Basement Jack. 2009. Reviewed by Brian Kirst
“In the town of Downers Grove,
It’s starting to storm.
But in front of fireplaces,
Residents won’t get warm.
For Basement Jack
Only kills when it’s wet.
And soon all will be dead-
You better bet!”
Reveling in smart, psychological profiles of its main victimizers, victim and a hopeless cop, Basement Jack also delivers its gore quotient with often outrageously clever tableaus.
10 years after her family was slaughtered by teenaged Jack Riley, Karen Cook finds herself on the run as the recently released madman targets her again – often with painful results for others. As Jack kills his victims (arranging them into picture perfect settings of normal home life), we experience his flashbacks to a youth spent with a creatively abusive mother (who brings plenty of juice to the phrase ‘electric personality’) and a true understanding of our new favorite monster’s tortured psyche grows.
Writer Brian Patrick O’Toole and director Michael Shelton also bring out the complex layers of the film’s heroes (played smartly and passionately by Michele Morrow and Sam Skoryna) making this a slasher film with a sensitivity that truly transcends other low budget fright flicks. O’Toole and Shelton also deliver the goods directly to actress Lynn Lowry’s doorstep and she turns their solid offerings into pure gold. Lowry (The Crazies, Shivers, Cat People), playing Jack’s completely unbalanced mother, utilizes every skill in her considerable canon to create one of the most unique and compelling characters presently inhabiting the screen in any film, no matter the genre. They also allow the agile Eric Peter-Kaiser to creative a sensual creepiness within his Jack- making for an almost erotically compelling anti-hero/master slaughterer.
Genre fans will also be pleased to see Tiffany Shepis delivering a snappily enjoyable performance as a grizzled cop and veteran actor Joel Brooks playing a grumbling lawman – both whom meet very sharp and incredibly nasty ends.
While a slow build in some scenes destroys some of the film’s potent thrust, for the most part, Basement Jack is a smart and stylish exercise, ultimately marking Shelton, O’Toole and co-producer Peter-Kaiser as hauntingly creative forces to be reckoned with.
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