too much. In this day and age of computer animation, it’s tempting to show too much, and Red does this on several occasions. A good haunted house story blossoms with what it doesn’t show, like in Robert Wise’s still terrifying “The Haunting,” which actually showed nothing, to a better effect.
DVD FEATURES
There are no special features on this DVD.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Horror movie fans who want to see a different take on a classic haunting.