By Forris Day Jr.
In the classic 70s B-movie “Don’t Look in the Basement” we meet a very interesting hob knob cast of patients. The first minute of the film we are introduced to guy who still thinks he’s in Vietnam, a gentle giant named Sam, a crazy woman who thinks a doll is a living baby and several other residents of an old sanitarium located in a very, very rural area. Immediately as the movie begins we start to suspect everyone of being guilty and there hasn’t even been a crime! Quickly enough though we have our incident when one of the patients accidentally kills the main guy, Doctor Stevens, who is in charge of the understaffed asylum.
With the head nurse quiting minutes before the doctor is killed, who will run crazy house now? Later that night enter Nurse Charlotte, a gorgeous woman, who has quite a perfectly good job at a hospital to take on the challenges of this not quite right treatment facility. She quickly realizes that this place may be a bit more that she can handle but by then she is in too deep. Can she help these folks and who is it that really needs help?
Being a B-movie the acting is sub-par as would be expected but that just adds to the fun of this psychological horror-thriller. The sanitarium is a wonderful old 3 story farmhouse in the middle of nowhere so that really creates a great ambiance. The building is as much a character as anyone in the film. Even though the movie is poorly acted it still has a certain charm that only a grainy 70s horror film can have. That alone makes it worth the watch.
It is NOT a wide screen version like I would expect nowadays and it is an average quality transfer but I still say grab a bowl of popcorn and your favorite drink and settle in for a fun movie night with Film Chest Media’s latest re-release of the classic “Don’t Look in the Basement”.
Rating: 5/10 – “Campy 70s horror film”
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