Go To THE CELLAR For Decent Slow Burn Supernatural Horror Out On June 21 On Blu-Ray & DVD

Posted on June 21, 2022 by chrishammond54 in Blu-Ray Releases // 0 Comments

RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, and Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural will release the horror film THE CELLAR on DVD and Blu-ray on June 21, 2022. The DVD will be available for an SRP of $27.97 and the Blu-ray for an SRP of $28.96.

Written and directed by Brendan Muldowney (Pilgrimage), THE CELLAR stars Elisha Cuthbert (The Girl Next Door, “24”), Eoin Macken (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, The Forest), Abby Fitz (“Der Irland-Krimi”) and Dylan Fitzmaurice-Brady (“Kin”).

In THE CELLAR, Keira Woods (Elisha Cuthbert) and her family move into their new house. Ellie Woods (Abby Fitz) is not happy about the move. Her brother Steven Woods (Dylan Fitzmaurice Brady) is more accepting of the move, while father Brian Woods (Eoin Macken) tries to get the family to look on the bright side of things. Shortly after the move, Ellie is babysitting her brother alone and mysteriously vanishes in the cellar. Keira must unlock the mysteries of the house and must confront the ancient entity that is controlling her home. To do this she must risk her family’s souls and take on the evils that dwell within the cellar.

The Cellar Blu-Ray and DVD specifications
Genre: Horror
Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Format: Color
Year: 2021
Length: 84 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2:39:1
Audio Format
Blu-Ray: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1

Bonus features on the Blu-ray and DVD include:

Interviews with The Cellar Cast & Crew
The Cellar VFX Before & After
Director & Producer Commentary
“The Ten Steps” Short Film & Commentary

The Cellar Review
By: Chris Hammond

The Cellar isn’t a film that is ultra-original. The family moves into a new spooky house and things get weird. A family member goes missing in “the cellar”. The mother or father must discover the house’s mysteries and rescue the “lost” family member. Sure, this has all been done in countless other films, in many different ways and locations.

THE CELLAR is basically an expanded version of the short film by the director Brendan Muldowney “The Ten Steps”. This version fleshes out the story in a more palatable form. The characters especially, Keira Woods (Elisha Cuthbert) get most of the screen time while her missing daughter spends the film well missing (she is in the film for a few scenes at the start and end). The film was shot during Covid restrictions were ongoing, so that may be the reason most of the scenes have only a couple of people present, but the film still has interesting concepts. The house has a code that must be deciphered before the mysteries can be addressed. There’s a weird vinyl record that they play on the accompanying gramophone (conveniently both located in the house). The film goes back to these numerous times.

The reason the film stands out is the fact it incorporates Jewish Mythology into the plot. This is done in a very tactful and interesting way, enough so that many like myself will go and check out the beasts that are mentioned in THE CELLAR.

There is not a jump scare in sight, nor is there any real blood or gore in the film, but those who like slow burns with interesting plot points should take notice. The other thing this film has going for it is the acting is pretty believable throughout. A few times though, the story goes into horror 101. This happens when characters leave other characters alone while playing records that bring on the badies. It’s a horror film though, not a film in Academy award contention.

The historic home and Roscommon, Ireland shoot location make the film genuine and quite disturbing. There is a feeling that the Woods family is secluded in the house location. Sure, they are free to roam the town in which they live, but once things start to get supernatural there’s a real feeling of being sequestered in the house.

The film uses tension and atmosphere to engage the audience, it can go back to the well (not the cellar) one too many times. When supernatural entities take hold of a person the person starts to chant numbers. This is effective the first couple of times when it happens but after a while, it starts to get redundant.

THE CELLAR is a great movie to put on during a dark/rainy day and just get lost in it. Its pluses are the Slow burn and different elements that aren’t used in other films of the same vein. Don’t expect any blood or gore, but rather things unseen to provide the creeps and chills.
Overall, the 80-minute film is a pleasing one and worth a view.

Picture and Sound: The Blu-ray has an impressive transfer in line with many of the other SHUDDER/RLJE FILMS releases. The sound at times gets quiet and is aided by turning on the subtitles. Overall though the DTS-HD master was passable.

Bonus Features: Included in the bonus features is the short film “The Ten Steps” with commentary. This is short in which The Cellar was expanded on. This is a good inclusion as it’s interesting to compare the two films. Another extra is The Cellar VFX before and after. It is a big bonus when films include these for comparison’s sake. It is always nice to see how the VFX evolves. The final two bonus features are Director and Producer Commentary and Interviews with The Cellar cast and crew. These two are happy inclusions as both are always interesting bonuses, especially when commentary tracks are added. These two in this film were pretty decent and worth a view and listen.