Perfect cast and a good story

Expected more

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

"The Forgotten (1973)" is also known by it's more common title "Don't Look in the Basement". Don't Look in the Basement fits the film okay while The Forgotten seems to be a more appropriate title.Question why would Dr. Stephen allow a mentally unstable patient to use a real axe in therapy? A toy axe maybe but a real axe? Even if he thought it was therapeutic for the man to chop wood - a toy axe would have been the logical choice for therapy. Why was he so trusting in his obsession-development theory and creating a "family"? You'll have to watch the film to find the answers.The film is pretty good. It's worth watching if you like movies surrounding asylums.6.5/10

"Don't Look in the Basement" is a very, very cheaply made film. Nothing about it seems very professional….yet, oddly, the film is quite entertaining. Is it really good? Nah—but very entertaining providing you are the type person who can appreciate such an odd film! This movie is set in some sort of sanitarium for the mentally ill—the very, very, VERY mentally ill. No attempt is made to make these folks seem real and it has about the same level of insensitivity you'd find in "Birth of a Nation". I have worked in a psychiatric hospital many years ago, and it was NOTHING like this place! It's pretty obvious they did not film it in a real hospital and just looks like an old house was used. And, for the parts, the 'patients' were told to act very stereotypically insane—like you might expect folks to do on "Whose Line is it Anyway?"—subtle, it ain't! When the doctor (whose methods seem no saner than his patients) is killed by one of the patients, another doctor takes his place. Soon, a new nurse arrives—and she's shocked at how ineffective and stupid the treatment is for the patients. Eventually, more folks start dying and only then do you learn some very interesting secrets. I'd say more, but I really don't want to spoil the suspense.This engaging film looks like if you were to remake "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and had it rewritten by an actively psychotic individual! It's bloody, it's scary and, what I really like is that you really have no idea who, if anyone, is sane in this film! It's one of those ultra-low budget films with no-name casts that manages to work in spite of all the many strikes against it! Clever, strange and probably not for all tastes! If you like "Carnival of Souls", "Night of the Living Dead" (the original one) or "Spider Baby", then this film is for you!

Don't Look in the Basement (1973) * 1/2 (out of 4) A young nurse (Rosie Holotik) goes to work at an asylum and she soon learns that a nurse and doctor before her were brutally murdered by one of the patients. Before she can escape the nurse finds herself drawn into the mystery and soon her life is at risk. Director S.F. Brownrigg's drive-in film has become a major cult classic over the years and in fact his entire small body of work has a rather strong group of fans. This here is probably his best known film and there's no question that it contains some very memorable moments but sadly the overall feel is just way too slow for it to really work. I thought Brownrigg actually did a nice job at building up a rather strange and surreal atmosphere that hangs over the entire thing. The 70s made for some good "asylum" pictures and I think the low-budget nature of the filmmaking really worked well for this film because it feels very authentic. The setting of the asylum is a rundown building but this too helps add some to the atmosphere. I think another plus that the film has going for it is that the performances are actually good. I thought Playmate Holotik did a nice job in the lead role and the supporting players are also quite good and especially Bill McGhee who plays Sam, one of the patients. The biggest problem with the movie and the thing that really, really kills it is that the pacing is just so slow that the 89-minutes seem to last forever. There's way too much boring dialogue in spots and at times you just want to scream for everyone to speed up. Still, fans of the drive-in films of this era will want to check it out.

A young nurse named Charlotte Beale arrives at a small sanitarium run by Dr Stephens, but soon finds out that not all is as it seems, as the patients aren't locked in their room and the previous Doctor got murdered, so Charlotte tries to investigate the secrets of the place and soon finds out more than she bargained for.In my opinion I find this movie very uneven, firstly as the first hour basically nothing happens just a bunch of overacting and patients screaming, and plus endless boring dialogue, but then the final half hour the movie finally kicks in which is intense and thrilling and the setting is brilliant with it a genuinely eerie feel -- claustrophobic, intense, and a sweaty nightmarish feel. Overall "Don't Look in the Basement" isn't that bad of a film although it's pacing is one of its biggest issues overall. The movie seems to lack direction in parts although it does end up a lot better than most will expect.All in all Don't Look In The Basement is a fun 70's slasher, definitely one of the better ones, but nothing that sets it apart from the other movies of this calibre or memorable.