The Basement (2017)

After they finish their exams, a group of college students in Hungary throw a party.  The police shut it down after a complaint from their neighbor and the six friends left in the apartment decide to have a seance.

After one of the guys breaks the circle, Sarah notices her cat is gone.  Outside they hear meowing coming from the basement, which is usually locked and has a no trespassing sign on it. Inexplicably the entire group tromps into the basement and goes through another open door. They wander down a long corridor and end up in a room with a lot of manikins. Unfortunately there is also a creepy girl mixed in with the manikins and she’s already stabbed the partygoer in the horsehead mask.

Running back to the entryway, they find themselves locked in.  Susie thinks they may have released a a demon since Kolos broke the circle during the seance. So when they run across the creepy girl again, they decide to set her on fire.   No one shall ask why Susie wasn’t challenged. If someone I knew said we had to set a demon on fire, I’d be concerned we’d be murdering a person, not to mention they are setting a fire in a basement with no ventilation. 

The characters are not the brightest.  They’re trying to escape a killer, but they’re arguing. At one point, they see the door where they can escape and one couple starts making out.  As they head toward the exit, one wants the other to come back to look at something. Oh my god!  Why? Tell him about it later. There is a killer down there. Stop looking at things. Stop making out. Stop asking questions. Get out. GET OUT! 

The opening of the movie is found footage of some people breaking into the basement and getting murdered. So we already know the basement is no good. This beginning makes you think you’re going to be watching a found footage movie. But it’s not, although one of the characters does have a camera.

Susie isn’t the greatest person. She says they should leave the injured behind. She tries to convince the others it’s so they can get help, when it’s obviously about saving herself. Early on she blames herself for getting trapped in the basement since the cat is hers. Later she blames Kolos because his disbelief of the seance broke the spell and allowed a demon to come into this world. Yeah Susie isn’t great.

Anyone who is a regular horror viewer will guess the ending long before the end of the film. I would have been more surprised if it hadn’t played out the way it did.

Dialogue from partygoers with questionable reasoning:

I’ve already told you the ghost can take human form.

We found her, we trapped her and we burnt her alive.

Using the flashlight when the light is on

A door to escape? Let’s make out.

Everyone troop down to the basement to look for the cat.

Rentals still come with landlines?