Cellar Dweller

"Cellar Dweller" is a 1988 horror movie from director John Carl Buechler and written by Don Mancini, the creator of the "Childs Play" franchise. "Cellar Dweller" tells the story of a successful horror comic artist, Colin Childress (Jeffery Combs) who inadvertently summons a demon with the help of a cursed book and also by drawing it in the latest issue of his comic: Cellar Dweller. Childress meets an untimely demise while fighting off the demon and setting his studio ablaze. Years later the Childress home becomes an institute to the arts where new student and devoted Childress fan, Whitney Taylor (Debrah Farentino) attends. Whitney eventually takes up Childress' cellar studio and uncovers the cursed book and unleashes the horrors within!


SPOILERS!!!

"Cellar Dweller" takes a very interesting plot and managed to at times feel a bit incoherent. Where I did enjoy this movie, I found the 1 hour and 17 minute runtime really made for a lot of obvious cramming as far as the story goes. I feel like out of the 7 deaths in its runtime I only remember about half of them happening and I just finished watching it. This movie has a ton going for it and the overall tone is very light and fun, but it also feels that a portion of it was left on the cutting room floor. It could have greatly benefited from about 10-15 minutes of additional footage to help provide more substance to the story.

Probably the biggest crime of this movie is the underuse of Jeffery Combs as Colin Childress. I would be interested in seeing the film that ends where this one begins and see how Childress found the book and all the things he went through while it was in his possession. All of the characters in this film have little to no backstory or depth, they all just kind of serve as fodder for the monster in the long run.

On a huge positive note, the Makeup effects in this are amazing. The Cellar Dweller creature is just an awesome old-school 80's  practical effects monster. This hulking beast terrorizes the artist in the house, slaying and everyone in his path. Very few of his kills are actually seen on camera, but there is one beheading that is particularly gruesome.

I really love a lot of aspects of this movie, but there's also a ton that really prevents it from being an absolute classic. "Cellar Dweller" winds up being a fun but forgettable 80's horror movie. Completely worth the watch but also not particularly worth going out of your way to watch.
"Cellar Dweller" earns a 2/5 on the Patented Monster Meter!