User reviews

One can do worse than this if they're partial to the cheese horror of the 1980s, a decade when the genre really came to life. Not that it's anything special at all, but it IS reasonably amusing and thankfully pretty short in duration (78 minutes all told). A production of Charles Bands' Empire Pictures, it's got a cool, gnarly monster, a decent cast, some gore and some suspense, and lots of impressive horror themed comic book art. It even comes up with some twists along the way. It's one of the directorial efforts of makeup effects expert John Carl Buechler, who'd previously helmed "Troll" for Empire.

Debrah Farentino, acting here under her maiden name Mullowney, stars as Whitney, an aspiring comic book artist whose inspiration was the reclusive Colin Childress (played by Jeffrey Combs in a regrettably brief cameo appearance). In the opening prologue, Colins' creations manage to come to life and commit murder. 30 years later, his house is an art academy, and Whitney is the latest student. She finds that when her imagination is fired, the panels in her strips likewise take on life. So now she and others at the school are in big trouble.

The conclusion isn't altogether satisfying, but getting there, one can still have an agreeable enough time. There are some fun moments, and some hoots to be had. Brian Robbins ('Head of the Class', "C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud") is likable as a fellow student, as is Miranda Wilson as Lisa. Pamela Bellwood ('Dynasty') is effectively bitchy as Whitney's rival. Veterans Vince Edwards ("Return to Horror High") and Yvonne De Carlo ("The Silent Scream") are enjoyable to watch. Robbins's father, actor Floyd Levine, has a bit as a cabbie, and experienced monster performer Michael Deak plays the titular Cellar Dweller.

In the end, "Cellar Dweller" is forgettable but worth a viewing for genre devotees who want to see as much from this decade as possible.

Six out of 10.

Cheap and trashy, this film didn't scare but thrilled me with its sense of camp. Yvonne De Carlo is such an underrated actress and is always worth taking a look at. The film is low budget and apart from De Carlo doesn't have any other well known names. The story is very simple a man writes a story about a scary monster. The monster comes to life and kills him but of course that is not the end of the monster. It waits round for more victims... This film may turn up late at night on TV, if it does turn off the lights curl up on the couch and enjoy the next hour or so. The plot cant be taken seriously so just enjoy the absurdities of it. I saw this film on VCR several years ago and cant wait for it to be released on DVD. Yvonne has made several low budget shockers over the years and this has got to be one of the best.

Cellar Dweller is quite an original horror offering as well as my first Jeffrey Comb's flick. Of course I didn't know it was a Jeffrey Combs movie back then, I didn't even know who Jeffrey Combs was. But, being the huge Tales From the Crypt (if you see the movie you'll know what I'm babbling about) fan that I am, the movie had an impact on me. Cellar Dweller is a very loving tribute to the EC comics that are cherished by many a horror fan. It's also a John Carl Buechler film and he created the Ghoulies. That explains why the Cellar Dweller is simply an oversized Ghoulie (some people even say that he's cute). I spent quite some time looking for this movie and gave up. It's one of those movies you see when you're a kid watching Showtime after midnight and you never expect to see it again (especially since you don't remember the title). Then you run across it in a ghetto Blockbuster years later and you realize that this is the movie you've been looking for, and, indeed, one of your heroes is in it. Great gore effects, gratuitous chewing, and Lily Munster (Yvonne De Carlo) make Cellar Dweller a classic in my book, no matter how many people disagree. "Whenever there is imagination, I will dwell."

Note for genre buffs: Look for a Troll and a Ghost Town poster on the walls of the colony. John Carl Buechler did the effects for both of those films.

John Buechler proves again, two years after "Troll", that having good special effects in your film DOES NOT automatically mean you have a good film. He may be very good at his main craft (makeup effects for horror pictures), but his storytelling abilities are limited, to say the least. Actually, most of the blame here should go to the bad script, which has no consistency or logic; for example, at first the monster (which looks mostly like a werewolf) is brought to life by the drawings of a cartoonist and can do only what is depicted in her pictures, but later it can move and kill freely and the comic book pages are drawn by themselves! At another point, the old lady that runs the mansion inexplicably turns into the monster! The mansion itself is supposed to be a place for young aspiring artists, yet a would-be private detective also lives there! Ah, forget it. (*1/2)

This is a cheap horror flick with TONS of gore. I seen this one on @ 3 AM again - had to see it only because the title itself drew me in. Actually , I wasnt too disappointed. I love all horror flicks. Has a totally late-80s horror genre feel to it. I wish I could find this VHS also. Rare stuff. PEACE

I sat down here in 2023 to watch the 1987 movie "Cellar Dweller", which actually made it the second time that I have seen the movie. I had, however, forgotten about the storyline, and thus I opted to watch it again.

Even more impressively, then I had also forgotten that Jeffrey Combs was in the movie. Sure, it was in a minor role and not all that long on the screen, but he was there, and that was a nice addition to the movie. And even more so, it was funny to see that there was a poster from the movie "Re-Animator" hanging in the room of Whitney Taylor.

"Cellar Dweller", from writer Don Mancini and director John Carl Buechler, is an archetypical 1980s cheese-fest. And I mean that in a good way, because you know what you are getting into here, provided that you have watched late 1980s horror movies, which I have in an abundance.

The storyline in "Cellar Dweller" proves entertaining enough. It isn't a horror cinema masterpiece, but it is definitely watchable for what it turned out to be. And actually I will say that "Cellar Dweller" is among one of the more prominent of late 1980s horror movies or creature features, if you will.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and they had a good cast ensemble together for bringing the different characters to life on the screen. Just a shame that Jeffrey Combs wasn't given more on-screen time.

The creature effects in "Cellar Dweller" were fairly good, and still are passable when you sit down and watch it today, whereas many other late 1980s creature features had far inferior effects. And that makes "Cellar Dweller" all the more watchable.

If you enjoy some late 1980s cheesy horror, then "Cellar Dweller" is well-worth watching. I was adequately entertained by director John Carl Buechler's 1987 movie.

My rating of "Cellar Dweller" lands on a five out of ten stars.

This is a fun little horror film about a comic-book artist played by Jeffrey Combs("Re-Animator","Castle Freak")whose creation comes to life and kills him in 1950's.Now,the monster still hides in the basement of his house,which is a home to a group of artists."Cellar Dweller" is a decent horror film from special effects wizard John Carl Buechler.It's very entertaining and it features some cool gore scenes and funny-looking monster.Check it out,if you like this genre.Nothing special,but it will entertain you!

Cellar Dweller is a nice surprise for horror fans because it has a mixture of winning elements. The only thing it lacked for me was gore - but it does have a funny severed head scene. The storyline is quite interesting and keeps you watching, and the acting is decent enough to carry it. I quite liked Yvonne De Carlo, but then I've been a fan of her since watching American Gothic.

I do however feel it lacked a little "something" to make it a great b-movie, and that something is gore. The severed head scene is good, but not enough. I also felt that the ending wasn't a good enough conclusion, and this is because the producers obviously wanted to leave room for a sequel.

Overall, Cellar Dweller is an above average b-movie that is not perfect but definitely worth a watch.

Cellar Dweller (1988) was an 80's horror classic in my book.

It was good fun, it had an interesting plot and it's short running time meant that it never outstayed it's welcome, i love 80's horrors and this was one of the memorable ones, for it had a really cool monster, and it starred Jeffrey Combs, and thats a big plus indeed!!! If you like cool low budget monster movies then i highly recommend this fun classic from the late 80's, so if you haven't seen it then i suggest you get on ebay and see if there's any copies on there, if so then go for it!!!! I also recommend Monster in the Closet, that was another fun 80's horror with a cool monster.

My score for the Cellar Dweller: 8/10

Looks like all the budget this late era direct-to-video Empire Pictures release could muster was 10 minutes of Jeffrey Combs and a damn good solid head rip decapitation. That a side there's not much else here of note besides an alright bummer ending.

I got this on blu ray as a double feature of obscure 80's horror movies. The other movie on the disc, Catacombs is the more serious and better crafted of the two films. However, Cellar Dweller is still decent and passable , very campy entertainment. Cellar Dweller is very cheaply made and very dated. This pretty much could only have been made in the 80's(or early 90's). For horror fans, there are some familiar faces here with a supporting role for Yvonee De Carlo(Lilly Munster herself) and gets the story set up with Jeffrey Combs(of Re Animator fame)as a comic artist, who's comic demon comes to life. The very attractive Debrah Farantino takes over as the lead of the film as comic artist and super fan of Jeffrey Combs. History repeats itself and the comic demon comes to life and starts to snuff out most of the cheeseball cast. To say the film is cheesy is an understatement with our demon looking a lot like the poop demon in Kevin Smith's comedy classic Dogma. Besides Jeffrey Combs and Yvonne De Carlo, the rest of the support cast is unremarkable with really predictable and hammy performances. I think Debrah Farantino did a decent job in a mostly unimpressive bargain basement horror film. Having said that, this is not the best movie by a longshot, I still thought it had its moments and was not a hard movie to sit through.

A mildly amusing title and a cameo appearance from Jeffrey Combs (dressed in his RE-ANIMATOR coat, apparently, and appearing for ten minutes at the beginning before going off to cash his pay cheque) are the best thing about this otherwise appalling movie from Empire - so at least with that company making it, you can't say you were surprised. Once again the director turns out to be John Carl Buechler, who is quickly becoming one of my most hated directors of all time - sure, the man makes good special effects, but must all effects men try directing too? It's obvious he has no talent yet still he churns these movies out.

The plot is a non-existent excuse to throw a few bad actors together and have them get picked off one by one by a huge slimy demon that somehow lives in the cellar due to a comic book - childish isn't the word for it. As usual for the genre, there's plenty of poor humour, false scares and naked women being menaced by big monsters. The demon is actually quite an effective-looking monster so it's a shame that its not appearing in a better movie, and it just gets relegated to lurking around in the cellar, roaring. The violence is surprisingly kept to a minimum, and I think limited to a singular bloody decapitation scene and some severed body parts. Meanwhile, the cast is made up of boring unknowns, aside from the presence of Yvonne De Carlo who enjoys hamming it up as an unpleasant landlady - whatever happened to her career?

The biggest enjoyment I had from watching this movie came when I realised that it only ran for seventy-something minutes and it was nearly over. It's one of those films which you get the feeling was only created in order to make money - neither the cast nor the crew seem to have any interest in it whatsoever, instead going through the motions and picking up their pay cheque at the end of it all. This makes it nigh on impossible for the viewer to be interested in it either. A cheap, pointless, shallow piece of drivel.

A dead cartoonist's demon creature materializes and quickly begins to terrorize after being brought to life by another illustrator. The creature is known as the 'Cellar Dweller' and is a multi-faceted demon. As far as demons go, he is pretty neat looking.

Cast includes: Brian Robbins, Debrah Farentino, Yvonne DeCarlo, Vince Edwards and Michael Deak.

John Carl Buechler in my opinion is one of the best special effects artist.

John is the original creator of Harry Potter.

Check out the cult classic Troll.

I first saw this in the late 80s on a rented vhs.

Revisited it recently.

Found it to be a good horror/creature flick then.

The movie is very cheesy n in no way bearable by today's standards.

Most of the blame here should go to the bad script, which has no consistency or logic.

It has a good decapitation scene n has a bit of nudity.

The writer is Don Mancini of Child's Play fame n there is Jeffrey Combs in a tiny role.

A big goof - Amanda does the reaction of slipping n says ooh before her foot lands on the banana peel.

Allow me to stop laughing (and shaking my head in disbelief) before writing this review...

...and I'm not laughing because its funny. 'Cellar Dweller' is a very cheaply made film with really bad creature effects. 1988 saw some incredible creature features. This is not one of them. The only reason I wanted to see this, was because it stars Jeffrey Combs. Unfortunately, he has a relatively small role and doesn't actually contribute much to the film.

The film's protagonist is Whitney (Debrah Mullowney). I didn't find the character strong enough to carry the film, and also didn't find Mullowney believable as Whitney. The film also makes it difficult to distinguish between reality and dreams or imagination. There were moments when I couldn't decide whether this was actually intended to be a comedy, or just a horror with really bad humorist elements. Either way, it wasn't good as a comedy or a horror.

Note in one scene movie posters against the wall to classic movies 'Ghost Town', 'Re-Animator' and 'Troll' (ok, I hated 'Troll'). 'Cellar Dweller' in general was quite laughable - and not in a good way! This is a forgettable 80's horror entry.

Would I watch it again? No.

I know, your thinking Cellar dweller? That sounds like a poor sad excuse of a horror film with camp acting and a low budget monster, I don't think i'll bother with that, Well more fool you! Yes it has camp acting and yes it has a low budget monster, but what do you want from a horror movie? Blood, Gore? You sick people! Why not instead get your hands on this comedy horror, Switch your brain off for 85 mins and enjoy this ace movie. I think more people should remember the roots of the 80's horror generation, Its movies like this that made my teens so memorable, along with other stuff too of course but that has nothing to do with movies!

Anyway fool as ba from the a-team would say (keeping with the 80's theme) get off your bum and go get a copy of this film, watch it and fear the cellar dweller! Then join my crusade to bring these gems back to life and give this film the top rating it deserves...What you waiting for? Go, Go get it now..

When I was young, I wanted to be a professional comic artist. I practised and practised into the wee small hours, honing my skills with brush and ink, and I got pretty good, but, even so, I knew deep down that my work still wasn't good enough. I was, however, a damn sight better than Whitney Taylor (Debrah Farentino), the comic artist in Cellar Dweller, whose crappy drawings (and equally bad lettering) leave an awful lot to be desired. The film starts off promisingly enough, with '50s artist Colin Childress (Jeffrey Combs) inking some pretty good horror comic art before being killed by his creation, the Cellar Dweller, which comes to life off the page. But when the action moves to the present day, with Whitney joining an artist colony to resurrect Childress's monster, the standard of work goes way downhill. It's impossible to believe that anyone would give her childish drawings more than a cursory look.

Sadly, the script and direction for this movie are as laughable as Whitney's art, with no scares and zero atmosphere, while director John Carl Buechler wisely keeps his titular monster hidden in the shadows for the most part. The plot makes little sense, Whitney unwittingly controlling the monster at first by drawing it's actions in her comic strips, but, later on, the monster acting of its own free will, the comic pages materialising out of thin air. Whitney is also able to bring dead people back to life by drawing them, but kills them again by burning the pages. And why does she bring Cellar Dweller back to reality, albeit in chains. What purpose does that serve?

About the only good thing about this mess of a monster movie is a juicy decapitation and some munching of victims' body parts. If only Buechler had taken a leaf out of my book and just admitted to himself that he wasn't good enough, he would have saved us from his subsequent crap-fests like Ghoulies Go To College and The Curse of the Forty-Niner.

An Interesting film, beginning in the 1950's. A Cartoonist (Colin Childress) finds inspiration from a book of magic spells. Whilst creating his latest comic he accidentally unleashes a creature of pure evil created by his own imagination. Luckily the creature is slain but only at the cost of its creator.

30 years later a fan of the cartoonist (and his series Cellar Dweller) arrives at her idols cottage in the woods, to become part of a remote art community. She soon sets up a room in the basement. Later finding the same book Colin drew inspiration from, only to release the creature for the second time.

An awe-inspiring movie that can drag at times, most would lose interest. But at the end it does make one think. Ok graphics for the time and a wonderful performance enacted by Jeffrey Combs.