Atmospheric and genuinely spooky, with an A+ premise, fine acting and decent-at-least writing, 100 Feet is for the most part an excellent horror movie, in the way that "Ghost Story " decades ago was a for-the-most-part an excellent horror movie - flawed, to be sure, but effective enough to scare the bejeezus out of you a couple times.
The idea is a battered housewife who killed her cop husband is sentenced to house arrest back in the New York City townhouse where it all happened, bound by an ankle bracelet that restricts her to a 100-foot radius of its transmitter in the house. But the ghost of the husband she killed is bound there with her, and seeks revenge.
Sound absolutely awesome? In execution, not so much. But after a few false starts, including that darting cat that shows up in every ghost story, things start to really get frightening when haunting hubby begins beating the s--- out of his wife all over again.
This is a film rich in metaphor and symbolism in regard to domestic violence and the mindset of the women who endure it. The female lead is as much bound by her ankle bracelet as she is by her unfortunate, ill-advised and inexplicable devotion to the husband she murdered for beating her up. Anyone who knows anyone enduring domestic violence will immediately identify with both the female lead and the puzzling reason she refuses to part with her wedding ring.
In that sense, this is a powerful film. Watching the woman again make lame excuses for her bruises and bloody noses is even scarier than the supernatural elements of the film.
The movie does falter in the rendering of the ghost, which is rather cheesy, and in certain details that make you say, "Hey, wait a minute." For instance, what kind of ghost is able to be kicked in the face? Why would the woman be sentenced to live in the house where she committed the murder? Why would the cops fit someone with an ankle bracelet that doesn't allow for basic things like answering the door or going to the basement? Why would the police department assign to her case the cop whose partner she killed? Isn't that a huge conflict of interest?
A film like this is hungry for details like those. Should the producers have invested a few bucks in just one more script rewrite, "100 Feet" could have been a classic horror film in the vein of "The Changeling" or even "Rosemary's Baby."
Alas, in comparison those it's an also-ran. But that's not such a bad place to be. Even the big boys don't make movies like "The Changeling" or "Rosemary's Baby" anymore, and kudos to the producers of "100 Feet" for giving it a go.
They've done a fine job here, and if the only criticism is that a little more effort would have made it even finer, here's hoping its next offering improves again on this laudable effort.
The idea is a battered housewife who killed her cop husband is sentenced to house arrest back in the New York City townhouse where it all happened, bound by an ankle bracelet that restricts her to a 100-foot radius of its transmitter in the house. But the ghost of the husband she killed is bound there with her, and seeks revenge.
Sound absolutely awesome? In execution, not so much. But after a few false starts, including that darting cat that shows up in every ghost story, things start to really get frightening when haunting hubby begins beating the s--- out of his wife all over again.
This is a film rich in metaphor and symbolism in regard to domestic violence and the mindset of the women who endure it. The female lead is as much bound by her ankle bracelet as she is by her unfortunate, ill-advised and inexplicable devotion to the husband she murdered for beating her up. Anyone who knows anyone enduring domestic violence will immediately identify with both the female lead and the puzzling reason she refuses to part with her wedding ring.
In that sense, this is a powerful film. Watching the woman again make lame excuses for her bruises and bloody noses is even scarier than the supernatural elements of the film.
The movie does falter in the rendering of the ghost, which is rather cheesy, and in certain details that make you say, "Hey, wait a minute." For instance, what kind of ghost is able to be kicked in the face? Why would the woman be sentenced to live in the house where she committed the murder? Why would the cops fit someone with an ankle bracelet that doesn't allow for basic things like answering the door or going to the basement? Why would the police department assign to her case the cop whose partner she killed? Isn't that a huge conflict of interest?
A film like this is hungry for details like those. Should the producers have invested a few bucks in just one more script rewrite, "100 Feet" could have been a classic horror film in the vein of "The Changeling" or even "Rosemary's Baby."
Alas, in comparison those it's an also-ran. But that's not such a bad place to be. Even the big boys don't make movies like "The Changeling" or "Rosemary's Baby" anymore, and kudos to the producers of "100 Feet" for giving it a go.
They've done a fine job here, and if the only criticism is that a little more effort would have made it even finer, here's hoping its next offering improves again on this laudable effort.