The Place For The Latest Movie Reviews
Cast: Mischa Barton, Jackson Davis, Cayleb Long, Tracie Thoms, and Bailey Anne Borders
Craig is abducted and wakes up in a basement. His captor, Bill, is a twisted serial killer who wishes to reenact his own capture, with Craig playing the part of Bill and Bill playing everyone else. As Bill tortures Craig, he cycles through a number of personas, all while Craig tries desperately to find a way into Bill's pathology in order to save himself.
'The Basement' tells the story of famous singer/guitarist, Craig Owen and his beautiful wife Kelly. As the two are relaxing in their beautiful home Kelly asks Craig to go out and get some wine. We learn while he is at the store that he is having an affair with Kelly's best friend. He texts with her and then deletes them before heading to his car but before he can get inside he is kidnapped by the serial killer, Gemini.
Craig wakes up tied to a chair inside a basement. Gemini or Bill begins playing a psychological and psychical game of torture as Bill plays multiple characters in a twisted game of how he sees himself getting captured and Craig must play Bill. After a while Craig begins to play along hoping to get Bill to crack and let him go but the more the twisted game goes on the more violent it becomes.
'The Basement' is a small Indie film done on a very small budget that it has a lot more going for it than most Hollywood thrillers like it. For one the film is very well written by Brian M. Conley, Sean Decker(additional scenes by) and Nathan Ives and the direction by Brian M. Conley and Nathan Ives is flawless. Combined they make the film an edge or your seat, chilling look inside the mind of a truly sick person.
The cast is another reason the film is so good. Mischa Barton has been a very busy young lady lately starring in several films. Here she plays Craig's wife, Kelly. It is a limited role but she is amazing none the less. And then there are two of the best performances I have seen in a while from Cayleb Long who plays Craig and Jackson Davis who plays Bill. Both men spend a lot of time together in the basement and their performances are nothing short of stunning. Both play off each other perfectly and they deliver realistic and powerful performances.
As far as the story goes you kind of get an idea what is going on as the film moves along but the end still delivers on what can be called a shocking revelation. There is more talking going on than torture but the amount of violence that is in the film is disturbing and hard to watch while being very realistic.
'The Basement' is an engaging and shocking thriller that gets in your head and it stays there long after it is over. If you like a good horror/thriller then you must check out 'The Basement' when it opens in theaters and on demand 9/14/18. Here is a list of theaters it will be showing in:
LA: Laemmle Music Hall
Cleveland: Tower City Cinemas
Atlanta: AMC Southlake Pavilion
Chicago: AMC South Barrington
Houston: AMC Gulf Pointe
Minneapolis: AMC Apple Valley
Phoenix: AMC Arizona Center
San Francisco: AMC Deer Valley
Dallas: AMC Grapevine Mills
Released by Uncork’d Entertainment
**** 1/2 Out Of *****