Anthony II - Die Bestie kehrt zurück

In THE CELLAR, a boy finds a monster / demon living in the cellar of his dad's new house. It seems that the local natives put a curse on the land many moons ago. Of course, no one believes junior, even when people start vanishing.

The story is clunky, the characters are rather lifeless, and the monster is only shown for about 30 seconds. Still, the creature is just cheeeze-tacular enough to make the rest endurable.

If you enjoy the schlocky horror of the 1980's, then this is a must-see...

This is your run of the mill monster in the basement film that has absolutely no surprises. Not that its a bad film but why do something that has been done so many times before and offer nothing that we haven't seen already? The film stars Patrick Kilpatrick (Minority Report) who is bald in real life and you'll notice that he's wearing a hair piece. His character has anger issues and by the end of the film you have to think that his wife will have second thoughts about staying with him. He gets very violent at times. His son who has seen the monster is going to try and convince everyone of what he has seen and sets out to try and kill it himself. The film is hokey and predictable but even a bad monster in the basement flick is watchable. So is this one.

A family moves into an old house in the desert.There is a long commentary at the beginning that talks about an evil spirit that dwells in a tunnel below this house.The Indian creature occasionally manifests itself to frighten the little boy staying in the house and to pick off a stray secondary character.I remember seeing "The Cellar" several years ago and was highly unimpressed.There is no gore and nudity in this suitably dull monster feature from usually uneven Kevin Tenney.The script is silly and the direction lacks enthusiasm.The performances are passable,but they can't save this film from fading into obscurity.A generous 5 out of 10.

So the film was an okay B-budget horror movie, not one of the best from the 80s but certainly not one of the worst. However, the main reason for me writing my first ever review on imdb is because an error needs to be corrected. The young actor that plays the character of the little boy Willy is listed on imdb as Chris Miller, born in 1968, the guy who does voice performances and directs such animated films as Shrek and The Penguins of Madagascar. In actual fact Willy is played by Chris J. Miller who was born in 1983, a child actor. The fact that this error has been made is really quite unforgivable considering that if it was the Chris Miller listed on imdb he would have been 21 yeaes of age when he appeared in this film, the character of Willy is quite clearly not 21!

You've read the plot summary, so I'll skip that part. Let's open the show with a few glaring flaws.

First off, the family moves into a house in the middle of nowhere, opens a sealed door they find hidden behind a cabinet, and discover they have a basement. None of that's so incredible, but Dad apparently has no problem with the fact that there's a gaping, monster-sized tunnel in one wall.

Secondly, monster mobility. The thing can apparently only manifest itself in three places: the house's cellar, a water-filled sinkhole that connects to its basement warren, and a dry oil well. It's allowed to come into the house by the rules of the film, but apparently only if someone opens the cellar door for it. What prevents it from crawling up out of the sinkhole or out from under the oilwell platform to wreak havoc in the open is never explained (my guess has a lot to do with the FX budget). And that cellar door? The one hidden behind a cabinet and ritually sealed by the Indians? Well, it also has a storm door leading right up into the yard, which isn't even locked.

Third, monster power. The thing's strong enough to overpower grown men with one paw and nearly pull limbs off trees, but it can't break down a flimsy cellar door to get at the goodies in the house?

All that being said, they did design a pretty nasty-looking beast, one that looks like a long-nosed version of the Terror Dogs from Ghostbusters (I call it Slime Rat). Unfortunately, they didn't have enough money to make a whole monster. Only the front half of it interacts on-screen with the actors, and it comes up looking pretty rubbery in close scenes.

It's okay for a cheap jump-at-a-body monster movie, and I didn't see the pacing problems that other reviewers have commented on. I think the key to enjoying this film is to be willing to let it scare you. Either that or ridicule it to death.