The Basement

Seing movies like this one makes you feel that something was stolen from you. I feel the time I spent watching this sick junk was stolen from me and I want that time back. Misha Barton is one of those actors who makes you think of those silent era actors who didnt fit in when the sound came because of their voice. Her voice just doesn´t fit with her looks. Jackson Davis actually did a good performance here though.

I was immediately struck by The Basements low IMDB rating and after watching it I can entirely understand now.

It tells the story of a man kidnapped by an infamous serial killer, but this psycho doesn't just kill his victims he instead role plays with them under the guises of a multitude of characters.

This makes for oddly awkward viewing, this is very uncomfortable stuff and certainly not for the faint of heart. Arguably this is less of a thriller/horror and more of a torture porn type film.

Starring Mischa Barton the movie has a cast who deliver decent performances but the movie feels less like a story and more of a snuff film. This is not pleasant and I'm sad to say doesn't ultimately go anywhere or deliver at the end.

These films are niche, I'm not the target audience but when done right they can be clever, intelligent well constructed movies! This, is not.

The Good:

Strong performances

The Bad:

Awkward viewing

Some high grade stupidity

No real plot

It's a shame that such solid performances from the two leads get wasted on such a dull script. As is typical with many low budget limited set films, there is a lot of padding here and not much punch. With the exception of a few scenes featuring the wife of one of the two leads (Mischa Barton in a very small role), the film takes place in one room - lending it a claustrophobic effect. That is not really a good thing here. To say this one drags a bit is an understatement - it practically grinds to a halt. It gets 7/10 for performances, 3/10 for overall quality of production, and 1/10 for entertainment value. Unless you really love discovering fresh faces to keep an eye on, there's no real value here.

This is one of the most boring films I have seen in a long time.

Any sense of wonder or suspense disappears after a few minutes because the story is predictable and just plain stupid.

The only reason I gave this two stars is for the acting, which was reasonable considering everything else.

Watch five minutes at the start, and five minutes at the end, and that is the whole story worth giving time to.

Plainly put, this film (as mentioned in the title) was pretty boring. I don't usually go into a film "blind" as in without watching a trailer for it 1st but I kinda wish did for this as it might have saved me 1hr 25mins of sheer boredom. Five minutes in and I already had reservations about it, but I stuck with it to give it a chance in the hope it would improve.

It did not.

It didn't get worse, but it definitely didn't get any better.

The acting is mediocre at best, but I will say that the best of a bad bunch was Jackson Davis as Billy who did a fairly decent job with all his "personalities". Although it probably wasn't that hard to be a stand out amongst the rest of the actors, and I don't know why Mischa Barton got such a prominent mentioning, as she was bland, uninteresting and soulless throughout the film.

The film is littered with the usual cliché's that you'd expect to see in a kidnap/torture film as well, which I guess is to be expected but you always live in hope. As for the twist at the end. Meh. It didn't make my jaw drop, but was a mediocre part of the movie that made it just a smidge better.

Take my advice and give this a miss. I know films, like any other art form, is subjective, but how anyone could rate this so highly is merely baffling. Just proves that there's always something for everyone, I guess.

Also, who the Hell takes a Lamborghini to go to the store as well?!