Don't Look In The Basement
- Css Darth-Sheol
- Apr 8, 2015
- 3 min read
As far as horror movie titles go Don't Look in the Basement (AKA “The Forgotten”) is up there with things that have “Massacre” or “Nightmare” in the title. I really thought I was going to like this flick, as far as bad horror goes anyway, but it goes downhill too far too fast.
The story centers around a sort of strange insane asylum except it's less like a hospital and more like a commune. The guy that runs the place, Dr. Stevens, believes in letting the patients run around unhindered. This gains him a hatchet buried in his spine.
Charlotte shows up shortly after the lethal incident to take a nursing position. She figures out something is wrong pretty quickly when patients start getting mutilated, and when someone comes at her with a knife she begins questioning the wisdom of staying there. When she realizes she's trapped the situation begins to escalate. Some of the people here aren't who they appear to be, and it's hard to tell who's on her side and who wants to stick a sharp object in her skull.
Oh, and of course, all this is tied to whatever is in the basement. Not that I'm going to tell you what it is. That would spoil all the fun, what fun there is to spoil at least. I mean it all starts out pretty well. We've got a house full of crazies: a girl that thinks a doll is a real baby and will threaten anyone that touches it, a girl obsessed with men “loving” her, a judge who feels he must hand out justice, a guy who jumps around screaming like a monkey while playing pranks on people, and other entertaining nutcases. Charlotte is out of her league with the head doctor gone and too few other staff to handle this many patients.
Where it starts faltering in a way that kills the entertainment value is with the crazy people overload. We get so many scenes of the lunatics being loony without enough movement of the plot that it gets boring after a while. It gets to feeling like a lot of ranting and raving just to have something to fill up some time. When the plot does pick up and start moving along all the screaming and crying gets old in a hurry. Where's the determination? Where's the heroism?
The acting is not great but could be worse. Most of the characters just have to run around being insane which doesn't take a Denzel Washington to do in a movie like this. I've never heard of any of these actors and didn't think any of them particularly noteworthy, but it wasn't the acting that caused me to lose interest.
In essence the concept and setup are enough to catch my eye, but the execution and development fall flat. A better writer might have done wonders for this one.
MORALITY:
There are a few violent and bloody moments. Most are quick, but a few are pretty brutal. We also see some cringe-worthy shots of corpses.
One girl likes to remove her top. We get a couple of shots of her chest and a couple more partial shots scattered throughout the movie. She tries to seduce various men, but the sexuality is actually pretty mild aside from the obvious point of her being a nymphomaniac.
There's a little bit of strong language.
SPIRITUALITY:
In all seriousness psychological problems can be a real issue, and being a child of God doesn't necessarily exempt you from those struggles. The support of a Christian family can be a source of hope and strength, but unfortunately there are also religious types who would rather demonize a person at arm's length than do what they can to be a true source of help.
The patients in Don't Look in the Basement are the most extreme examples of insanity leading to lethal conflict, but it IS a horror movie after all.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you like bad horror flicks this might have some merit in the loony setup, but if you're after something with an actual story that's compelling you might want to look elsewhere.
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