Like I said it comes in a beautiful oversized big box. The art on the box is stunning and very reminiscent of the late 80s straight to video horror boxes. I forgot just how massive the big boxes were. Inside the box, you get a dvd with 3 discs inside, one disc is The Basement movie plus commentary, special features, etc. The news story about the filming of The Basement is particularly interesting. The other 2 discs contain Cannibal Campout, Video Violence 1 & 2, and Captives. I actually have a problem with the dvd case itself. Its a weird dvd case that has 2 slots for dvds. One slot is where The Basement is held and the other slot has the other 2 discs stacked on top of each other in one slot! I really wish they would have had individual slots instead of stacking on top of one another. Just a small gripe though. Also in the box is a white insert with the red vhs tape. The vhs looks exactly how a shot on video/straight to video vhs would look back in mid-late eighties. The label is white with black font. Nothing fancy and no pictures on the label, just how I would prefer it. I personally took the dvds out, left the vhs in the box, and put it up.
On to the movie. I plan on reviewing Cannibal Campout, Video Violence 1 & 2, and Captives, just not on this review. I want this review to be solely about The Basement.
The Basement is an anthology flick, very much in the vein of Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt. The Basement is the story of four strangers summoned to "the basement" where a ghoulish figure known as The Sentinel is set to pass judgment on them for their future actions. The segments that follow play out the horrible deeds each is destined to commit.
Although the budget is pretty miniscule and the acting is extremely amatuer, there is a lot of fun to be had with this movie. There are four stories in the movie split between the four aforementioned strangers.
The first story is entitled "Swimming Pool" and follows the exploits of a woman that just so happens to have a pool with a monster in it. After finding this out, she begins to call people over that she wants dead and ask them to swim in the pool, in return feeding them to the monster. The chick's acting is so horrible that its hilarious. I loved the over the top acting and cheesy fight scene.
The second story is entitled "Trick or Treat" and follows a teacher that hates Halloween with a passion. He dreams about murdering his students one day in class and goes home for the night (its October 31st by the way). When he gets home, his dead wife warns him to stop his ways or else. Obviously he doesn't. Great story and probably my favorite of the 4. Pretty great practical fx and gore.
The third story is entitled "Zombie Movie" and follows a director shooting an independent zombie movie and somehow ends up raising real zombies by accident. The poke a lot of fun at the zombie genre and even toss some jokes directly at George Romero. I thought the zombies were pretty awesome and fx were good.
The fourth and last story is entitled "Home Sweet Home" and follows a man that buys a house with a pretty morbid history. He starts drinking with his friend and they start seeing crazy stuff that dwells in the house (demons, etc.) The demon is actually pretty freaking cool looking if you ask me. The gore looks really good too, especially the scene where the demon rips open the dude's head and starts playing with his brain. Awesome scene.
Overall, I absolutely loved The Basement. I had such high hopes for it and I just knew it wasn't going to live up to my expectations. Boy was I wrong, it surpassed any expectations that I previously had by a mile. Its full of cheesy 80s greatness, horrible/hilarious dubbing that you have to hear to believe, gratuitous gore and fx that is suprisingly great for the low budget, and so much 80s style you'll want to wear a fanny pack. I cannot recommend this movie enough. Its so freaking great.
