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Don’t Go Down There – Creepy Horror Movie Basements You’ll Want to Avoid

Published

7 years ago

July 2, 2017

Recently, while wading through the murky black waters of my unfinished and now flooded murder basement, I found myself gazing at the support column – with red children’s handprints erratically splayed across the concrete – and thought “this is probably how I die”.

While I am 100% not kidding about how outstandingly creepy my basement is (red painted handprints and all), I am, of course, still alive. I don’t live in a horror movie – if I did, I’d definitely be seven different shades of dead. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned from a creepy basement in a horror movie, it’s that they are their own unique harbingers of doom.

Let’s go through a few, shall we?

Don’t Breathe

Image via Tumblr

Don’t Breathe has a bit of a double-whammy of basement terror. First off, it’s immense, crowded with junk, and owned by an armed and trained madman who functions well in the dark. Now, you add in the frantic, scared and kidnapped young woman chained to the ceiling, and you’ve got an express ticket to nope-town.

The People Under the Stairs

Image via Tumblr

This basement is apparently a front for a private makeshift butcher shop. The butcher’s subterranean lair is full of trapped souls, damned to live the rest of their lives ravenous and angry. Now, he has the coin to keep it going, but woefully, he needs a private supply of meat. Meat that stumbles onto the property, never to be seen again…

He’s going to eat you, is what I’m saying. Stay out of the basement, and probably just avoid the whole house in general.

The Conjuring

Image via ScareMeOnFridays

The Conjuring has done a lot for horror basements. The first film has the creepy clapping and the bloody bedsheet ghost, and the second film has that freaky flooded danger zone. James Wan really doesn’t like basements, methinks. Or at least he knows the universal truth – they’re terrifying death traps.

The Silence of the Lambs

Image via Tumblr

In a scene that continues to give me anxiety every time I watch it, The Silence of the Lambs is a prime example of a nightmare-inducing horror basement. The idea of frantically wandering through the dark in an unfamiliar area with a killer-with-an-advantage chasing after you is… uncomfortably scary. Especially considering how many others have been in that same basement and not lived to tell the tale.

Clarice survived because she’s a damn good agent and she trusted her senses, acting without hesitation. We survived because we finally remembered to breathe once the damn scene is over.

We Are Still Here

Image via ScreenFish

This classically creepy basement is inhabited by a vengeful family of char-broiled, flesh-burning, skull-crushing demon ghosts. These older homes do tend to have some character.

Return of the Living Dead

Image via TheZombieSite

Does your basement have a Tarman? Then don’t go down there! He’s hungry and strangely good at problem solving!

Intruders

Image via WheresTheJump

Intruders is – as my colleague Trey puts it – part The People Under the Stairs and part Panic Room. A small group of lower-case criminals break into the house of a young agoraphobic woman with the goal of stealing a large bundle of cash. Lucky for her – and unlucky for them – she has an intimate knowledge of all the house’s secrets – including a mysterious and meticulously designed basement.

If these walls could talk, they’d scream.

Evil Dead

Image via TerribleBlog

If you find yourself in a basement under a cabin in the woods, oh, you are definitely gonna die. Sorry.

Honorable mention:

Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door. After recently reading the book, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the movie just yet. That being said, he absolutely nails the oppressive and claustrophobic energy of a torture basement. Every scene that takes place in the basement invokes a sense of dread that – like our poor protagonist – you cannot escape and cannot control.

What other basements are you scared of? Tell us in the comments!

Featured image by Chris Fischer

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Netflix Releases First BTS ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Footage

Published

4 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It’s been three long years since Netflix unleashed the bloody, but enjoyable Fear Street on its platform. Released in a tryptic fashion, the streamer broke up the story into three episodes, each taking place in a different decade which by the finale were all tied together.

Now, the streamer is in production for its sequel Fear Street: Prom Queen which brings the story into the 80s. Netflix gives a synopsis of what to expect from Prom Queen on their blog site Tudum:

“Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.”

Based on R.L. Stine’s massive series of Fear Street novels and spin-offs, this chapter is number 15 in the series and was published in 1992.

FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN IS NOW IN PRODUCTION 🩸 Welcome to Shadyside High. We're gonna have a killer time. pic.twitter.com/jDl0zRa2CH
— Netflix (@netflix) April 30, 2024

Fear Street: Prom Queen features a killer ensemble cast, including India Fowler (The Nevers, Insomnia), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol), Fina Strazza (Paper Girls, Above the Shadows), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Cinnamon), Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Chris Klein (Sweet Magnolias, American Pie), Lili Taylor (Outer Range, Manhunt) and Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From, Perry Mason).

No word on when Netflix will drop the series into its catalog.

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Live Action Scooby-Doo Reboot Series In Works at Netflix

Published

5 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The ghosthunting Great Dane with an anxiety problem, Scooby-Doo, is getting a reboot and Netflix is picking up the tab. Variety is reporting that the iconic show is becoming an hour-long series for the streamer although no details have been confirmed. In fact, Netflix execs declined to comment.

If the project is a go, this would be the first live-action movie based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon since 2018’s Daphne & Velma. Before that, there were two theatrical live-action movies, Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), then two sequels that premiered on The Cartoon Network.

Currently, the adult-oriented Velma is streaming on Max.

Scooby-Doo originated in 1969 under the creative team Hanna-Barbera. The cartoon follows a group of teenagers who investigate supernatural happenings. Known as Mystery Inc., the crew consists of Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and his best friend, a talking dog named Scooby-Doo.

Normally the episodes revealed the hauntings they encountered were hoaxes developed by land-owners or other nefarious characters hoping to scare people away from their properties. The original TV series named Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ran from 1969 to 1986. It was so successful that movie stars and pop culture icons would make guest appearances as themselves in the series.

Celebrities such as Sonny & Cher, KISS, Don Knotts, and The Harlem Globetrotters made cameos as did Vincent Price who portrayed Vincent Van Ghoul in a few episodes.

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BET Releasing New Original Thriller: The Deadly Getaway

Published

5 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Cameron McFarland

BET will soon be offering horror fans a rare treat. The studio has announced the official release date for their new original thriller, The Deadly Getaway. Directed by Charles Long (The Trophy Wife), this thriller sets up a heart racing game of cat and mouse for audiences to sink their teeth into.

Wanting to break up the monotony of their routine, Hope and Jacob set off to spend their vacation at a simple cabin in the woods. However, things go sideways when Hope’s ex-boyfriend shows up with a new girl at the same campsite. Things soon spiral out of control. Hope and Jacob must now work together to escape the woods with their lives.

The Deadly Getaway is written by Eric Dickens (Makeup X Breakup) and Chad Quinn (Reflections of US). The Film stars, Yandy Smith-Harris (Two Days in Harlem), Jason Weaver (The Jacksons: An American Dream), and Jeff Logan (My Valentine Wedding).

Showrunner Tressa Azarel Smallwood had the following to say about the project. “The Deadly Getaway is the perfect reintroduction to classic thrillers, which encompass dramatic twists, and spine-chilling moments. It showcases the range and diversity of emerging Black writers across genres of film and television.”

The Deadly Getaway will premiere on 5.9.2024, exclusively ion BET+.