The oddest thing of all about the Beast in the Cellar is that it is actually rather well acted. Beryl Reid and Flora Robson are just fine in their sinister roles, and it makes you wonder how well the film might have turned out if it hadn't been so poorly written.
Possible plot spoiler: the storyline of this flick is odd too. A couple of nosy, simple minded old sisters live in a country house and seem to just drift along in life. Every now and then they hint that something weird is going on in their cellar. As the film develops, it transpires that they have kept their brother locked in there for years - three decades to be precise - and one day he escapes and goes on a killing rampage. Obviously, after thirty years locked in a damp, dark cellar, he looks more than a little like a caveman and has extraordinarily long sharp nails, almost like claws (all the better to mutilate you with!)
With such a strange, unpromising plot, this never had much chance of being a great film. But it has interesting bits, such as the afore-mentioned high quality performances and a couple of nicely edited shock moments. Generally, though, it isn't up to much and belongs very much in its little time capsule as an early 70's cheap-and-cheerful British horror opus.
Possible plot spoiler: the storyline of this flick is odd too. A couple of nosy, simple minded old sisters live in a country house and seem to just drift along in life. Every now and then they hint that something weird is going on in their cellar. As the film develops, it transpires that they have kept their brother locked in there for years - three decades to be precise - and one day he escapes and goes on a killing rampage. Obviously, after thirty years locked in a damp, dark cellar, he looks more than a little like a caveman and has extraordinarily long sharp nails, almost like claws (all the better to mutilate you with!)
With such a strange, unpromising plot, this never had much chance of being a great film. But it has interesting bits, such as the afore-mentioned high quality performances and a couple of nicely edited shock moments. Generally, though, it isn't up to much and belongs very much in its little time capsule as an early 70's cheap-and-cheerful British horror opus.