HORROR FILM REVIEW: THE BASEMENT

BY JOE X YOUNG

 
This September sees the launch of ‘The Basement’, the story of a serial killer with a split personality. Now right from the start I’m going to state that I haven’t seen M. Knight Shyamalan’s ‘Split’ and as such, I won’t be making any comparisons to that.

I’m not easily impressed so I sat here playing ‘The Basement’ expecting a strictly by-the-numbers effort. That’s not what I got; instead I was engrossed by a particularly clever and skilfully constructed story. However, the story is in fact quite basic, with famous musician Craig (Cayleb Long) being abducted and waking up tied to a desk seat in the titular basement. He is then subjected to a bizarre and convoluted physical and mental torture session by ‘The Gemini Killer’ aka ‘Billy’ (Jackson Davis).
What sets this film apart from so many others with the same basic premise is Billy, although if you don’t pay attention to this film you may be confused as to whether Billy is the torturer or if Craig is really Billy, as that’s what the torturer continually calls him. He is of course imprinting his personality on his victim, or at least one of his many assumed personalities. I think it’s fair to say there will be some people who will see this film and will find the multiple personalities to be somewhat better organised than expected, as that was how it appeared to me, but at the very end of the film there is a very simple, almost throwaway explanation of the personalities involved. It’s clever stuff which could so easily be overlooked, and is something which enhances the final experience.

The interaction between Craig and Billy is quite complex, with Craig very much trying to make the best of a bad lot and to somehow coerce one or more of Billy’s various personalities to set him free. Craig is a very smart guy, who generates credibility in his efforts to outsmart Billy and there is significant depth to the performance in that it never at any time appears fake. Billy is very much Craig’s equal, which leads to many very interesting interactions with a macabre logic behind his actions.

Although this film is billed as starring Mischa Barton her screen time is relatively and mercifully short with her role being that of Craig’s wife, who sends Craig to the shops for champagne and spends much of her screen time trying to convince the police something bad has happened to Craig when he doesn’t return home, as well as chatting with her best friend. The subplot, which I won’t go into here as it’s a spoiler, doesn’t add a lot to the film except to provide some sort of motive/justification for what happens to Craig, and isn’t particularly well handled.

The rest of the cast all do their jobs respectably, with nothing outstanding about them. The real stars here are Craig and Billy with the constant mental manipulations superbly balanced between the two. Billy’s somewhat matter-of-fact sadism being used sparingly enough that this doesn’t descend into torture porn territory, choosing instead to prove its point early on so that Craig and we the audience are left with no doubt of the seriousness of Billy’s intentions. Both Davis and Long are new to me, but I hope to see more from them in future as they are clearly capable of doing exceptional work.

The horror in this film is mostly suggested, which I believe the film is stronger for, which is not to say that doesn’t deliver some gruesome moments especially with the ‘ewww’ inducing dénouement.
The crew do a fine job, with lighting, sound and script all top quality and special effects which drive everything home beautifully.
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The Basement gets a 10-market theatrical and digital release on September 15 from Uncork’d Entertainment and is well worth checking out.

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