Tuesday, October 21, 2014

#1,527. 100 Feet (2008)


Directed By: Eric Red

Starring: Famke Janssen, Bobby Cannavale, Ed Westwick



Tag line: "Accused of Killing Her Husband, Confined To The Home He Now Haunts"

Trivia: In Brazil, this film was released as Hostage Spirit









After a stint in in prison for murdering her abusive husband (who also happened to be a cop), Marnie (Famke Janssen) is finally heading home, where she will be under house arrest for the next 12 months. With an electronic tracking device attached to her leg, Marnie is restricted to a 100-foot radius; if she wanders beyond that point, she will be back in jail before she knows it.

Despite these limitations, Marnie does her best to lead a normal life. But as she will soon discover, she’s not alone in the house. The ghost of her dead husband Mike (played by Michael Paré) resides there as well, and needless to say, he’s pretty pissed off that she killed him!

Mike picks up right where he left off, beating Marnie on a regular basis. For help, Marnie turns to Shanks (Bobby Cannavale), her husband’s former partner, as well as Joey (Ed Westwick), the delivery boy for the local supermarket. But will either of them believe she's being tormented by a ghost?

Famke Janssen delivers an electrifying performance in Eric Red's 100 Feet, playing a once-battered housewife who continues to suffer at the hands of a deranged ghost. Yet what makes her character so fascinating isn't that she is being tormented by a spirit, but the manner in which she handles the entire ordeal. As portrayed by Janssen, Marnie is a tough-as-nails woman who refuses to let a ghostly presence get the better of her. There are even times when she has a few choice words for her late husband. After being attacked in the kitchen, Marnie defiantly shouts “You had it coming”, reminding Mike that it’s his own fault he’s dead. From start to finish, Janssen coveys an inner strength that is entirely convincing.

That said, when it comes to its horror elements, 100 Feet is hit and miss; Mixed in with the effective shocks (the sequence where Mike first makes his presence known to Marnie is abundantly creepy) are a few cheap thrills (there's a screeching cat, a time-honored jump scare that has been done to death). But the real problem is the ghost itself, which is inconsistent. Sometimes it appears in full form, while at other times we can’t see it at all. There’s even a scene where Marnie takes a swing at Mike and actually connects, something that had me scratching my head when, later on, she tries knocking him down with a baseball bat and it simply passes through him.

These issues aside, 100 Feet is a movie I’d recommend. Famke Janssen is stellar as the lead, and alone makes it worth your time. 







2 comments:

Mats said...

Must check this one out, love Famke :)

Jason Courville said...

I thought it was excellent, the special effects were great,and there were enough tense moments in the movie to counter the jump scares and keep me interested. Both famke Janssen and Bobby Carnivale were very good,they played off one another so well.