Horror Movie Review: Cellar Dweller (1988)

Cellar Dweller is a 1988 American monster horror film. It was directed by John Carl Buechler and written by Don Mancini.

The film starts 30 years in the past, presumably during the mid to late 1950’s. Colin Childress (Jeffrey Combs), is the writer and illustrator of the popular horror comic, “Cellar Dweller”. As the movie opens, Childress is in his cellar studio working on the latest issue of the series. Childress reaches into a wooden chest and pulls out an old, leather-bound book with a pentagram burnt into its cover. The book is clearly ancient. Childress uses the mysterious passages found within as inspiration for his latest spooky tale.

As Childress puts the book down, we can see a creature behind him. Clutched in their arms is a young woman in a ripped nightgown, just as Childress had drawn into his comic. Childress flees from the room and grabs an axe from the rack on the wall. Trembling, he returns to the cellar to find the woman’s lifeless boy on the floor. The creature suddenly reappears from the shadows and swipes Colin, causing him to knock into his desk. The ancient book falls off the desk into a chest that locks itself shut.

In bumping into his desk, Colin also knocks over a jar filled with paint thinner, spilling it onto the cellar floor. Hoping to dispel the creature, Childress sets fire to his illustrations. The creature is banished, but in the process, Childress accidentally ignites the spilled paint thinner. This sets the house on fire and burns him to death.

After some credits we reopen 3 years later in the 80’s. Aspiring comic artist Whitney Taylor (Deborah Farentino,) has just arrived for her residency at the Throckmorton Institute for the Arts, a school colony now occupying of Childress’s former home. Somehow, the house suffered minimal damage in the fire years earlier. Whitney hopes to begin work on a new comic inspired by the original “Cellar Dweller” comic.

The colony is run by Mrs. Briggs (Yvonne De Carlo”). Briggs quickly makes it clear that she is not a fan of Whitney’s choice of medium, dismissing her work. Briggs is against Whitney’s desire to continue Childress’s work in the same house that he “went crazy and murdered that poor girl in”.

We’re soon introduced to the other artists. This includes, Meshelski (Vince Edwards), a retired detective turned wannabe crime novelist; performance artist Lisa (Miranda Wilson), Amanda (Pamela Bellwood,), a long-time rival of Whitney’s with no real discernible talent of her own. And finally, there’s Phillip (Brian Robbins), an expressionism painter.

Eventually, Whitney makes her way into the cellar that Childress used as his studio. Whitney soon finds the ancient book, still sitting untouched in the locked chest where it has been for the last 30 years. Determined to continue her work in the same space that her idol created his, Whitney manages to convince Briggs to let her use the cellar as her studio.

Will the creature reappear and tear another damsel limb from limb? Watch and find out.

Being a big fan of Jeffrey Coombs, I was excited to see another entry in his filmography. Unfortunately, he’s only in the opening of the movie and nothing more. Also, it seemed to me it was a phoned in performance, in (weirdly) full Herbert West garb. To not utilize such an excellently eccentric actor in your movie is a crime.

I could look past less Coombs if the rest of the cast had made up for that but despite decent acting, the characters are very one note. I couldn’t bring myself to care about them too much. Whitney and Phillip’s romance has to be one of the most forced romances I’ve ever seen. I didn’t get that vibe from them at all and Phillip was an insufferable little pervert with cheesy dialogue until that point.

I enjoyed the concept but felt it was executed in the most basic way possible. There’s huge room and opportunity for more and that feels wasted.

The effects are pretty good for a low budget and the Cellar Dweller looks great. The original Childress artwork is the best part and looks amazing. The gore is severely lacking, most happening off screen. A lot is shown through the medium of the comic strip, which is cool but I would have liked it to play out more in reality too. They should’ve gone all the way with it and not held anything back.

How the Cellar Dweller and their powers worked wasn’t very clear either.

Overall, Cellar Dweller is full of undercooked plot points and characters but you can look past most misgivings due to the runtime and creativity. I’d still take this film over most modern ones, but in terms of 80s horror it’s below par. There’s something here to enjoy in the short time but don’t expect any classic Coombs moments.