Basement Jack DVD Review

Basement Jack, released on DVD on November 17th by Iron Gateway Films and Brink DVD (Iron Gateway Entertainment), is a gorefest, so much so that early on I lost count of how many people Basement Jack ran through with his machete-like sword. Raised entirely alone by an absolutely crazy mother (Lynn Lowry) who gave him “lightning”, electronic shocks as punishment (and who is tastefully “remembered” in a yellow dress with a red belt against a black and white background) plus hired a doctor (Joel Weise) to add to his agonies by giving him real electroshock in the hospital (must have been the 50’s), one can see why Jack is tormented. But Jack is very intent on releasing that torment by killing off five families, posing the corpses, and stabbing just about anyone who crosses his path during storm season.

In Special Features Jack talks about having the costume and make up put on and becoming an entirely different person who tried to keep to himself and not talk with others. Michael Shelton, in his directorial debut, talks about drawing out an extremely dark character from Eric Peter Haiser’s (Jack’s) performance. It’s true that Eric seems almost the opposite of Jack, which makes his a very strong performance.

Also to be noted, even for sheer energy alone, is Michelle Morrow, who plays Karen Cook, a survivor of Jack’s first family killing whom Jack is trying to find and kill. No matter WHAT has happened to her, Karen springs up for stunts and escapes over and over again. She befriends Officer Chris Watts (Sam Skoryna), a convincing rookie, and together they try to capture Jack, although Chris keeps insisting on putting Karen on house arrest.

Basement Jack is rated R and would give any normal kid nightmares (and thus it is NOT a film to see with the entire family). It’s for horror nuts and cultists, as serial killer Jack kills off family after family and the ending of the film surprises us. Original music by Alan Howarth is plaintive and poetic. I would recommend Basement Jack to horror afficianados, because it is a cut above most of these films.

MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 93 minutes
Release Date: November 17th, 2009

Grade: B

Director: Michael Shelton
Starring: Eric Peter Haiser, Lynn Lowry, Michelle Morrow and Sam Skoryna
DVD Review by Christina of Movie Room Reviews

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