The Cellar

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...

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.

I had the opportunity of sitting down today, in 2021, and watch the 1989 horror movie "The Cellar". I remember having seen it back in my teenage years, after having sat through it again today. But it was a movie that I had fully and wholeheartedly forgotten all about. So as I stumbled upon the movie in 2021, of course I took the time to sit down and watch it.

It should be said that "The Cellar" is definitely everything you'd expect from a late 1980s horror movie, for better or worse. I grew up watching a heap of horror movies in the 1980s, so this was definitely right up my alley. And I must admit that I actually enjoyed "The Cellar" from writers John Woodward and Darryl Wimberley.

The storyline told in this movie, as directed by Kevin Tenney, is pretty straight forward. And it follows that very unique formula that was being used over and over back in the time when it was made. But I found it to be enjoyable and watchable. It was definitely a trip back in time for me to watch "The Cellar". Sure there were plot holes and aspects to the storyline that just made zero sense, but hey, it is a movie after all.

The acting in the movie was adequate. Nothing outstanding here actually. But don't get me wrong, because it wasn't as if people were doing poor jobs or anything. Not at all. But it was just fairly standard acting performances for a late 1980s horror movie of this caliber.

Now, I will say that the creature effects were actually quite good. And still were passable even today. So the visual effects, special effects, make-up and props departments really delivered in this movie.

"The Cellar" is a movie that is well-worth taking the time to sit down and watch. And should you be presented with the opportunity to do so, I would recommend that you do it.

My rating of "The Cellar" lands on a well-deserved six out of ten stars.

The Cellar opens with a load of mystical native American hogwash about evil Commanche spirits that wait to punish the white man. The ancient Indian curse is a lazy plot device that, once established, allows a film-maker to chuck a load of supernatural nonsense on screen with little need for logic or narrative cohesion: occasionally it works (Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist, which benefitted from a decent cast, a big budget, and Spielberg's guiding hand); mostly it doesn't, The Cellar being a prime example.

In Kevin Tenney's film, a savage creature conjured up by a powerful medicine man lurks in the cellar of an old house. The new owners, the Cashen family, are blissfully unaware of the monster that comes with their home, but youngster Willy (Chris Miller) realises the danger when he catches sight of it trying to come up through his bedroom floor. Willy's father Mance (Patrick Kilpatrick) doesn't believe his son's story, so it is up to Willy to try and kill the creature before it eats him, his dad, step-mom Emily (Suzanne Savoy), and baby sister April (Ryan and Anthony Childs).

The pacing of this film is awful: a very dull fifty minutes or so pass before we get a brief glimpse of the creature, when Willy manages to maim the thing in one of his bear traps. Now you might be asking yourself what a young lad is doing messing around with potentially lethal steel traps unsupervised, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Mance worries about whether his son really loves him: perhaps that's because he doesn't pay him enough attention, which is how the boy is able to make a home-made flame-thrower, give his baby sister a rabbit's foot necklace (a choking hazard if I ever saw one), rig up a high-voltage booby trap in the cellar, and steal sticks of dynamite and detonators to make some bombs -all without being noticed.

As if being totally oblivious to his child's numerous dangerous activities wasn't bad enough, Mance continues to not believe the kid about the monster, eventually losing his temper with the lad and locking him in the living room with the door to the cellar nailed open. Fortunately, Emily breaks open the door just in time to see the creature, at which point Mance realises his mistake and plays the hero. Someone give the guy a 'Father of the Year' award! The final battle with the creature is actually a lot of fun, even though the monster effects are a bit on the rubbery side, and the film ends with a nice big explosion, which is cool.

Actually, scratch that: the film ends with some more nonsensical mumbo jumbo about Native American wind spirits and other mystical guff, which isn't cool.

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

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.