Escalier vers l'Enfer

First I wanna say that I rented this without hesitation because I'm a big Elisha Cuthbert fan. She is definitely the best part of the movie and about the only lead even though she has kids and is married. She does a good job with what she has to work with, but the problem is what she has to work with.

The plot itself is interesting enough for a decent horror flick, but it ends up as just squandered potential. We've seen all this before, but at the very least they could go all the way with their ideas. Nothing shocking, no twists, very few actually scary moments, and the actor playing her son was so bad it was honestly distracting.

It's an OK watch, but nothing I would say is worth spending money on.

It has a good plot. But I would say it's a lot of talking and searching rather than enough suspenseful moments to be a full on horror. So if you want a tense horror movie for the whole time this isn't it. But it has good acting. Good plot. Some scary elements, but not really any jump scares, and it is filmed very well.

Overall definitely worth the watch.

An "evil house" film that is occasionally Lovecraft-adjacent, Cellar's story has good bones but little meat, and I was more than once reminded of Mitchell & Webb's "Lazy Writers."

Add to that constant attempts at suspense that fall short because there aren't any stakes. The overbearing score, always letting you know to Be Really Scared Now Okay! Doesn't help. The first two thirds of the film felt like padding, like B-roll repurposed into something usable after the budget ran out.

But when we finally get there, it's actually a pretty good ending! And the acting is adequate, and the production values are good. They just should have left half of this on the cutting room floor.

Okay for a movie you watch with friends, fully intending to talk over half of it.

The Cellar (2022) is an Irish horror movie recently added to Shudder. The storyline focuses on a family that moves into a unique house in the suburbs with their little girl and boy. Shortly after moving in the little girl disappears. As they coupe with the loss the mother finds strange marking all over the house and as she researches them she discovers her house may be a vessel to something much bigger and discovering what that is may be her only hope of finding the missing little girl.

This movie is directed by Brendan Muldowney (Love Eternal) and stars Elisha Cuthbert (House of Wax), Eoin Macken (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), Abby Fitz (Redemption), Tara Lee (Moon Dogs) and Dylan Fitzmaurice Brady (Tides).

This movie does have some unique elements within the storyline that are well done. There is really good use of sound to create jump scares and intense circumstances. The horror elements were lacking and I was disappointed so many scenes were shot so dark. The acting is really good and the family dynamic is well established so better horror elements could have made this very good.

Overall this is an average addition to the genre that is only worth watching if you're a horror genre enthusiast. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

I found this movie quite entertaining. There is not a lot left in this type of movie that hasn't been done or hasn't been seen before. Especially the old, big and lonely houses that harbor some dark secret. That's why I probably gave it a better rating (6) then it actually deserves. So, although the whole thing was rather generic. I found especially the first half of the movie quite entertaining, the ending though rather confusing.