Review by Quin
Roger Sewhcomar’s no-budget crowd funded film Do You Like My Basement? Is one of those titles that you will probably either love or hate. On one hand, it’s a bit whimsical and gives a wink at the horror genre; on the other hand, for those who like their horror mean and nasty, that title’s probably a bit too jokey. When I ran across it on iTunes, I had never heard of it before and I must admit, the title made me chuckle. The title combined with the “Horror Comedy” tag I found when looking it up on Amazon, didn’t quite prepare me for what I was going to see. The film has been released in the UK as both The Basement and The Cellar (for the remainder of this review I’ll refer to it as The Basement). Perhaps this leaves it just ambiguous enough so the viewer isn’t expecting as much going in to it. It’s mean and nasty horror disguised as a comedy, containing elements of both, but the film never quite does anything original with either.
Here’s something I’m amazed I still have to write: It’s another found footage movie – but more accurately a first person POV film. It follows Stanley Farmer and his attempts to cast and begin filming his very own reality-style horror film. He posts an ad online asking for someone who is willing to portray “real fear” and that “all types are wanted.” Most of the film consists of auditions where he asks questions that get progressively creepy and the actors are eventually escorted to the basement for a screen test. Each type of actor portrayed in the film is different and reflects many of the stereotypes we have seen before in horror. It’s possible that this was intended as satire, but it mostly registers as tired characterization of the people in typical slasher films. One positive though – The Basement does utilize a racially diverse cast. There is even a scene with subtitles.
As you can probably guess, Stanley is not right in the head and his main objective is making a horror movie that is all very real. At one point, a young actress tells Stanley, “I’ve never been to a casting session quite like this before.” To which he replies, “There’s never been a film like this before.” For a horror fan like Stanley, it’s weird that he obviously hasn’t seen Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Man Bites Dog, Tony, How to be a Serial Killer or Peeping Tom, because yes Stanley (and yes writer/director Roger Sewhcomar, I’m looking at you) there have been movies like this before and they were all so much better.
Using the found footage trope, viewers are treated to a brief flashback from early in Stanley’s life. While on vacation as a kid with his family, a man films him in front of the Tower of London. There are some clues in the interactions that take place that suggest why Stanley may have become homicidal. But I think the Tower of London location was no mistake and it creates a huge missed opportunity that should have been taken. Some might call Richard III Britain’s first serial killer (If you’ve read the play, I don’t think that’s too far a stretch). His family and friends were his victims and The Tower of London was the crime scene. Using some imagery from Olivier’s Richard III would have been effective in place of the WWII era fascist iconography the film ultimately goes with. Before you remind me of the 1995 film version of Richard III with Sir Ian McKellen, yes I do realize that film compares the last king of the House of York to the same historical figure. However, when you watch McKellen’s masterful interpretation of words written by Shakespeare, there lies all the difference. Charlie Floyd, the actor who portrays Stanley (Who we never get a clear view of, but he sounds a lot like Liam Neeson if he had an English accent) is no Sir Ian McKellen and writer/director Roger Sewhcomar is no Richard Loncraine and of course he is no Will Shakespeare (Duh!).
As I mentioned earlier, The Basement was another product of a Kickstarter campaign. The film’s website (which is actually promoted within the film) www.doyoulikemybasementmovie.com is probably where most of the budget went and the site is now defunct. But, the Kickstarter page is still up where it collected $5,100.00 which sounds about right. This movie looks like 5,000 bucks. If I had been a backer, I’d be asking for my money back. The Kickstarter page describes the project as “…a dark comic horror film which asks: How can a blood soaked basement still make you smile?” Well, I’ve seen it and I didn’t smile. If you do, then I’m so very sorry for you.
Do You Like My Basement? is available for digital download from Virgil Films and Entertainment.