The Cellar Door

There is just something interesting about the deviant stalker in a horror movie, which is actually why I decided to sit down to watch "The Cellar Door". I had no knowledge about the movie or its existence prior to finding it by sheer luck in the horror section.

The story told in "The Cellar Door" was adequate for what it turned out to be. It was actually, just another stalker who captures prey and keeps it in the basement type of movie. You know the type, once you've seen one you have essentially seen them all. And the storyline told in this movie was rather predictable as well.

The cast ensemble in the movie was rather small, and sadly the cast wasn't putting on particularly memorable performances. And the fact that the characters portrayed in the movie were generic and non-distinct wasn't really helping either.

"The Cellar Door" is adequately paced which was a definite plus. However, the movie was struggling with the fact that it was just another generic torture flick.

This is clearly not a multi million dollar and the production level clearly shows that. But despite that, then I will say that they actually managed to do well enough with their endeavor.

This movie might be worth your time and effort for a single viewing if you have nothing better to watch at hand, but it is hardly a movie that you will go out of your way to get your hands on.

Now I understand this film was made some time ago but I just got around to watching it and reading IMDb for some insight, I loved all of your opinions and critiquing, it was very helpful, without people like you I would watch films and waste my money (most of the time).

But I finally watched this film after finding it on NETFlIX and my review goes as follows. Enjoy!

I really don't think this is a bad film, If your in the mood for a no brains, relaxing evening snuggled up ready to sink your teeth into a new cheesy slasher film.

But just one question. What is with the stickycam video quality? Are they just trying to imitate the shaky cam like in big budget action movies? I really don't understand. This film would of looked and been so much better if they would of just filmed it normal. Maybe with a little bit of floating atmospheric camera work still in it.

But with the sticky cam film quality I find this a little bit too much. Just make the damn movie without shaking the camera like your having a seizure, or don't make a film like this, like your watching a webcam through a 14.4bps dial up modem! When the hell did this kind of camera work become cool? It's not! It's so nauseating, I want to puke when I see it!

These stupid DP's these days, think that shaking the camera in an action scene like your having a sudden earthquake or seizure is so cool! They also think by doing this it adds intensity, fear,or excitement!

Well it don't all it does is make everyone think that they been drinking beer in the desert for 12 hrs!

Please no more shakycam or in this case it's younger brother sticky cam! Now I understand that the writers, and mainly the director wants us to feel what the characters in this film are feeling, but doing it through shakycam syndrome, or sticky digicam, well I've only seen one film where that works, and that was Saving Private Ryan, when this kind of camera work was first played with. They only used this in scenes with gun fire making impact, or a lot of explosions going off. This is the only time this style of filming works.

Don't use it for fight scenes, because you can't see who's hitting who, and don't use this style in your film, just because you think the director of photography is funny because he's been having a seizure for the last three months while filming.

There are many other ways to show emotions in a film. Whatever emotion that may be! Just ask David Lynch. He seems to create emotion through colour and just the score of the film. Do you ever see him shooting a film while he's in full on seizure mode! No you don't!

Thanks for reading.

A potential serial killer and his kidnap victim... can they develop a relationship, a rapport? This is what viewers will be left wondering after the socially inept kidnapper is forced to take care of his victim, including buying her feminine hygiene products.

The film starts out with some of the most awful shaky cam I've ever seen. If the viewer is prone to motion sickness, this may be a bit unbearable for them... I'm not overly susceptible, but another five minutes and this film would have been ejected. Luckily, it stops after the introduction.

And once the shaky cam goes away, we realize something that makes or breaks an independent film. In this case, it makes it: a good story. Thanks, Christopher Nelson. Sure, I've read multiple reviews saying this film covers familiar ground. And they're right. There's nothing particularly unique about a kidnapper and his victim. We could use a twist -- like a female kidnapper and a male victim. But as far as this archetype is concerned, I think they executed it well.

About the acting... the lead actor (James DuMont) is a bit silly, but fit the quirkiness of the role. The lead actress (Michelle Tomlinson) is solid. I don't think she stands out, I don't think this will launch her career... but she did well.

The quotations on the box are a bit weak --do you really need multiple quotes from my friends at Pretty Scary? -- but the movie was good. If you're a supporter of independent film, this certainly is worth your time. Not the most polished, not the greatest film of the year... but it held my attention and the attention of my friend Seth, which is more than we can say for most films when we're drunk off our butts.

THE CELLAR DOOR is another rubbishy independent horror flick that's content to copy films that have come previously instead of offering anything new. Once again the main character is a poorly-acting psychopath (amusingly, this time around he's a chubby guy called Herman) who keeps a couple of women captive in his house. That's all there is to it.

The film is saddled with awful camera-work, which shakes all over the place to little effect, and attempts to bring it into the 'torture porn' category, which I didn't care for. The acting of the female characters is all screechy and irritating, and the scripting is so goofy that I often laughed instead of being moved or frightened. The ending, when it eventually comes, is particularly disappointing.

I admit I kind of liked Broken for its atmosphere and cold feeling although it was going pretty much nowhere. I don't know why this movie is called Broken 2... except for the crazy guy kidnaps woman they don't have so much in common. This time the crazy guy is a pathetic loser who puts women in his cellar and cages them to have smalltalk with them and collect their feces. Obviously the movie tries to be smart and psychological with the caged woman and crazy guy interacting but at no point its getting any clear whats behind crazy guy Herman's acting. The script is once again a mess and covers stupidity on all levels... stupid victims running around with weapons just to get captured again after leaving them behind, 60 Minutes of pseudo-psychological boredom and then when the going gets tough the doorbell rings, the captive is kept in a cage for weeks and still got shiny bright white teeth... and the ending, oh my god.. crap ending, even crappier music. Its like the fourth movie in a row I saw that doesn't have a proper ending. The acting was OK but thats about it. This movie has no atmosphere, no suspense, no gore and a script like one big hole. Avoid.