Stay Out of the Basement

So yeah pretty bad acting, but still a bit tense. At first I was curious about what was going on in the basement, but then it became more boring later on. You can see the low budget spent on the film, but films are not always about the very big stars or a film that cost several millions. Many have good ideas out there. I think the ending was way too flat and that ruined a lot of it. They could come up with something better, and a better explanation, but it was entertaining enough. But you have no doubt at all that it is not a professional film, but that also makes it a little creepier, I think. It could be a situation you could be in yourself.

This is a homemade horror, in every sense of the term.

Based on the production quality alone, you can tell it was shot on practically no budget whatsoever.

But for what it is...it's really not that bad.

The story centers around a young girl, who takes on a babysitting job for a woman to whom darkness is attracted.

Through her daughter, the girl learns that they had moved away, only to return three weeks later.

After finding her mother wandering aimlessly through the woods, among some sort of ritual altar.

Turns out, she was lured by a ghost...who has since become attached to the woman- who now haunts her house.

Particularly, the basement.

Hence the title.

The ghost is, well...not good.

It's just a woman with a blonde wig and black mask.

And of course a few props, which look like they were purchased from Spirit Of Halloween.

Like I said...it's real low budget.

The filmmakers do have some promise though.

Because they do a decent job in regards to character development.

So, considering what they were clearly working with...they didn't do too bad of a job.

Of course, it's by no means a great- or particularly even good- film.

But the young lady does a decent job in her role as the babysitter.

While it's short runtime (approx. 70 mins) prevents it from being too much of a chore to sit through.

It feels like it was made by kids.

Like a school project.

Or as part of a college program or something.

Which- if such is the case- would explain a lot, and be laudable.

Just don't go into it expecting much.

But it's worth a watch if you like to see what people can do with nothing to work with.

2 out of 10.

I'm in the last few minutes of this, what on earth is this all about? I've seen more horror when my old Granddad cuts he's toenails and a shard hit my arm causing a small gash.

So the genre is totally wrong, totally boring, the story is as dry as a cream cracker. The acting is dire and to be honest the only thing that kept me watching was the anticipation of anything happening.

There is one good thing...its only an hour and 11 minutes long.

This movie needs archiving before it bores anyone else. I mean when films are released surely they are checked out first? This one needs a health warning as it's in danger of causing the viewer to fall asleep and drop their drink or popcorn.

This is clearly a no budget film, but it is a lot better than many movies of this type. It has a spooky story and told it well. A few of the other reviews talk about bad acting, but I found the actresses (as they were almost without exception all female) to be very natural and believable. Emma Pearson was very good as a young child, and Ariella Mossey was great as her babysitter, who is thrown into a number of weird and troubling situations. Rivers Duggan seems off as Liz, but that's appropriate because the character is supposed to be disturbed by everything that has happened and unable to fully deal with life. Everyone else does quite well also. The biggest disappointment is that the entire film turns out, by design, to just be a bridge between the films that came before and the one that comes after. I've not seen any of the other films, so I don't have a larger perspective and am just judging by its own merits. The ultimate villain of the movie is slightly unusual, or maybe is just not explained as well as needed without the other three films to add extra information. At one point it gets a little preachy with a religious statement, but that actually seems appropriate to the characters involved and is not too heavy-handed. That does open the door slightly to criticism that the plot was culturally insulting, but, again, without seeing the other three movies in the series I can't tell is there's a real problem. Based upon the surprising acting chops of the youngest stars and a plot that is both sort of familiar but not overdone, this film overall earns a good but not great rating.

As is typical and familiar with Ryan Callaway's other entries, there's really nothing here to bring about a cult following or viral spread to horror fans. Nothing daring or exploitative, no blood, no uncomfortable or eye-opening moments. I've been waiting for this from Callaway's work, but it seems to be staying G rated, and missing opportunities that make other no budget horror shine a little brighter. We do see several of the usual young female cast members, and that is not a bad thing.. but it's very.. scholastic. I do have to give a shout-out for Emma Pearson being quite adorable and probably the most on-screen charismatic of the bunch. Cheaply made, but not poorly made, it's just not in a category of service that will attract a horror audience. Not yet.