Bill (Jackson Davis), your normal, average everyday murderous psycho (we all know one, amirite?) kidnaps Craig (Cayleb Long) and begins to enact a really cray-cray scenario (while dressed as a clown as one does); namely Bill wants Craig to pretend he’s him, then he will play various people responsible for his imagined capture and torture…seriously Bill, what the actual fuck is your boggle bro? Anyway, these F’d up shenanigans continue on, increasing in intensity as they go as Craig’s gal pal Kelly (Mischa Barton) wonders why he seemingly fell off the face of the Earth. Soon she begins her own bit of detective work, but will she find Craig before Bill reaches the climax of his grizzly game?
The greatest strength The Basement has going for it is the multi-faceted performance of Davis as ol’ Batshit Bill. This dude is a powerhouse of acting as he gleefully transitions from personality to personality (some male, some female…but all with appropriate costuming) as he attempts to make his avatar suffer for his crimes (though Long is no slouch as our hero, but he isn’t given the insane amount of variety Davis gets to portray). Also, the tension mounts at a reasonable pace, with Barton’s investigation scenes offering the audience an occasional respite from the psychological and physical torture of our impotent protagonist.
On the negative side, there are some rather intense torture sequences. As anyone that knows your’s cruelly, that material is never my bag, but fortunately those sequences comprise a rather small amount of screen time with the brunt being given to Bill’s various personalities verbally sparring with Craig, though as one can imagine they do increase in intensity and frequency as the story progresses…and I have to admit; the practical effects work utilized to bring them to red, raw life is excellent.
If you are looking for a unique take on the tried and true torture porn scenario, The Basement will offer that to you with it’s schizophrenic psycho and the unpredictability he brings to the well trodden road the genre oft travels!
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