Watch The Cellar

The Cellar is a low-budget independent psychological horror/thriller movie, directed by Michael Wade Johnson, that tells the story of three friends who embark on a camping trip in the woods of Upstate New York. The main characters are Zoe (Lian Allweiss), Jason (Lowell Byers), and Britney (Maggie Balistreri), who are all in their mid-20s and trying to escape from their mundane lives for a weekend.

At the beginning of the movie, we see the three protagonists driving in their car towards the wilderness, exchanging regular small talk and revealing bits and pieces of their personalities. Zoe is the intellectual of the group, always carrying a book and spouting philosophical musings. Jason is the joker, always trying to make the others laugh and lighten up the mood. Britney is the fashion-conscious one, always preoccupied with her looks and her social media presence.

After a brief stop at a convenience store, where they buy some supplies and interact with the cashier (who will be important later in the story), the friends arrive at their campsite and start pitching their tents. They discover a small trapdoor in the ground that had been covered by leaves, and speculate what it could be. At night, as they are sitting around a campfire, they hear strange noises coming from the trapdoor. Zoe convinces Jason and Britney to open it and investigate, but they find nothing except a ladder leading downwards.

The next day, while they are hiking in the woods, they stumble upon an abandoned chapel that seems to have been used for Satanic rituals. They also discover a handwritten note that reads "To be reborn, sacrifice three in the chapel at night". They brush it off as a prank, but Zoe starts feeling uneasy and suspects that they might be in danger. As night falls, they return to their campsite and try to sleep, but are awakened by a hooded figure who attacks them with a machete. They manage to flee and hide in a nearby cave, where they find the trapdoor again and realize that it leads to a series of underground tunnels.

From this point on, the movie becomes a claustrophobic journey through the labyrinthine tunnels of the cellar, as the friends try to evade their pursuer and find a way out. They discover evidence of other people who had been trapped there before, including a makeshift shrine with photos and personal items. They also encounter the cashier from the convenience store, who reveals that he had been luring young people to the cellar for the past ten years as part of a sacrificial cult. He wants to initiate them into the cult, and is willing to kill them if they refuse.

The Cellar is a movie that relies heavily on suspense, atmosphere, and cinematography to create a sense of dread and uncertainty. The characters are not particularly deep or well-developed, and the dialogue is often stilted and expository. The pacing is slow at times, and some of the scenes feel repetitive or unnecessary. However, the movie succeeds in delivering some genuine scares and tension, especially in the scenes where the characters are crawling through tight spaces or being chased in the dark.

One of the strong points of the movie is the use of practical effects, such as the tunnels and the gore, which add a tactile and realistic dimension to the horror. The cinematography is also effective, using a lot of close-ups and low angles to convey the sense of confinement and paranoia. The soundtrack is minimalistic but effective, using ambient sounds and occasional bursts of music to enhance the mood.

Overall, The Cellar is a decent horror movie that does not reinvent the wheel, but still manages to provide some thrills and chills. It is not groundbreaking or memorable, but it is well-made and entertaining enough for fans of the genre. The ending is ambiguous and leaves room for interpretation, adding a layer of mystery and intrigue to the story.