October Horror Challenge 2017 #45: "The Basement (2017)"

This is one of those movies I've been looking forward to for awhile now. I saw the movie cover online and decided I really had to see this movie. Now, as a horror fan, I know that movie covers can be misleading. Back in the days of the get video store, I was drawn in to many terrible movies by a good looking cover, but I can't help myself, when I see a cool movie cover, I have to see the movie. Plus basements in the Midwest can be really creepy and hold lots of secrets, so I'm still excited to see this movie, and I hope it's a fun watch, even if it's terrible.

This movie, the one directed by László Illés, because apparently there was more than one horror movie named "The Basement" released in 2017,  is about a group of international students who are throwing a party to celebrate the fact that they are finished with their exams. They decide to investigate their building's creepy basement (because I guess none of them have ever seen a horror movie before in their lives) and soon they find out that the basement is home to a malicious entity. We, the viewers, know this already, both because this is a horror movie and because we've watched the cool opening sequence of this movie where the titular basement claims some victims who are on the hunt for ghosts.

The main characters are kinda dipshits, deciding to go look for ghosts in their creepy basement because they're bored (would have been better off playing cards, dude). It's never a good idea to have a seance anywhere, but I think that's especially true in a creepy basement, and even more true when you're not familiar with the history of the place so you don't know who you might be summoning. Plus I really don't understand their logic here. "Things are getting creepy in this apartment, let's go downstairs to the dark basement so things can get worse!" I guess if the characters were smart, the movie would be much slower and nothing would happen.

The movie doesn't really hold any surprises, because I'm sure we've all seen this sort of story before, but what it does show is pretty creepy and much better than I expected it to be. Knowing that they don't have the budget to pull off any big effects, the movie uses cut aways and flickering lights very effectively to hint at what might be in the shadows. There's also a bit of blood and gore put to brutal good use, and while I thought the movie's cover was just a creepy image that would have nothing to do with the actual movie (which happens a lot with low-budget horror flicks like this) I was wrong, and we do indeed see the creepy character depicted on the cover in the actual film, which is a nice touch. Though the movie isn't spectacular or anything, it was pretty creepy and a lot of fun. Just what the doctor ordered.