The Cellar

Rating this high because the movie had some decent creep factors. Plus, it had potential. Imho there was just too much ground to cover for any movie length to effectively explore what it set out to do. I feel it would be better as a book 🤔

Pretty good movie the ending was depressing though .

Very good film with a great horror atmosphere. It's a pity that he was so weird end, otherwise great horror.

OK, how preface this review with the fact that I cannot confirm, nor deny that I was high. That being said, for a movie that had bad acting, predictable plot, an overall General horror film. I actually had a very good time watching this. I was literally by myself watching this and getting frustrated with the actors because they were doing a typical horror movie stuff, but then came more tension and more silly stuff but then more tention. One of the worst movies I think I’ve ever really enjoyed. I’m given this one and eight because I had such a good time watching this one.

Freaky (in a good way) but the rules of the universe didn't make much sense (in a bad way)

Good acting, really creepy atmosphere and sympathic characters. Very solid creepy house movie!

Has more tropes than if there were an international trope festival celebrating genre tropes but has a third act not out of place in a Lucio Fulci film. Therefore, worth a watch.


[spoiler] I was a fan of the ‘we are all screwed’ ending. Rarely does all of Fulci’s cast have a happy ending, and those films are all the better for it [/spoiler]

❤x6
This movie was interesting enough, but not great. And the ending was a bit weak. But you might enjoy it anyway.

How I rate:
1-3 ❤ = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 ❤ = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 ❤ = I expect you will like this too
9-10 ❤ = movies and TV shows I really love!

has some nice moments of atmospheric horror but on the whole it wasn't super engaging. after watching the scream franchise i think what makes or breaks horror films is really the ability to get invested in either the protagonists, antagonists or the object of focus. the house didn't get its full creepiness in, the protagonists were hard to get to know (the only one you really do know is gone most of the movie) and the antagonists are pretty intangible until the end. so nothing pulls this up out of the watchable-but-meh realm of horror.

Everything is properly in place in "The Cellar," which makes it satisfying and underwhelming at the same time. General creepiness, check; interesting notions, check; bloody red MacGuffins, check; valiant heroine, innocent victims, and remorseless evil, check check check. On its merits it could rate a point or two higher than what I've rated it here, but at the end of the day we're spoiled for horror movies, and this one needs a little more edge to stand out in the crowd. It's competent, but to what end?

Points up for gleefully nonsensical formulae - this is an Evil Math story, if you follow the Nutty Plot Devices too carefully (not recommended, it's very flimsy as these things go). The Evil Math summons the demon, you see, because the Scary Formula is left unfinished, but if you count upward from - you know, never mind. It reminds me of a day in high school when my friend Michael proved, via mathematical induction and the presence of two other Michaels in class, that everyone in the world was named Michael. That's not how mathematical induction works, but it was entertaining at the time, and I feel pretty much the same about the Evil Math here. It justifies the creepy counting that comes up a few times along the way, with especially nice effect the first time it happens. That part gets a pass.

Points down for the usual haunted house movie trappings: doors that open ominously onto abandoned rooms filled with Demonic Bric-a-Brac, kids who don't mention the terrifying events they've seen, a medley of engravings of our Demon of Choice found by Googling, experts at the local university who just happen to recognize this and that arcane inscription, random use of foreboding Hebrew letters. "The Cellar" is all about the numbers, but it's a little too _by_ the numbers to ace its landing. The actors do well and make the material feel pressing, the scares arrive about when they should, and the film fits easily into the comforting Scary Movie space that it's designed to fill.