Given the choice, I think I would often choose to see a movie that does something different and doesn’t quite succeed instead of watching one that does nothing I haven’t seen before while doing it extremely well.
That’s how I would summarize my feelings so far about Arrow Video’s blu-ray set Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams. I am only three movies in and having a blast so far.
The entries I have seen to date have had ideas and aspirations beyond their budgets, while the productions have been clever enough to appear to be made with more money than what had to be available. I’m surprised any of these were ever shown in theatres, as they have a solidly straight-to-video vibe to them. At the same time, they are better made than most similar fare of their time.
Such is the case with 1987’s Cellar Dweller. Deborah Mullowney plays a young artist who is obsessed with the titular comic. By trying to continue that series, she unintentionally makes brings the Satantic creature of the series to life, and it gruesomely murders others in the art school she’s attending.
We know what she is doing is possible, because we watched original artist do the same thing 30 years earlier in the opening sequence. I was pleased to see the comic is supposed to be like an EC Comics title, and even more pleased to see Re-Animator’s Jeffrey Combs as that artist.
Seeking inspiration for the text of a speech balloon, he unwisely seeks inspiration from a book that looks like a large-print edition of the Necronomicon. As anybody familiar with this type of movie knows, you should never read aloud from an ancient book you find in the dusty basement of an old house.
And yet this is what Mullowney does in the present day, only Combs’s house had been transformed into an art school following his demise in a fire that caps the opening scene. Not sure how the fire was isolated to the basement but, if questions like that bother you too much, you are not the right audience for this film.
I was glad to see Yvonne DeCarlo as the head of the school, even if she isn’t given much to do. Mostly, she is just there to turn her nose up at the mere idea of comic art. Mullowney is only able to attend per the insistence of the institute’s board. Not sure why the board was so insistent she be admitted, but the plot demands somebody resurrect that murderous demon.
In a device reminiscent of Creepshow (both the original movie and the ongoing television series), there is much cutting back and forth between the panels she draws and the demon’s mayhem elsewhere in the house. The budget apparently could not accommodate animation for this, but I still enjoyed the juxtaposition of drawn art with real footage.
There are a couple of odd flaws to this approach, however. Chief among these are later illustrations that appear without Mullowney having drawn them. The problem with those sheets is nobody seems to notice those came off a printing press instead of being hand-drawn originals. Even more obvious and confusing is the use of Halftone in those sheets, something which would have only been applied in one of the last steps before going to the presses.
At least love interest Brian Robbins, who spends a lot of time with her in the basement, doesn’t notice these things. I wasn’t sure why Mullowney takes a shine to this guy. He seems nice enough but is a bit of an immature smartass. That, and he wears a long, thin scarf at all times. Just slap a thin-brim fedora on this guy and you have the prototype model of a hipster.
Somebody else who has seen the art she’s making in the basement is Pamela Bellwood, our antagonist. She and Mullowney have bad blood from events preceding this film. Through a basement window, she has secretly been filming Mullowney working, and she is going to edit that footage so that it appears her comic art was plagiarized. I found it odd some of her footage is from an alternate angle where Mullowney would doubtlessly have seen her. Once again, I am cutting this movie a lot of slack, and just rolled with it.
The other occupants of the house are quirky, but still sketched rather thinly. Miranda Wilson is mildly amusing as a performance artist. Other than an intentionally baffling piece we see her perform, she is only here to be a confidant for our protagonist, and to get naked for quite some time before the monster dispatches with her. Lastly, there’s noir veteran Vince Edwards as a fellow performance artist, except he is always in character as a, go figure, noir-era private detective.
The real reason anybody sees a movie like this are for the effects, and they are pretty solid. The suit for the monster is believable. What is odd is the quality of the creature’s head varies considerably from scene-to-scene, and I suspect there were multiple ones used. The best of the lot has movable eyes that work to an uncanny extent. It can also do a fair amount with its expressions.
I am enjoying this Arrow set far more than I expected, and Cellar Dweller is no exception. Although each film could be improved upon in every aspect, there is still a curious charm these features. I especially like how, no matter how gruesome some of the actions portrayed might be, there hasn’t been any real malice in those moments. There’s a certain infectious spirit of the filmmakers just having a good time.
It’s as if there is some unspoken contract made between them and audience for such features. I feel it isn’t too far off from the similar bond between the carny and the rubes who board the attraction: they know they’re being taken for a ride, the carny knows they know this, but everybody laughs and plays along, regardless.
Dir: John Carl Buechler
Starring Deborah Mullowney, Yvonne DeCarlo, Brian Robbins
Watched as part of the Arrow Video’s blu-ray set Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams