No, Downstairs is not a movie about your private parts…unfortunately. Instead, Downstairs is a short horror-comedy from the Boxleitner Brothers and it’s currently making the rounds in the film festival circuit. I was lucky enough to receive an online screener. Here’s my review!
Downstairs is written and directed by Lee Boxleitner with Sam Boxleitner. The brothers also star in this title as “the hangman” and the lead Flip Schubbers, respectively. Other cast members include John Lyke, Phoebe Neidhardt, Caitlin Reilly, and Andrea Steele.
In Downstairs, “An inquisitive night security guard is tormented by evil spirits.”
Hm… Where do I want to start this one?
Ok, I’m going to honest. When you’re trying to market your product, it’s really important to have strong visuals, which is often times why distributors make A quality box-covers for D grade movies. When I saw the movie poster for Downstairs, I was like, “Oh, that looks like it was made in paint,” which didn’t make me exactly thrilled to watch. However… How-frickin-ever! Downstairs completely blew my expectations out the window. I loved it and was so glad to have gotten a private viewing. There are several reasons why I enjoyed this short film, but I’ll get to those in just a second. My point in mentioning this is a suggestion to the Boxleitner Brothers – and basically every other film maker – that you really need to have strong visuals to promote your work. Downstairs is a super high quality film and deserves to be seen, so it should have something that really represents that.
I think what I enjoyed most about Downstairs was the lead actor, Sam Boxleitner, who plays Flip Schubbers. Flip is… Flip is Flip. He’s not a hero. He’s not a go-getter. You can tell he’s bored with his job, or maybe life in general, and this all makes him relatable to the viewer. He’s also maybe a little skittish, unorganized, and silly. It comes across as comical and I started to relate him to Officer Doofy in Scary Movie (2000). He may not be the brightest, he may not be the hero, but you can’t help but love him. He fits perfectly into the scenario of a large art house late at night, being fucked with by restless spirits. You kind of know off the bat that things are not going to go well at him, and more-so you’ll laugh at his expense. Just a great all around character for a horror-comedy.
I also want to highlight whoever did the scoring and background noises – whether it was Sam Boxleitner or Sam Asa Johnson. There’s a very specific noise that shatters your ear drums whenever one of the ghosts and ghouls pop up on screen. These two tricks are, obviously, one of the stereotypical horror clichés to trick audiences into being scared; jump scares as they’re called. Every movie has them, except when it comes to Downstairs, I wasn’t expecting them half the time. At this point I’ve watched thousands of horror titles so ghosts, hangings, moving objects, and strange noises don’t scare me anymore. I think the same goes for other genre fans, but in this case the scoring and the backing sounds will make you jump out of your seat because I guarantee you will not expect them. I was like, “Stop it! No more!”
Whether it was written that way or I interpreted it in that way, I found the characters of Orpheo (played by John Lyke) and Danuta (played by Phoebe Neidhardt) to be both comical and horrific in themselves. We’ve all met, or have at least seen, those “artists” who think their shit doesn’t stink, that they are god’s gift to the world, and should receive hand outs and preferential treatment because they are just that “talented.” This is best represented through Orpheo and Danuta. I couldn’t help but laugh at their self-righteous sense of entitlement as well as feeling horrified for Flip for having to deal with them on a daily/lightly basis. I was hoping that they would be murdered by the ghosts downstairs, but sadly, my hopes were dashed.
This is one of those reviews where I don’t have anything to criticize, except the less than stellar movie poster… Superb performances from everyone in the cast. A great script, the perfect mix of horror and comedy. Good duration of film. Good special effects. Perfect setting and scorings. And an expert director to piece it all together. Normally I’d say the Boxleitner Brothers are up-and-comers to watch, but they’ve actually been in the film making game for a couple years already. So, instead, I’ll say I can’t wait to see what they have in store next! I’m giving Downstairs an 8.5 out of 10.
