Don’t Look in the Basement * (1973, Bill McGee, Annabelle Weenick, Rosie Holotik, Gene Ross) – Classic Movie Review 13,003

Bill McGhee, former Playboy model Rosie Holotik, and Annabelle Weenick star in director S F Brownrigg’s scrappy 1973 video nasty horror film Don’t Look in the Basement about homicidal patients at an insane asylum.

‘The Day The Insane Took Over The Asylum!’

A Florida mental patient kills the boss and takes over their asylum in producer/ director S F Brownrigg’s poorly made, weakly written 1973 Camera 2 Productions/ Hallmark Releasing Corporation chiller film Don’t Look in the Basement, redeemed a little by its creepy characters and eerie atmosphere. It stars Bill McGhee, former Playboy model Rosie Holotik, and Annabelle Weenick (credited as Anne MacAdams).

Rosie Holotik plays young psychiatric nurse Charlotte Beale who goes to work to work at the remote Stephens Sanitarium after Dr Stephens was murdered by one of the patients. His successor, Dr Geraldine Masters (Annabelle Weenick), is strangely hostile to newcomers…

This quite nasty independent horror thriller film is also known as The Forgotten (original release title) and Death Ward #13. It is written by Tim Pope, supposedly loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether, and released by AIP. In the UK it was released in cinemas in 1977 but later branded as a Video Nasty and banned.

It was shot by Camera 2 Productions in 12 days on a budget of just less than $100,000 on the grounds of Westminster College in Tehuacana, Texas.

The cast are Bill McGhee [William McGee], Annabelle Weenick [Anne MacAdams], Rosie Holotik, Gene Ross, Jessie Lee Fulton, Camilla Carr, Harriet Warren, Jessie Kirby, Hugh Feagin, and Michael Harvey.

Don’t Look in the Basement is directed by S F Brownrigg, runs 89 minutes, is made by Camera 2 Productions in association with Century Studios, is released by Cine Globe (original release) (US), Hallmark Releasing Corporation (retitled re-release) through American International Pictures (AIP) (US), and Columbia-Warner Distributors (UK), is written by Tim Pope, is shot by Robert B Alcott, is produced by S F Brownrigg and Walter L. Krusz (executive producer), and is scored by Robert Farrar.

Budget: around $100,000.

The was released in May 1973 in the US Midwest and Southwest regions as The Forgotten. Then Hallmark Releasing bought it for a nationwide release as Don’t Look in the Basement in August 1973. Hallmark continued to show the film throughout the Seventies, often in double or triple bills with titles such as The Last House on the Left (their big hit), The House That Vanished, and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.

It was released for the first time on DVD by Vci Video on January 25, 2000 in the US.

In November 2014 Film Chest re-released a digitally restored version. It was released for the first time on Blu-ray by Brink in a double bill with its sequel Don’t Look in the Basement 2 (2015).

In the UK it was released in cinemas in 1977 with an X certificate after 35 seconds of cuts mainly to remove a closeup shot of an axe blow to a woman’s body. The film was released on video by Derann under their Crystal label in February 1983, cut from 89 minutes to less than 80 minutes. But it was branded as a Video Nasty, and it was in effect a banned title though it escaped prosecution. Times change. It was passed uncut with a 15 certificate for DVD release in 2005.

Jessie Lee Fulton (playing Jane St Claire) is the actress who plays Miss Mosey, the old lady who runs the Archer City cinema in the The Last Picture Show.

The cast are Bill McGhee as Sam, Rosie Holotik as Nurse Charlotte Beale, Annabelle Weenick (credited as Anne MacAdams) as Dr. Geraldine S. Masters, Gene Ross as “Judge” Oliver W. Cameron, Camilla Carr as Harriett, Hugh Feagin as Sergeant Jaffee, Betty Chandler as Allyson King, Jessie Kirby as Danny, Jessie Lee Fulton as Jane St. Claire, Rhea MacAdams as Mrs. Callingham, Robert Dracup as Ray Daniels, Harryette Warren as Jennifer, and Michael Harvey as Dr. Stephens.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,003

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