Connect with us

News

Movie Review: The House with 100 Eyes

Published

on

I’m getting a little tired of the found footage and mockumentary style horror movies, but every so often one comes along, such as The Sacrament, that is so good that it serves as a reminder that this sub-genre may still have something fresh to offer. Unfortunately, The House with 100 Eyes does not do that. Instead, it feels like a mishmash of ideas we’ve seen before with the effectiveness level of said ideas turned down.

The plot is simple. A psychotic married couple are documenting the creation of a snuff film in which they have two teenage girls and a boy over to their home to have sex with each other and be murdered on film. We’re supposed to see the creation of a snuff film. Unfortunately there’s never a second that we forget we’re watching a fictional movie. It never feels real, which would be a key component to making this device work, so instead it falls flat.

It’s being sold as part comedy, but I didn’t find many reasons to laugh despite a few noticeable attempts to elicit such a reaction. It’s mostly played pretty straight.

On the DVD packaging, we’re told that The House of 100 Eyes is like American Psycho meets This is Spinal Tap. It’s supposed to be both horrific and humorous. I can’t honestly say that I found it to be either. The best way I can describe it is more like Man Bites Dog or The Last Horror Movie meets Suburban Nightmare with maybe a little bit of Lucky Bastard thrown in. It’s just not as good as any of these films (and only one of them is really all that highly regarded in the first place).

The gore effects are reasonably decent, but sometimes as they’re occurring there is annoying camera nonsense that makes them hard to see, which I guess is supposed to make it seem more real, but instead it just makes it seem like something didn’t look as good as they had hoped so they did that to hide it. I don’t know if that’s actually the case, but that’s the feeling I got.  In fact, there is some pretty annoying camera shaking and noise throughout a good deal of the picture and it contributes to some horrendous editing.

Going into the movie, you might get the impression that you’re going to be in for some extreme shit, but if that’s what it’s going for, it misses the mark there too – you’re probably better off with something like one of the Guinea Pig or August Underground films. If you like the concept of the murdering couple with humorous elements, I’d suggest Sightseers. If you want to see people strapped in chairs and tortured, watch one of the Hostels. They have much more substance.

I realize everything I’ve said up until now would lead you to believe The House of 100 Eyes is one of the worst movies I’ve seen. It’s not. It’s easier to get through than a lot of films I’ve watched over the years, and the 76-minute running time helps in that department. I just feel like I’ve seen pretty much seen everything it has to offer before and done more effectively. If you haven’t seen any of the other movies I’ve mentioned in this review, you might get more out of it than I did.

Official Synopsis:

AMERICAN PSYCHO meets THIS IS SPINAL TAP in this gory mockumentary.  A nice middle-class American couple spend their spare time making and selling snuff videos.  When they plot their latest – featuring three kills in one night – everything goes terribly, bloodily wrong. THE HOUSE WITH 100 EYES is simultaneously shocking and satirical.

The film is written and co-directed by Jim Roof and co-directed by Jay Lee (Zombie Strippers!, Alyce Kills).

The House with 100 Eyes comes to DVD on June 16 from Artsploitation. Before that, on June 9, they’re releasing the far more entertaining Der Samurai (review). On June 23 they’ll release Horsehead, which is next on my reviewing agenda.

[youtube id=”sYuionzF-ds” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

 

 

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

News

Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

Published

on

Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading

Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

Published

on

The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading

Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

Published

on

Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading