MY CALL: This movie would be 100% not recommended were it not for one awesome scene. Enjoy the brutal GIFs and decide if this is for you based on that alone. MORE MOVIES LIKE 100 Feet: Probably What Lies Beneath (2000) is closest in theme. But I’d sooner suggest something like Paranormal Activity (2007) or The Entity (1982).
Like the beginning of a direct-to-DVD crime drama (and every bit as uncompelling), we meet Detective Shanks (Bobby Cannavale; Snakes on a Plane) begrudgingly dropping off his deceased partner’s murderer, Marnie Watson (Famke Janssen; House on Haunted Hill, The Faculty, Deep Rising, Lord of Illusions, Hide and Seek, Hemlock Grove, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters), to serve her sentence under house arrest. Firmly claiming to have killed her abusive husband in self-defense, Shanks’ blood boils at the very sight of her and he wants more answers than she’s providing about his death.
Shortly after beginning her house arrest, Marnie has “an encounter.” Whereas one may initially shake it off as guilt-induced or stress from living in the house where she killed her husband, signs clearly indicate something paranormal. Unfortunately for us viewers, those signs are brought to the screen in the form of cursory special effects—more the caliber you’d expect from an old episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark (1990-2000) or a re-enactment from some Ghost Hunters show. And while the acting is fine, the execution of these meant-to-be dreadful happenings simply doesn’t work.
There’s little in the horror genre as “unspooky” as the sound of a ghost’s footsteps with nothing to complement the fear or cultivate dread. When her kitchen “attacks” her, it’s not scary. Perhaps unexpected—maybe “random” would be a better term. But certainly not very effective as a horror device. And seeing the blurry low budget ghostly form of a wifebeater continuing to batter his wife from beyond the grave isn’t so much unnerving as it is crass… at least, in its basic presentation in this movie. Unblur the ghost and it’s just a guy beating his wife.
Writer/director Eric Red (Body Parts, Bad Moon) seemed to really try with this film, but his vision seems to most fall apart when the ghost is in our vision.
When a priest showed up to the house, I thought “this is it! This will be the scene that makes it all worth it!” But it wasn’t. Another empty, squandered scene. But then a ghost sighting during a sex scene… well… that was the one scene (if any) that made this movie worthwhile. Just plain BRUTAL and GORY, complete with twisted limbs and cracked teeth and a mangled dislocated mandible. Where did this come from after 70 lame minutes of nothing?!?!
For all the criticism I’m dealing out, this was not quite as annoying as you’d think. The familiarity of the cast and capable acting make this more watchable than you’d expect, even if still far from acceptable. It’s definitely not completely unwatchable if you’re just looking for a popcorn flick. But I’d still never recommend this (let alone spending money on this) unless you, like me, were just curious to see Famke in this horror movie you had never heard of until someone’s passing mention of it—which is exactly what happened to me on Facebook last month. OR… the GIFs made your day and you decided you needed to see that scene.
