Don't Look in the Basement (1973)

A young psychiatric nurse goes to work at a lonesome asylum following a murder. There, she experiences varying degrees of torment from the patients.

Director:

S.F. Brownrigg

Writer:

Tim Pope

Stars:

Bill McGhee, Jessie Lee Fulton, Robert Dracup

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bill McGhee	...	Sam (as William Bill McGhee)
Jessie Lee Fulton	...	Jane St. Claire
Robert Dracup	...	Ray Daniels
Harryette Warren	...	Jennifer D.
Michael Harvey	...	Dr. Stephens
Jessie Kirby	...	Danny
Hugh Feagin	...	Sgt. Jaffee
Betty Chandler	...	Allyson King
Camilla Carr	...	Harriet
Gene Ross	...	Judge Oliver W. Cameron
Annabelle Weenick	...	Dr. Geraldine S. Masters (as Anne MacAdams)
Rosie Holotik	...	Nurse Charlotte Beale
Rhea MacAdams	...	Mrs. Callingham

Storyline

Nurse Charlotte Beale arrives at the isolated Stephens Sanitarium to work, only to learn that Dr. Stephens was murdered by one of the patients and his successor, Dr. Geraldine Masters, is not very eager to take on new staff. Charlotte finds her job maddeningly hard as the patients torment and harass her at every turn, and she soon learns why Dr. Masters is so eager to keep outsiders out.

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Plot Keywords:

lust | breasts | weeping | eyeglasses | psychopathic killer | 

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Taglines:

They lived out their fantasies... Now they are dying for them!

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mrs Callingham's quote about "fear of little men" comes from a poem called "The Fairy Folk", which was written by the Irish poet William Allingham.

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Goofs

When the people are chopping someone up with axes, one of the heads of the axes fall off.

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Quotes

Allyson King: You're all alike. Danny... Jaffee... ALL of you! HYPOCRITES! And you, trying to be so damn pure. Get out! GET OUT!

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Crazy Credits

The characters in the film are shown as the actor's/actress's name appears at the end of the film, including the murdered characters!

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Alternate Versions

Once listed as a video nasty, the UK Stax (Boulevard) and Elstree Hill DVDs are now 15 rated and uncut, restoring the original cinema cut to a shot of an axe hitting a woman's bloody body.

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Connections

Featured in Trailer Trauma Part 4: Television Trauma (2017)

User Reviews

Warning, only watch if mentally disturbed.

This movie was pretty bad. First of all, I have to say, the title has really nothing to do with the actual movie. No one ever says, `Don't look in the basement.' The basement isn't even referred to or gone into until an hour and 20 minutes into the movie. And even then, the basement segment is only about a minute long.

The acting was pretty horrendous. Although there were a few interesting characters, it was more silly than frightening. It reminded me of a cross between `Spider Baby' and `Texas Chainsaw Massacre.' `Spider Baby' because of all the weird characters, `TCM' because of all the screaming. Both of those flicks beat this one by a mile.

The music was kind of weird, but not in a good way. It sounded as if it was pulled off of re-runs of `The Prisoner.' And maybe it was just my DVD, but there was an annoying trail coming off of things when they moved that made the movie almost painful to watch.

As for the story, like I said, there were some interesting characters but the basic plot seemed to be written by some sort of crazy person that should've been in the film. Very rarely did it seem to be going in any coherent direction and when the story finally got around to making some sort of sense, it was very predictable.

`Don't Look in the Basement' is a painful movie to watch with no real rewards afterwards. I wouldn't recommend it.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death Ward #13

Filming Locations:

Trinity University, Tehuacana, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Camera 2 Productions, Century Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1