Almost stubbornly, it seems, writer/director Brendan Muldowney builds a dull mystery and pays it off with everything one might expect from its set-up in The Cellar. This is another in a long line of movies about the new tenants of a haunted house being visited by evil spirits, and no number of minor alterations to that general theme alters the whole equation, unfortunately. We are still introduced to a family whose members are basically defined and, as a result, not very distinctive. That family is still beset from all sides by the forces of darkness, leading to a supernatural abduction of sorts. The story still climaxes with an over-the-top light-and-sound show and, perhaps, a twist or two.
All of this is accomplished with basic competence, at least for a while, by Muldowney, who at least captures the creepy and occasionally chilling interior of the house, as well as the special effect of a seemingly endless downward staircase, with aplomb. He also casts Elisha Cuthbert, a proven dramatic actor and scream queen, in the role of Keira Woods, matriarch of the central family. This, by the way, is a classic example of an actress and performance outmatching the frankly bizarre writing of the character, who seems to be the head of a content-creating department for a big corporation, but one who must consult with her daughter Ellie (Abby Fitz) on the latest trending topics on social media. Cuthbert, who is solid elsewhere in the movie, can’t seem to sell this type of aloofness.
Ellie turns out to be an abduction victim when a strange presence makes itself known in the house. The spirit is attached to a recording on a gramophone (a unique source of hoodoo gobbledygook, for sure) and has its roots in the very old secrets of the family who previously owned the residence bought by Keira and her husband Brian (Eoin Macken). Understandably distraught by the disappearance of her daughter, Keira labors to understand those secrets, visiting the sole surviving member of a family who fell victim to the spirit (in the film’s best scene, bolstered by a performance from Marie Mullen as the survivor that both communicates a person who has become an empty shell and presents exposition in a forceful and convincing way) and a specialist in numerology (Aaron Monaghan) who can offer clues as to what a series of markings on the ground of the manor’s cellar mean.
It’s all mostly an excuse to stage scare sequences, which end up being circular and repetitive exercises in some member of the family – Keira, Brian or their younger child and only son, Steven (Dillon Fitzmaurice Brady) – stirring the wrath of the demonic spirit. Those sequences eventually coalesce into the over-the-top finale, which provides an “answer” that merely raises more questions.
Beyond Cuthbert’s commitment to Keira’s despair, the performances are inefficient in carrying this tired material. That leaves the location and atmosphere to carry the day, an operation that unfortunately goes right out the window during a digitally muddy, visually murky finale involving the countless victims of the specter that grows less and less convincing as it goes. The pieces of something decent are present in The Cellar; Muldowney simply cannot fit them together.
Photo courtesy of RLJE Films
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