South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival – When the family in The Cellar moves into a rickety old home, they don’t have the usual things to worry about, like painting the rooms, fixing a leaky faucet, or replacing the plumbing. Instead, after the daughter goes missing, they realize they have much bigger things to worry about of a very hellish nature. The house contains plenty of secrets, which eventually surface throughout the film’s 90-minute runtime.

Written and directed by Brendan Muldowney, the Irish film first spends a little bit of time establishing the family dynamics. The mom, Keira (Elisha Cuthbert), works for a marketing company that studies vloggers and other social media influencers. Daughter Ellie (Abby Fitz) hates this and thinks that social media influencers are vapid. Dylan Fitzmaurice Brady plays the annoying little brother Steven, while Eoin Macken is the dad, Brian. Fairly soon, Ellie disappears after stepping into the basement one night while watching Steven. It’s unclear who or what took her. But during the rest of the movie, Keira tries to unravel the mystery of the house, and thus, what happened to her daughter. From the get-go, Ellie feared the basement and its weird vibes. Obviously, she was right. Sometimes, you should just trust your gut and stay out of the basement.

The Cellar is a film that requires patience, sometimes, a lot of patience. This is a movie heavy on atmosphere with plenty of shadowy rooms and weird symbols above doorframes. The heart of this movie is really about a mother’s despair over the possibility that her daughter may be gone forever. To that end, Cuthbert gives a good performance here, playing a mom who’s both desperate and determined to save her daughter. This isn’t a movie with a ton of scares, though. Most of those are saved for the last 20 minutes.

The rest of the movie is concerned with Keira and Brian’s quest to find out what exactly is up with the house, including the strange effect it has on Steven, who’s drawn to the basement where his sister went MIA. The previous family also disappeared, other than the daughter. Eventually, this leads Brian and Keira down a path that involves weird math equations, WWII, and a demon, yes a demon. There’s also a spooky phonograph that recites one of the equations, which may or may not have had something to do with Ellie’s disappearance.

While The Cellar may be a horror film, it’s also a mystery, a slow burn about the nature and history of a house. This one isn’t going to be for every genre fan, and parts of it do tend to drag. But it leads to a conclusion that feels satisfying with some generally unsettling imagery. While The Cellar restrains itself until the last 15-20 minutes, it succeeds in establishing a mood and atmosphere that pulls you into the story.  At the very least, the film avoids the trappings and cliches of other haunted house movies.

The Cellar will have a wider release next month when it comes to Shudder and plays in select theaters.

7 Out of 10