Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

tohkwongweng 9.Insanely good.Thought this would be the usual run of the mill B-seventies horror movie set in an insane asylum but was pleasantly (for lack of a more appropriate word haha) surprised. I would definitely watch it again given the opportunity it was that good.

Aaron1375 This is a film that if you watch it today and you have seen a more than a couple of horror films, you are going to know exactly what is going on. By the title of the film and by the description on the box I figured out what was going to happen before I even saw a minute of the film, and if it is not obvious then it will be during the first five minutes of the film. There are no real surprises to be had here, suffice to say. It does play out somewhat interestingly in areas and there are a couple of pretty good kills, but it is simply too obvious what is going on and how it is going to play out. I see the original title of this one is apparently, "The Forgotten" and perhaps that would have made for a better title, because as I have said, you read the description for this on and you will probably figure out what is going on or if you do not, you will still know how it is all going to go after you watch about five minutes of it with its title of, "Don't Go Into the Basement". Still, there are a couple of surprises as I was not quite expecting the way it ended and there was even a rather funny scene involving a phone repair guy, so I would say while not a particularly good film, it is not terrible either.The story has a house for those who are crazy in the middle of nowhere. At this facility, the doctor in charge allows the patients to roam free and employs some very questionable methods to help his patients. A nurse there has had enough as the only one she seems to like is Sam, a man who has the innocence of a child. The others are getting on her nerves and after she is threatened by one of the patients she is ready to leave! The doctor doesn't take this news well, and he takes what is coming to him next even less well as he is hit with an ax. A new nurse is soon seen coming to the place and a new doctor has taken over saying the previous one has been killed. Well the new nurse is quickly warned to leave the place by one of the patients, but she sticks with it, but things begin to unravel quickly as the patients start losing control!Like I said, it has its moments, but just not enough for me to really say it was an okay film. Some things were cool in it, but at other times things going on were a bit perplexing, such as the new nurse being unable to find the exit to the house. The people being treated did okay for a low budget film my favorite being the super sexed up woman who simply wanted the love of a man and was stuck in a place where the guys all seemed to pass on her despite her being rather attractive. The one dude who would just scream and grab stuff was my least favorite as he just seemed to be doing a stereotypical crazy person. One thing that also surprised me was that during the course of the entire movie, no one told the nurse to no look in the basement...I was kind of expecting that within the first few moments she arrived.

Cristi_Ciopron In a '70s private sanitarium, the physicians are at ease playing the weirdest medical games, free from any prudence (endowing the patients with weapons, like in the dryly and efficiently satirical scene of the 1st murder, when the physicians looks as insane as his patient, and has an intriguing look of carelessness and incompetence), delving into alternative psychotherapy, and the plot actually has a dramatic underbelly, there's something respectable, mostly the acting, by people who enjoyed their roles (the usual cartoons of cinema insanity) and the thrill of the plot, and by the directing (good, unhurried scenes, like the open-minded young nurse's arrival at the sanitarium, in the aftermath of the murders), with a sense of satire, until it indulges in aqua-fortes of delusional behavior and it becomes a moderately convincing rip-off of a '60s stage-play (the ravings, the screams, like in Albee or Williams). The _jurisconsult is aware of the uselessness of the treatments as given in the sanitarium, they are like the Popsicles cherished by the childish giant.The new nurse arrives from a dignified professional world, into the realm of insane experiments. The actress, a '70s starlet with an eerie look, and nowadays the highlight of the cast (as she probably was at the time of the release, as well), does a reasonably sunny role.'The Basement' has a mystery puzzle plot, with scattered hints: the doll, the phone, the missing vials …. It's a satire, with the placidity of the female psychiatrist in the aftermath of her colleague's demise (when she receives intruders, she seems one of her patients), the insane psychiatrists who were also neurosurgeons, the knowing smiles of these deluded medical workers, who put themselves at the mercy of crazy people, the shocking carelessness of the sanitarium life, with the murderer left free, and the young nurse's room open to the patients during her sleep. The patients don't look like sick people, they seem stock movie weirdos.

Michael_Elliott Don't Look in the Basement (1973) * 1/2 (out of 4) A young nurse (Rosie Holotik) goes to work at an asylum and she soon learns that a nurse and doctor before her were brutally murdered by one of the patients. Before she can escape the nurse finds herself drawn into the mystery and soon her life is at risk. Director S.F. Brownrigg's drive-in film has become a major cult classic over the years and in fact his entire small body of work has a rather strong group of fans. This here is probably his best known film and there's no question that it contains some very memorable moments but sadly the overall feel is just way too slow for it to really work. I thought Brownrigg actually did a nice job at building up a rather strange and surreal atmosphere that hangs over the entire thing. The 70s made for some good "asylum" pictures and I think the low-budget nature of the filmmaking really worked well for this film because it feels very authentic. The setting of the asylum is a rundown building but this too helps add some to the atmosphere. I think another plus that the film has going for it is that the performances are actually good. I thought Playmate Holotik did a nice job in the lead role and the supporting players are also quite good and especially Bill McGhee who plays Sam, one of the patients. The biggest problem with the movie and the thing that really, really kills it is that the pacing is just so slow that the 89-minutes seem to last forever. There's way too much boring dialogue in spots and at times you just want to scream for everyone to speed up. Still, fans of the drive-in films of this era will want to check it out.