‘The shape of nightmares to come’
Cellar Dweller is a 1988 American horror feature film directed by John Carl Buechler (Watchers Reborn; Ghoulies III; Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood) from a screenplay by Child’s Play creator Don Mancini (as Kit Du Bois).
The movie stars Debrah Farentino, Brian Robbins (C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud), Yvonne De Carlo (The Munsters), Pamela Bellwood, Vince Edwards and Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator, Would You Rather).
Plot:
Thirty years have passed since the grisly murder/suicide of Colin Childress, creator of the comic book, Cellar Dweller. But, as often happens to those ignorant of it, comic book artist Whitney Taylor is doomed to repeat history in a most grotesque way. Little does she know that her twisted renderings will soon reincarnate the bloody hysteria of Cellar Dweller.
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Reviews:
“The film is a little light on gore, though what we do have is wonderful – Cellar Dweller casually gnaws on torn-off limbs and hurls severed heads around like so many volleyballs. What did take me by surprise was the quantity of high-quality female nudity on display in this film, including a prolonged shower sequence cut short by a grisly Cellar Dweller attack.” Radiation-Scarred Reviews
“This is no stunner of a movie it has to be said but like a lot of the Empire movies that came out in the 80’s it has it’s own style that rubs off on me very easily. I did enjoy watching this, though it’s nowhere as good as some of the other titles that came out of the Empire stable.” Horror Chronicles
“The movie has little-to-no plot, but it somehow managed to keep me entertained. I suppose it could have had to do with the interesting-looking creature and decent amount of gore. It’s no surprise that a low-budget movie like this pulled off such make-up effects behind the creature since director John Carl Buechler went on to do various other effects for genre movies.” Upcoming Horror Movies
” …Buechler’s direction is reasonably brisk and pacy and his creature effects work displays his usual low-budget wizardry (yes, he pulled double duty here). The end result may not be anything tremendously memorable by any stretch, but it’s a competently-enough-executed affair to compel you to let its many flaws slide and just go with the flow.” Trash Film Guru
Cast and characters:
- Yvonne De Carlo … Mrs. Briggs – American Gothic; Play Dead; Satan’s Cheerleader’s; The Munsters
- Debrah Farentino … Whitney Taylor (as Debrah Mullowney)
- Brian Robbins … Phillip Lemley
- Pamela Bellwood … Amanda
- Miranda Wilson … Lisa (as Cheryl Ann Wilson)
- Vince Edwards … Norman Meshelski
- Jeffrey Combs … Colin Childress
- Floyd Levine … Taxi driver
- Michael Deak … The Creature
Technical details:
77 minutes
Ultra Stereo
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
Release:
On October 29, 2013, Scream Factory released the film on DVD for the first time, along with Contamination 7, Catacombs and The Dungeonmaster as part of the second volume of their Scream Factory All-Night Horror Marathon series.
