The Cellar (2025) by Jamie Langlands

Director: Jamie Langlands

Year: 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Plot:

Awakening in a strange underground basement, a woman realizes that her captor has given her a chance at escape, which leads her through a series of challenges and obstacles that test her drive and desire for what she really wants in life, forcing her to question them to save herself.

Review:

Overall, this was a fairly solid if somewhat troubling genre effort. The main factor here that manages to keep this one engaging is the series of psychological torments that go on as we see her trying to make her way through the underground corridors of her confinement. Opening everything the way it does, with her being strapped down and subject to various torture devices that are supposed to keep her sedated before allowing the escape and her eventual journey through the labyrinthine hallways, gets this off to a great start, much like these scenes of her traveling through the various sections looking for an escape. Confronting not just black-clad figures out to harm her but the unnerving nature of the situation itself, these are generally incredibly effective, where the suspenseful stalking scenes are used to bring about some rather tense moments, where some rather intriguing elements as other flashbacks, are used to help fill in several gaps in the story.

That comes about in the second half, where it seems to be less about concluding the story organically and simply about putting her through the same thing in a different location. While it's generally exciting to see the scenes of her wandering through the bedrooms and upper parts of the compound where she's being held and get out of the dark, dingy, twisting corridors, that it basically feels like a repeat series of sequences and setpieces involving the need to get out of the building alive without letting anyone see what's going on or catch her makes it all feel incredibly underwhelming with the same style and format attempted again. Even the fact that it's generally a silent film, with the only sounds being her wandering through the environment or trying to catch her breath so as not to be detected, makes for a generally obvious repeat performance of the same formula without changing it up. This does hold the film down somewhat for the most part.

Overview: ***.5/5

An overall likable if somewhat repetitive psychological thriller, there’s a lot to like here, even though it starts to grow old once it moves to the second half, which does lower it slightly. Those with an interest in this kind of approach or genre fare will have a lot to like here, while most others out there turned off by this style should heed caution.