DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT! (1973)
Starring Rosie Holotik and Jessie Kirby
A hard-to-find early 1970s horror film, this was advertised as being "from the makers of 'Last House on the Left.'" It also used that movies tagline: "To avoid fainting, keep repeating, 'It's only a movie ... It's only a movie ... It's only a movie ..."
It's unclear what the actual connection between the two films is. Director Brownrigg went on to direct schlock like "Scum of the Earth" and a totally forgotten film entitled "Don't Open the Door!"
Fans of
"Last House" might like this gritty, sadistic film about what happens in
an insane asylum when the shit really hits the fan. The film is shot in an old
house—obviously filmmakers didn't have the budget to use an actual asylum.
The film opens with a semi-accidental killing of a doctor who's teaching an inmate how to get out his aggression by axing wood. Naturally the inmate takes the axe to the doctor. A day or so later, a nurse (Holotik) arrives claiming to have been hired by the now-dead doctor. Not too surprisingly, murders start happening and the asylum sinks into anarchy.
It hasn't held up over the years like "Last House." The performances are pretty dismal and, in the end, it's unbelievable that an "asylum" would exist in an old house like this. Still, the film is pretty creepy, features plenty of interesting, crazy characters (including a mad "judge," a nutso "soldier," and an obligatory female nymphomaniac) and is better than most of the crap showing up on horror movie video shelves today.