100 Feet (DVD)
Reviewed by Uncle Creepy
Starring Famke Janssen, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pare, Ed Westwick
Directed by Eric Red
Distributed by The Asylum
We see a ton of movies here at Dread Central, and every now and again for whatever reason, sometimes one or two fall through the cracks. Still, if we did miss something worthwhile upon its release, we always try to take the time to make sure that you know about it as soon as possible. Such is the case with Eric Red’s 100 Feet, a ghost story that packs one hell of a punch.
Marnie Watson (Janssen) is a very troubled woman. After she kills her husband, an abusive cop (Pare), in self-defense, she finds herself eventually sentenced to their home — confined to the scene of the crime and unable to go outside of a one-hundred-foot radius of it. To make things even worse for her, her husband’s partner, Shanks (Cannavale), isn’t buying the whole “she was only protecting herself” angle and is now living for her to screw up so that she’s sent to prison to fully pay for her crime. All that sucks, right? Still … that isn’t even the worst part.
As if the painful memories and rabid cop aren’t enough to drive her mad, she slowly starts to realize that even though she has killed her wife-beating husband, this guy isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. In fact, he’d like to strangle her with it. Through a series of really fucked up and twisted events, things turn pretty violent, and this pissed off spirit is looking to do a lot more damage than just make things go bump in the night.
Simply put, 100 Feet is an intense and at times scary little movie. Director Eric Red preys upon the common fear of being alone in the dark and builds his tension at a steady pace while taking full advantage of the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in the inescapable home. It all works together to create one of the best supernatural rides we’ve been on in a long while. Unfortunately though, all this good makes the sort of on the weak side ending feel all the more frustrating once it comes to pass. It’s not that the film’s conclusion is bad per se, it’s just that it is easily the worst part of not only the movie but of the experience itself.
Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s the schlockbuster mavens The Asylum who put this baby out on to DVD either. Most of you out there avoid their “movies” like the plague, and considering how bad they usually are, you should, but every dog has its day, and they somehow got lucky enough to acquire this gem for distribution.
In true Asylum fashion, though, if they can’t make a bad movie, they at the very least have to make the DVD package itself suck, and suck it does. All we get in terms of special features is a trailer. Talk about a missed opportunity. Come on, guys, at least give us a friggin’ commentary! Anything! Why the bare bones route was taken is damned near bewildering.
Like I stated in the beginning, 100 Feet has been out for a while now, and it’s unfortunate that we got to it this late in the game. That’s totally our bad. Still, hopefully with this review we can right that wrong, and you’ll take our advice and dig on this surprisingly spooky little flick. In the interim we will be watching Mr. Red with a keen eye. Here’s to whatever insanity is next!
Special Features
3 1/2 out of 5
Special Features
1/2 out of 5
Categorized:Reviews
