Review of Don't Look in the Basement (1973) by Green P — 01 Jan 2008
From it's carry-on film cover (on the original video/dvd), one might think that DLITB is some kind of cheap horror comedy. What I discovered was in fact a very dark film which, despite its low budget, manages to hook the viewer in to the dark and chaotic world of the sanitarium in which the story is set.
Even the ridiculous premise - that there exists a facility for violent axe murderers with no locks on the doors, where lone female nurses can sleep in rooms next door to them, and patients are given axes as therapy - doesn't seem to matter, as it's all overshadowed by the tense claustrophobic atmosphere, and the bizarre interaction between the distinctly individual patients.
The film is essentially about a new nurse that begins her job in the sanitarium. Disturbed by its dangerous lack of rules and alternative philosophy, by the time she tries to escape from the sanitarium it has descended into chaos as the patients, each with their distinctive individual and sometimes extreme insanities, try to hold court (with axes where necessary) and what staff remain seem no better than them.
I would recommend this film to any fan of hardcore B-movie horror.
This review of Don't Look in the Basement (1973) was written by Green P on 01 Jan 2008.
Don't Look in the Basement has generally received mixed reviews.
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