The filmmakers behind this flick really want you to be terrified of its titular cellar, the movie opening with deep, foreboding music, and a harsh scream, as the camera slowly crawls its way up the cellar's stairs, towards the entrance. Additionally, not five minutes into the movie, a character is trapped down here, resulting in them being terrified by...what? This is the film's biggest detriment, for it does not convey exactly what makes the cellar so 'evil' until over halfway through the film, resulting in me feeling very 'meh!' for the first half hour. What the movie does best however, is peeling back the mystery, and had they given the viewer a justification for why we should be afraid of this particular room (example, the opening of Boogeyman, which reveals why we should all fear closets), and giving us a glimpse of what happened to the previous tenants, instead of telling us much later (show don't tell, anyone?), this would have really invested me from the start.
The movie begins, Nightmare on Elm Street style, by tricking you into thinking who the film's central protagonist is, in this case, Elly (Abby Fitz), a teen, stereotypically upset about moving into a new home. The film tries to make us feel sympathetic, hinting towards her being estranged from a boyfriend and being harassed online, neither of which is ever developed, before she inexplicably vanishes off screen while calling her mother, who leaves the home at night with her husband, simply for plot conveniences (because who in their right mind has a business meeting at mid-night?).
This leads to Elly's mom, Keira (Elisha Cuthbert), and her husband, Brian (Eoin Macken) working with local authorities in an attempt to find their missing daughter, with no apparent leads. It is here, the movie does a good job at showing how the impact of this tragedy affects Keira, who begins neglecting her son, Steven (Dylan Brady), who's having a hard time at school; another stone that the movie leaves unturned. As Keira begins to explore her new home, hoping to find answers, she begins to suspect the supernatural, leading to the stereotypical disbelieving husband trope.
Again, a lot of the mystery, including the name of the home, scrawled above the front door, is deliberately left vague until halfway through the feature, as Keira begins to explore the bizarre numerical equations and symbols that dot her residence, leading her to Dr. Fournet (Aaron Monaghan), an expert in mathematical patterns, and one of the most interesting characters in the movie, who is, of course, largely under-used.
Safe to say, characterization is at an all time low in this movie. Example, it is apparent that Keira and her husband's business is online marketing - however, I have no idea what exactly they were promoting and why. Moreover, the film never even explores how an Irish father and American mother met, or how they negotiated where they would set down roots.
When the film finally reveals the evil that exists in the home, I was pleasantly surprised they actually showed viewers the creature, though thankfully, in a less-is-more kind of way, and it is here, that the movie finally, and genuinely, has a feeling of dread. Took it long enough, eh? Though there are a couple of jump scares, the movie's frail attempt to really make you scared of the cellar from minute one, comes off as desperate, having the opposite effect, and though the final act surely makes up for that, the result is, honestly, nothing you haven't seen before, being similar to other Irish horror movies (example, The Hole in the Ground).
This movie is not life-changing, and there are more engrossing and genuinely terrifying movies out there that you could watch. However, as previously mentioned, it is the eventual mystery that really keeps you intrigued. Shame though, that it doesn't hook you from minute one.
The movie begins, Nightmare on Elm Street style, by tricking you into thinking who the film's central protagonist is, in this case, Elly (Abby Fitz), a teen, stereotypically upset about moving into a new home. The film tries to make us feel sympathetic, hinting towards her being estranged from a boyfriend and being harassed online, neither of which is ever developed, before she inexplicably vanishes off screen while calling her mother, who leaves the home at night with her husband, simply for plot conveniences (because who in their right mind has a business meeting at mid-night?).
This leads to Elly's mom, Keira (Elisha Cuthbert), and her husband, Brian (Eoin Macken) working with local authorities in an attempt to find their missing daughter, with no apparent leads. It is here, the movie does a good job at showing how the impact of this tragedy affects Keira, who begins neglecting her son, Steven (Dylan Brady), who's having a hard time at school; another stone that the movie leaves unturned. As Keira begins to explore her new home, hoping to find answers, she begins to suspect the supernatural, leading to the stereotypical disbelieving husband trope.
Again, a lot of the mystery, including the name of the home, scrawled above the front door, is deliberately left vague until halfway through the feature, as Keira begins to explore the bizarre numerical equations and symbols that dot her residence, leading her to Dr. Fournet (Aaron Monaghan), an expert in mathematical patterns, and one of the most interesting characters in the movie, who is, of course, largely under-used.
Safe to say, characterization is at an all time low in this movie. Example, it is apparent that Keira and her husband's business is online marketing - however, I have no idea what exactly they were promoting and why. Moreover, the film never even explores how an Irish father and American mother met, or how they negotiated where they would set down roots.
When the film finally reveals the evil that exists in the home, I was pleasantly surprised they actually showed viewers the creature, though thankfully, in a less-is-more kind of way, and it is here, that the movie finally, and genuinely, has a feeling of dread. Took it long enough, eh? Though there are a couple of jump scares, the movie's frail attempt to really make you scared of the cellar from minute one, comes off as desperate, having the opposite effect, and though the final act surely makes up for that, the result is, honestly, nothing you haven't seen before, being similar to other Irish horror movies (example, The Hole in the Ground).
This movie is not life-changing, and there are more engrossing and genuinely terrifying movies out there that you could watch. However, as previously mentioned, it is the eventual mystery that really keeps you intrigued. Shame though, that it doesn't hook you from minute one.