Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
MY CALL: For 75 minutes this movie tries to cultivate a rich story and meaningful characters while slogging you through an occasional monster claw and general boredom. The last 10 minutes, however, is a blast of creature effects and silly nonsense. So this is probably a recommendation more for the “bad movie” fans than it is to the general 80s horror crew. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Cellar: I’d actually recommend Under the Bed (2012). It’s more what you hoped for when imagining a kid versus the monster in the basement or closet, etc, but with solid horror effects and no cutesy crap. For more cellar horror, consider Cellar Dweller (1988) and The Cellar (2022). For more horror with Native American themes, try Wolfen (1981), Scalps (1983), Poltergeist II (1986), Creepshow 2 (1987) or The Manitou (1978).
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
A solemn narration about Indian curses and consequences of the white man’s broken promises warns of a cursed tunnel in director Kevin Tenney’s (Arrival II, Night of the Demons, Witchboard, Witchboard 2) tale of a boy versus the monster in his basement–a Native American monster created to eat all the promise-breaking white men.
Mance (Patrick Kilpatrick; The Toxic Avenger, Class of 1999, Scanner Cop II, The Granny) and Emily (Suzanne Savoy; I Come in Peace) move out to a rural Texas desert town for work. The local drunk TC (Ford Rainey; Halloween II) sells his old, cursed house to them—and, given the dialogue, we are to assume it is where the aforementioned “cursed tunnel” lies. The Comanche chief disapproves of the couple occupying the home. Yet TC naively believes the chief can keep them safe. But we didn’t sit down to watch a movie about a couple safely living in a cursed house, did we?
Several scenes feature Native Americans in the background performing rituals, likely to keep the evil spirit at bay. This usually seems linked to thick green goop bubbling up from the ground (liquid evil?), which may be further linked to the cursed tunnel and a sign of how the cursed evil presence has defiled some of the local land.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Investigating the basement for animals going bump in the night and waking up his boy Willy (Chris Miller), Mance finds a slimy, flooded, sewer-like tunnel. Once he learns from the chief about the monster living beneath them that was created by a medicine man to kill all the white men… well, he’s naturally a bit skeptical. But not Willy!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Willy sets a bear trap and catches the giant rat creature. Later he confronts the beast with fire. These horror kids are brave! Both times we see just enough of the monster to not feel cheated. But still too little to be truly satisfying. Maybe if the camera lingered juuust a bit longer we’d notice too many flaws.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The creature effects start slow, with a rubber monster arm grabbing at a boy from a muddy sinkhole, dragging him to his death and it’s so laughably boring it’s. A “crow attack” leads to an incredibly dull car crash death. The coolest visual might be a chewed-off monster claw in a bear trap or seeing the muppet-headed monster rat’s jaw “fall” open. But I promise, it gets better, even if very late. Finally in the last 10 minutes we really get a good look at this monster and it looks pretty cool. So where was this for the first 75 minutes of the movie? The monster is a guy in a rubber suit, it slowly crawls toward its victims, and it is gnarly! The monster attacks and action are incredibly clumsy. But seeing the kid stab a clearly hollow and collapsing rubber monster head with a spear made up for some of the otherwise crappy monster attack with a good giggle.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Rather boring until the passably entertaining final 10 minutes, this movie is not good. It’s not really ‘so bad it’s good’ either—but opinions may differ on that. But I didn’t mind it. Having entered this with very low expectations, I found it a bit enjoyable. I’m definitely not recommending it to anyone. Still, this movie tries so hard to give us a substantial story with somewhat meaningful characters. The budget, however, rather unforgivingly did not permit enough actual horror or entertainment. Or so, that’s my take on it.