The Basement

There was some promise here in 'The Basement'. It had a cool poster/cover, a somewhat intriguing if very derivative premise and as someone with a general appreciation for the genre it fits under. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there (though there are decent to good ones as well), made me though apprehensive.

It is sad though that any potential it had is completely squandered, with every flaw in the book made and everything that annoys me watching a film present. 'The Basement' is really bad, with so many huge flaws, any potential that it had completely disappears in translation. There is little good here in 'The Basement', it is not irredeemable but goodness doesn't it come dangerously close to being.

The only redeeming merits being the spooky setting and the creepy acting for the killer.

Going further on to the negatives, the story does feel over-stretched and the more it progresses the film became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less unsettled and never gaining momentum. All the characters are too sketchy, even the killer and with cardboard thin and colourless personalities and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them, all of them coming over as incredibly irritating to the extent you don't want them alive. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates. The chemistry is bland and unfocused.

The sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions), and the rest of the acting is lacking severely on the whole, that's actually an understatement as the worst of it is horrendous. Despite being top-billed Mischa Barton is not in it much, barely in it, and one doesn't miss her much. There is no sense of horror or engagement with the awful predicament they're in, and no connecting with the character, it just reeks of indifference which makes the viewer not care less too.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace and film drags on forever, apparent from the very start, which is so bad that one seriously considers not continuing. Only did it myself for fairness sake, being a person who never judges a film without watching the whole thing and never bails on a film regardless of any temptation. Found too many of the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, too many confused moments and explanations and the complete lack of tension and suspense. Thrills are none, thanks to stodginess and excessive over-familiarity, and found myself never invested in what was going on, due to it being so dull and static.

A lot of 'The Basement' has really dull and going nowhere plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or unsettling. Any attempts at twists fail to surprise.

Nothing frightens, there is no development and it's very predictable, while everything is unimaginative and are more odd than scary, completely failing to show any sense of dread. There is nothing interesting or illuminating. The direction is leaden, got the sense their heart was not in it, and the music is ill-fitting. 'The Basement' is very amateurish visually, too drearily lit and shows no care in the way it's shot, severely compromising any coherence. The editing is all over the place.

Altogether, very, very bad. 2/10 Bethany Cox

This film is so boring.

I forced myself to keep watching just to see if anything interesting happened in the end. It did not.

Poor acting. Poor story. It was comical at times just how bad it was. I assume we are supposed to get some fantastic insight in to the killers mind, but the whole thing was pointless.

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

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?!