The Beast in the Cellar (1970)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Best movie ever!

A Major Disappointment

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The `plot' of this film contains a few holes you could drive a massive truck through, but I reckon that isn't always top priority in horror. Two elderly sisters in rural England keep their brother in the cellar since more than 30 years. Now, he escaped and started a killing spree, focusing on militaries that are homed nearby. `We only did we thought was best for him' they keep on repeating and – strangely – all the army officers love these women and don't doubt their sincerity, even though 5 of their men died. I don't know whether to find the revelation near the end suspenseful … or tedious! In a way, this film reminded me about `Arsenic and Old Lace'. In that black-comedy classic, two half-insane siblings mother their goofy younger brother as well, yet they do the killing there. The old ladies in `The Beast in the Cellar' are by no means less crazy, though. The `horror' in this early 70's film is very amateurish and cheap, but there are a few neat attempts to build up the tension. Too many `old-ladies' talk about the good ol' days, though and that rarely is something you seek in a horror film with such an appealing title. Flora Robson, who may be recognized by classic film buffs, plays one of the sisters. She gave image to the Queen of England is the legendary Errol Flynn swashbuckler film, the Sea Hawk.

In rural Lancashire in the north west of England, two elderly sisters played by Beryl Reid and Flora Robson have kept their younger brother locked up in the cellar for thirty years and as a result he has been driven right out of his mind. He escapes and starts killing soldiers from a nearby army camp in frenzied attacks."The Beast In The Cellar" is a "Tigon" produced shocker that went out as a double bill with the company's own "Blood On Satan's Claw" (Dir: Piers Haggard). Although most critics have condemned it, one called it an "Idiotically boring farrago", it isn't really that bad although there is quite a lot of laughably melodramatic chit chat between the leading ladies and the low budget does show at times. However, the success of this film is through the lighting of Harry Waxman and Desmond Dickinson (one of my favoured cinematographers) who use the rural setting to the full and there is one set up at the end which stands out in the memory long after the movie is over. The sequence in which the beast is seen creeping up a staircase in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm rather recalls the earlier horror movies of the 1930's through it's sinister use of shadow.This transcends the basic story which is by no means bad, but it would of worked much better as a short story segment in a portmanteau horror film.

This film has haunted me for 30 years. I'm trying to buy a PAL format VHS or UK or USA DVD copy. This film is excellent. Flora Robson is disturbingly controlling and the ending, if you haven't been told of it, is sad & very moving. And my home is 90 years old- with a cellar.

The oddest thing of all about the Beast in the Cellar is that it is actually rather well acted. Beryl Reid and Flora Robson are just fine in their sinister roles, and it makes you wonder how well the film might have turned out if it hadn't been so poorly written.Possible plot spoiler: the storyline of this flick is odd too. A couple of nosy, simple minded old sisters live in a country house and seem to just drift along in life. Every now and then they hint that something weird is going on in their cellar. As the film develops, it transpires that they have kept their brother locked in there for years - three decades to be precise - and one day he escapes and goes on a killing rampage. Obviously, after thirty years locked in a damp, dark cellar, he looks more than a little like a caveman and has extraordinarily long sharp nails, almost like claws (all the better to mutilate you with!)With such a strange, unpromising plot, this never had much chance of being a great film. But it has interesting bits, such as the afore-mentioned high quality performances and a couple of nicely edited shock moments. Generally, though, it isn't up to much and belongs very much in its little time capsule as an early 70's cheap-and-cheerful British horror opus.