Director: Lou Simon

Cast: Todd Bruno, Mike Stanley, Aniela McGuinness

Production Company: White Lotus Productions

Runtime: 80 minutes

For decades, filmmakers have used horror to shed light on true-to-life issues. Social relevance is one of the great strengths that’s often subtly included in this form of cinema. Director Lou Simon makes us face some tough subject matter in her new film 3: An Eye for an Eye (2018).

In the movie, a man and his friend decide to kidnap her probable rapist in order to extract a confession. Extreme levels of torture are used in the hopes of getting the desired information. Will this lead to the expected truth, or is there more here than meets the eye?

Director Lou Simon also wrote HazMat (2013), Agoraphobia (2015), and All Girls Weekend (2016). The script for this movie is well-developed and thought provoking. It’s also horrifying and disturbing on a number of different levels.

Aniela McGuinness (also from Agoraphobia) plays Christine. Despite everything she’s gone through, she remains the voice of reason in the story. Todd Bruno from Boyfriend Killer (2017) is fantastic in the role of Will. His character is complex and very convincing.

Mike Stanley from The Morningside Monster (2014) plays a very sympathetic character, even though he is being accused of rape. The movie also features Katie Carpenter from Fantasma (2017), and Jim Adams from All Hallows Evil: Lord of the Harvest (2012) in supporting roles.

The movie delves into issues that arise from molestation, post-traumatic stress disorder, gaslighting, mutilation, and depression. Including these concerns make the movie more realistic, and certainly a lot darker in tone. It also clearly delineates the motives of the characters.

There’s quite a few scenes of torture in this film, so be ready for that. At one point, someone makes a comment that connects the movie’s events to Silence of the Lambs (1991). I think this film is also comparable to Misery (1990), Saw (2004), and A Darker Reality (2008).

A tense sequence that is similar to a game of hide and seek is one of the film’s high-water marks. In fact, the tension never really subsides in this movie. Instead, it merely ebbs and flows like a relentless tide. It may fade temporarily, but you know it’s coming back soon…

The music by Michael Damon helps to keep you on edge for the entire duration of the film as well. 3: An Eye for an Eye is a fine example of physical and psychological horror cinema. It plays with your mind while stirring your guts…

– John Migliore

For more information on the film, check out the links below…

Official Trailer

IMDb Page

Lou Simon on Twitter

White Lotus Productions