Tag Archives: The House with 100 Eyes

EVIL Suplexes A Group of Campers on the “100 Acres of Hell” reviewed!

Posted by Steven Lewis on


Former high profile wrestler Buck Sever finds himself in a world of personal hurt. After a family tragedy and a derailing injury, Sever’s stuck in what’s left of his life with not much reason or motivation to pick himself back up. High school friend Trent Masters organizes a bros weekend on an urban legend infamous game preserve called Foggy Creek for some drinking and hunting, but even his so-called friends exploit his celebrity status to attract women and gain personal benefit. They spot themselves right in the heart of the game preserve said to be notorious for backwoods murders committed in the 1960’s at the hands of local legend Jeb Tucker. Blowing off the mystery shrouding Foggy Creek, the four friends soon find themselves face-to-face with a mask killer with immense strength that equals Sever’s and there’s no stopping his onslaught of spilling weekend warrior blood.

Wrestling is a multi-billion dollar global juggernaut with a fan base like no other and as an industry has seen a steady increase in popularity that spans over decades. The sports iconic wrestlers are idolized by many adoring fans who hold up supportive signage at matches, imitate their trademark finishing moves with friends on makeshift rings, and even sport their merchandise while throwing out their favorite wrestlers’ memorable gestures. The sport has been become so engrained into our culture, movies like Mickey Rourke’s “The Wrestler,” that show the downtrodden life of a has-been wrestler, can be nominated and win major studio awards, such as an Oscar or a Golden Globe, and wrestlers have been seeping into the film industry that’s now at a raging pace where the professional body slammers are some of the highest paid actors, such as the established Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena. However, not every wrestler can be a glamourous super-stud in the cinematic universe. That’s the case with “100 Acres of Hell” directed by Hank Leigh Hump and starring 6’8″ Gene Snitsky and Samula “Samu” Anoa’i. Produced and penned by Snitsky, co-written alongside with Ed McKeever (“Bikini Girls Vs.The Surf Wolf”) and Jason Koerner (“Zombie Death Camp”) to enthrall a survival, campsite horror set and shot in the rural backyards of Pennsylvania.

Snitsky, retired from professional wrestling in 2018, turns to acting late in his career with his entry into the indie circuit. He portrays Buck Severs, a gargantuan man in a tragic life slump, whose seems like a harmless, gentle giant with a group of eccentric and callous group of friends that treat him poorly despite their best intentions. Snitsky’s has moments of genuine truth in delivery and body language, especially for crowd performer. Jim Roof plays one of his friends, Bo McKeever, a sordid white liar of a car salesman always looking to score between two legs. I remember Roof from his role as a snuff filmmaker in another film with “100” in the title – “House with 100 Eyes.” Roof’s funny and likable alongside Snitsky, but the other half of the “Bros” weekend pack droll with weak characterizations despite decent performances from Jeff Swanton and Ernest O’Donnell (“Jay and Silent Bob Reboot”). Both their roles fall flat by running out of steam when the potential is at the peak of flowing through their veins and unfortunately fizzle before they can be an pivotal means to an end. Catherine Corcoran (“Terrifier”), Meg Carriero (“Return to Return to Nuke ‘Em High Aka Vol. 2”), Bob Cleary (“Shadows of the Forest”) and Eileen Dietz (“Halloween II” remake) round out of the cast.

“100 Acres of Hell” sounds like a tour de force of forestry fury coupled with two ex-wrestlers and a backwards, backwoods, hillbilly killer without a cause, but that is where the pipe dream ends and an enigmatic reality sets in. The banter between the friends is palatable and, dare I say it, amusing at times and the camping setup, though trope-conventional, is braced with a solid foundation and a good catalytic promise of beer and urban legend to get things moving toward Foggy Creek. Where “100 Acres of Hell” ultimately falters, in a pair of places, is around the second into the third act as characters are quickly whacked from the story like the combat denizens of the second Mortal Kombat film – “Annihilation.” Jeb Tucker literally wipes the floor with the unlucky campers and their guests like an inbred super Shredder. Secondly, Hank Leigh Hump’s directorial debut is coherently challenging, an unbalanced execution, and a character imploding mishap that shapes “100 Acres of Hell’s” latter half into a struggle to comprehension. Hump’s film feels and looks incomplete from this perspective as if the post-production quickly finalize the project with blind haste and willy-nilly attitude.

“100 Acres of Hell” is a Jersey Lights and Screenshot Entertainment production paying homage to the Golden Age of slashers in the 1980’s with a masked killer and a high body count. The home video distributor, Indican Pictures, released the DVD and the digital streaming services this past October. Unfortunately, a screener copy was provided from this review and a full critique of the image and audio quality will not be covered. As far as bonus material, the screener contained a static menu with Indican Pictures’ preview trailers and a chaptered scene selection. Two former WWE wresters battle out of the ring and onto the screen with a retrograde slasher, “100 Acres of Hell,” but can’t pin down a 1-2-3 count for a win. Alternatively, if looking for the summit version of Jeb Tucker’s personal hunting reserve, a digital “100 Acres of Hell” comic from Swampline Comics offers a colorfully pulpy rendition of Tucker’s brutal adventures in slaying and enslaving campers…something the movie could not provide.

Dare to tread of “100 Acres of Hell!”

Evil Who Kills Together, Doesn’t Necessarily Stay Together. “Capture Kill Release” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on


Fun-loving couple, Jen and Farhang, seem like your average young twosome. Underneath the common surface, they plot a sinister murder of a random stranger. Toying with hardware store supplies and dissecting the knowledge of the human anatomy, Jen and Farhang are well prepped to tackle the abduction, the murder, and the disposal of a human being, but when Jen’s obsessive nature can’t hold back her desire to kill any longer, the couple’s relationship will be harshly tested when a hesitant Farhang is unexpectedly confronted with Jen’s opportunity to kill a kind-hearted dinner guest and decides to pull out from their ghastly thought out preparations that results turning a potential grim bonding experience to a deadly relationship fallout.

“Capture Kill Release” is the 2016 Canadian film from co-directors Nick McAnulty and Brian Altan Stewart. McAnulty also penned the script. The handheld POV thriller has a story that places Jen and Farhang’s union in a familiar, yet deceiving manner, coupling routine relationship quibbles and desires with an unorthodox principles shared amongst them. While acting upon their romantic affair in the archetypes that include one-sided back rubs, jointly frustrating shopping adventures, and an infinite amount of trivial bickering, the dynamic between them feels no different from ours with their interaction with each other in their isolated internal pact being very relatable for audiences with partners or had the experiences with former partners. Enormous, thick tension sets the foundation for “Capture Kill Release” that continuously mounds an already pressurized and emotionally compromised partnership, strained to the brink of chaos that’s hard to dig out from under.

McAnulty and Stewart cast unknown Jennifer Fraser as Jen, much of the cast keep their namesakes with their respective characters, and Fraser, placing aside her remarkable beauty, inarguably locks in Jen’s sociopathic charm. Jen’s manic personality, jumping from conversation piece to conversation piece without smooth transitions and unable to focus without the determination to kill on the mind, contrasts sharply with the more reserved and constant Farhang, a role awarded to Farhang Ghajar who has worked on the directors’ prior film, “Uncle Brian.” Farhang’s conservativeness bares an ugly unconfident image that Jen wholeheartedly exploits, nearly forcing Farhang to go along, or play along, with Jen’s disturbed fantasy. Farhang Ghajar simply plants his character in a shot without much a change between appearance or delivery whereas Fraser frequents and embraces more everyday changes, including even minor ones like her hairstyles that seem to change every scene. Polar opposites, homeless guy Gary and ‘Rich guy’ jerk, round out the significant characters with actors Jon Gates and upcoming “Exorcism of the Dead” star, Rich Piatkowski.

In retrospect, “Capture Kill Release” feels rather depressing. The angst that’s imploding from within the Jen and Farhang bubble touches upon the everyday relationship attributes where couples fight or couples unite in not so extreme measures. Jen shows no empathy or sympathy for anybody with the exception of Farhang, a grappling, fleeting emotion to cling on someone who loves you for you. To further the depression, the recent hike in POV films beats into us the obsession with vanity. The camera, no matter the capacity, is a vain concept and McAnulty and Steward’s thriller spares no expense of arrogance when Jen can’t put down the camera, no matter how much Farhang pleads and persuades her, but If I were an amateur plotter toward killing an absolute stranger, I wouldn’t be a complete novice and record my handy work. This is where McAnulty builds in an unspoken caveat that Jen has a passion for filmmaking, dreaming big of directing, one day, her own feature, a notion that’s explored more during her rooting of her mother’s stored VHS collection from Jen’s childhood. The filmmaking approach to Jen’s obsession loosely bounds the implement of the handheld and feels forced like a last minute decision, especially when genuine home videos of Jennifer Fraser are cut into the story that’s out of place.

Midnight Releasing has released “Capture Release Kill” as a high definition online streaming video feature. I was supplied with a screener and can’t comment on quality or bonus features, but the co-directed film is available on these formats: iTunes, Amazon Instant, Google Play, Vudu, XBox, FlixFling and more. Even with the brief moments in gore, the blood runs extra thick with sickeningly realistic and shocking scenes of butchery. Gory found footage, such as “The House with 100 Eyes” or the more viscerally vigorous “The Butcher,” have been gaining momentum in their popularity with the handheld camera bringing a little authenticity to grisly murders that are on the other side of the spectrum of being a very anti-Hollywood concept that less sensationalized, but devilishly effective, on a budget. Throw in a handful of motivated and talented actors, such as Jennifer Fraser and Farhang Ghajar, in this semi-exploitation gore-thriller and you can strike gold with “Capture Kill Release” that’ll please even the harshest of found footage or handheld camera critics.

No Escape from Evil’s Spell. “Rows” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on

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After serving an eviction notice to a strange old woman, with a grisly rumor in her past, for her realtor mogul father, Rose becomes drugged and bound against her will by the old woman who injects Rose with something. When Rose awakes, she finds her self caught in a repetitive cycle of murder, betrayal, and mystery brought upon by a spell conjured upon Rose by the old enchantress woman. The key to breaking the spell is the enchantress’s family home and it’s up to Rose to whether destroying the home or not will save her father who also falls victim to the old woman’s bewitching power.
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“Rows” is the fantasy-horror brainchild of writer-director David Warfield and stars “Feast” actress Hannah Schick along side “House with 100 Eyes’s” Lauren Lakis, Kenneth Hughes, Joe Basile, and Nancy Murray as the enchantress or the witch, which I like to title the character. The overall small casts’ performance achieves the toned-down, nearly expressionless portrayal of characters stuck in the confines of a hex; the “something-doesn’t-feel-right” notion is hyped up without the idea constantly up in your face and is more downplayed to let the viewer interpret Rose’s beyond twisted “Alice in Wonderland” experience. Instead of a world full of giant smoking caterpillars and tea drinking mad hatters, Warfield writes about the relatively unknown horrors of corn fields, an endless maze with rows and rows of high stalks that traps Rose and Greta.
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But the corn rows go to the back burner when the nature of the house comes to the forefront. The house’s claim to be the smoking gun to all of Rose’s obstacles is undervalued by the poor written construction of the southern belle style home in the script. The house doesn’t loom, isn’t very menacing, and just can’t seem to ever get on it’s feet to become a character wroth being frightened over. Warfield should have stuck with the corn rows which creates a surface murkiness, goes beyond our heroine’s ability to see or hear, shreds any hope for escape, and looks more ominous during the night; the house was always kept in the daytime. However, the old witch’s power stems from the house and for whatever reason, aside from the extended family history under their thumb, there is this unsatisfied, unknown conclusion for the viewer and the finale is up for personal interpretation.
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In making the ending open, Warfield’s “Rows” eases onto the border of experimental. Act one and two weren’t exactly straight forward either, but the understanding was clear and present enough. Once the transition, or the epiphany if you will, into the third act begins, a struggle to grasp Rose’s direction and, in the end, destination becomes more difficult. I can only go on my own interpretation of Rose’s journey and, much like that of the fantasy-ridden “Labyrinth” starring David Bowie, I felt like actress Hannah Schick was the Jennifer Connelly character in the sense that Rose has to grow up, leave the comforts of home, and be responsible and this whole event with the enchantress and the spell is an internal mental battle that ultimately is decided by a choice. In Hannah’s case, her inner, warped conflict is to fight her father’s will or embrace it.
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Indie Rights Films and MVDVisual distributes the StorySolver Film Lab production to DVD in a stunning 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. Details look fantastic from the farm landscapes to the skin tones with no sign of touch up enhancements such as cropping, sharpening, or smoothing. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track clearly balanced and diversifies all sub-tracks, especially the ambient sounds of the rural atmosphere to set an looming setting. There are no subtitle or settings options, nor do extras exist. Only “play” or “chapters” line the menu title. “Rows” has a sizable underlining gloom about it, setting a rightfully impassive mood through the spell world Rose is thrusted into combating.

Evil Wants to Make a Triple Feature! “The House with 100 Eyes” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on

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Anything goes in Hollywood, California and anybody can be a star. Just ask amateur filmmakers Ed and Susan, an average middle class married couple, who are searching the streets, scouting for their three actors to star in Ed and Susan’s Red Studios produced snuff film. Ed is hellbent on making his next film a never before seen triple feature – three kills in one night. After days of scouting the streets and coming up with no potential stars, Ed and Susan finally happen upon three homeless youths and offer them $500 each to star in, what the believe to be, just a harmless porno film. Things don’t go as planned as what was suppose to be Ed’s perfect triple feature night turns to be a nightmare for all parties involved. The story is told through Ed’s staged house cameras and the cameras have a night of death to tell.

I’ve only experienced one other Jay Lee directed movie prior to “The House with 100 Eyes” and that was with “Zombie Strippers!” starring Robert Englund and Jenna Jameson and while I solely purchased that title for personal entertainment and didn’t write up a review, I remember “Zombie Strippers!” being ridiculously gory. Jay Lee hasn’t strayed too far from his element with “The House with 100 Eyes” and teams up with co-director and lead actor Jim Roof (who had a part in “Zombie Strippers!”) to bring gore and shock to a mockumentary about creating a snuff film.
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Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, “The House with 100 Eyes” labels itself as horror-comedy, but in reality, the overtone deems itself more factual about the human condition. Married couple Ed and Susan couldn’t be any more realistically different; Ed is a sadistic psychopath who gets off on his addiction of suffering and murder while Susan’s more organized, structured, and satisfies her desires through death by poisoning. Not much information is explicitly given about Ed or Susan except tidbits shared by each character through self interview commentary; Ed grew up torturing animals and watching their reactions through the results of his torment while Susan went through a string of abusive husbands and her torment feels more man-made. Now while I’ve just described two very disturbed individuals, their marriage couldn’t be any more comically stereotypical; small marital spouts, sexual frustrations, “happy homemaker” wife, etc. Ed and Susan even have a pet – a young female victim named Maddie who had all her limbs severed and is probably going through Stockholm Syndrome with Ed and Susan. The comedy element is their marriage as it’s actually not a facade for making a horrific snuff film.
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The gore brings the viewer back to the subject matter of the film and the effects couldn’t be anymore gut wrenching. Ed’s torture chair has to be the most frightful part of story, strapping in his victims and just going to town on them with whatever tool inspires him. Ed slices, dices, breaks, guts, hammers, and chisel aways until the very last breath and his merciless demeanor, conveyed very well by Jim Roof, sells icy cold-heartiness. While Jay Lee didn’t linger too much on the gory scenes, Lee’s ability to inflict the anguish of the quick shots by implementing screeching audio interference from one of Ed’s stand cams, heightening the reflection of pain of torture. Ed is well complimented by his wife Susan, portrayed by Shannon Malone, who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Susan might be pleasant and even tempered when compared to Ed, but once the sweet kiss of death reaches near her nostrils, she can’t help herself to take it upon herself to inject a vicious, blood-vomit inducing poison into her prey. This makes Susan just as deadly, if not more so, than Ed.
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Now while I might be putting “The House with 100 Eyes” on a tall pedestal, I’m not too pleased with the intentional censorship of nudity. The purpose of Ed’s snuff film is for sexual gratification; he wants the double whammy of dirty sex and grisly murder. When the two lovers, Clutch and Jamie, remove their clothing, their privates are censored by close up framing or blurring out techniques. The censorship practice puts a damper on the film’s ugly subject matter, dumbing down and unbalancing the violence and the nudity. The way the filmmakers worked around this was a heed before the presentation that Ed’s tapes were all made public to expose, which the authorities thought were a hoax, the atrocities of Ed and Susan but the victim’s humility was to be kept intact.
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Another miscue for me was the open ending, leaving the conclusion up for interpretation. I’m usually one for open endings, but the way “The House with 100 Eyes” set itself up in the beginning with the “public release” should have forcibly led to a closed ending, wrapped in a nice little red bow. The ending considers the audience to be left frightened or wondering if their support for the victims will be justified, but the ending was more of an abrupt cut away from what could have been a more effective, plot defining ending.

The Artsploitation Films DVD release runs an unrated 76 minute feature presented in a 1.78:1 widescreen transfer through many digital cameras accompanied by 5.1 surround mix. The film looked sharp and clear with only minor digital noise interference during some of the more darker scenes. The well-placed screeching audio was a nice touch for fear effect, but does become a bit ear-stiffening after prolonged use. On the inside of the DVD casing, a note from the directors Jay Lee and Jim Roof give you a bit of insight on what to expect and don’t sugar coat about the dark comedy. It’s purely a film about absolute evil.
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Overall, Jim Lee and Jay Roof along with a solid cast deliver a cringe-worthy found footage mockumentary that mind behind the eyes of the malevolent and being very happy to do so with a evil smirk on their faces. Make sure you send your kids to be early before viewing the Artsploitation Films’ release of “The House with 100 Eyes.”