Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

D. Ceased Ahhh, '80s monster movies. Even if you claim to hate them, deep down you really love them. Every time you look at one of the covers, or read the name, you envision some giant mutant or monster picking people off in gory and grotesque ways. Cellar Dweller is like any '80s monster movies, it has a campy story, way off acting, and loaded with effects. The problem is, there's not much of this in it.The movie starts off with a comic artist, played by Jeffrey Combs, accidentally unleashing an evil monster upon this earth. The comic book page is destroyed and the monster disappears... but it will return again. We cut forward in time as Cellar Dweller, that comic, is being relaunched. Whitney, whose favorite comic is Cellar Dweller, gets brought on to do the art. She winds up finding a forgotten crypt which contains old, unreleased Cellar Dweller pages, as well as an arcane book of unknown origins (one that gives the monster life.) She takes these and uses them in her artwork, unbeknownst to her that it brings the creature to this world to kill. When Amanda, a rival artist, tries to expose her, she is drawn into the comic, and eaten by the monster (WHO'S NEXT!) When her seedy boss starts spying in on her work, he too is written in the comic, and killed off by the monster. Whitney ends up realizing that the creature has came to life through her drawings and she sets out to destroy them. This ends with the rest of cast catching on fire and dying. I think there were a few fake out endings, but I don't really remember them.This movie had a lot going for it, the drawings coming to life is a great concept, and the altering of reality through the drawing (e.g. the banana peel), could have worked real well. However, it is under utilized in this, and it kinda bums me out. The effects are pretty good, the monster look pretty cool, and the face movements are awesome. It's not that intimidating though, and that kinda hurts the movie. There's a good amount of gore effect, like a sweet head rip. Unfortunately there is a lot of off screen kills. The acting is pretty good, Combs obviously being the best (he's under utilized as well.) The worst part though, is that this movie is too short for anything to get really rolling. There's too little plot or character development and there's interesting ideas that aren't fully developed or fleshed out. 6/10, for fans of the classic monster movie, or pure '80s cheese.

slayrrr666 "Cellar Dweller" is a fun, harmless cheesy creature feature.**SPOILERS**Arriving at the isolated Colony, Whitney Taylor, (Debrah Farentino) meets Mrs. Briggs, (Yvonne De Carlo) for an interview to do a relaunch of a famous, favored comic book, Cellar Dweller at the place. Gaining employment, she meets the other cadre of artists there, including Phillip Lemley, (Brian Robbins) Amanda, (Pamela Bellwood) Lisa, (Miranda Wilson) and Norman Meshelski. (Vince Edwards) who all warn her away from the basement. Determined to uncover the truth, despite the story about a horrible murder that occurred there and eventually decides to move there to create the comic series. After a while, they start to notice that the other tenets are disappearing, and eventually realize that her drawings are coming to life, and since her series is of a ravenous creature, they try to stop it before they all disappear.The Good News: This one here does have some good parts to it. The fact that the film contains a rather unique and creative storyline is something to be commended. Taking the literal world of the comic books and turning them into actual scenes is quite nice, making this one feel really clever and creative, and using a rather complicated but still understandable back-story gives it even more flair than expected and really goes a long way towards making this one fun. There's also the fact that this one comes with the complete story with this one and it makes the film feel really good. The film also has a nice amount of cheese, which is really helpful. The creature attacks at the end, with the good one being the one on the victim in the shower meaning that there's the nudity requirement fulfilled nicely, and it ends with a great chase through the house complete with the action also seen through the eyes of the comic scene that it's emulating. It's great fun, and the other attacks in here aren't that bad either, and they do result in some nice gore scenes as well. There's a great decapitation, an upper half of the chest and head ripped completely off, one is ripped to pieces and completely dismembered and another is set on fire, which is quite nice and allows for some really nice gore moments. It isn't all that bloody, but it's gory enough to satisfy, and that's what matters here. The basement where the majority of the film takes place in is pretty creepy, coming with the completely well-done look of disuse and making sure that there's nothing in here that looks recent or could be misconstrued otherwise. It's a great set and helps set off those sequences nicely. The last big plus is the monster in here. It's a fantastically-designed creature, making it an imposing threat while also using it's werewolf-ish look to be both unique and quite threatening. Combined, these here are the film's good points.The Bad News: This one here does have a few flaws to it that are pretty hard to overcome. The cheese, which makes it fun to begin with, also manages to become a detriment as well. The main issue is that there's a unmistakable scent of the 80s, which gives it a cheap feeling and that reduces the cheese levels to greater emphasis. From the ability to find faults in the monster costume to the comic book-like scenes that play out in the middle in substitute for the actual action, it contains enough sequences in this style to make it apparent, and that can be something that few could avoid if not really interested in this sort of film. The creature itself also has a few flaws associated with it. The fact that it's never explained how it manages to get around to deliver it's kills when it's drawing powers from the animation, yet it does so by animating itself going after them instead. This is wholly confusing and doesn't make the least bit of sense, especially since it does them even after it's secret has been revealed. Then a later scene has it completely harmless when it lets a victim come back to rejoice with the heroine, then is talked down to and manages to let them celebrate, despite the evidence drawn in front of them which points elsewhere to other matters. This is all apart of the film's weak ending, which, besides these matters here, also manages to exploit the one thing that would've put an end to everything to begin with and stopped the rampage from even happening. When it happens, it's inevitable to be caught and it doesn't make the film any better for it but sends it off on a weak note. This is the weakest part of the film, and it's most obvious fault. The short running time could also be seen as a weak flaw, barely getting over an hour, but compared to the one before it, it pales in comparison but still manages to knock it down a little.The Final Verdict: A remarkably fun creature feature, featuring enough cheese to make it fun while also having a couple of flaws that are pretty detrimental. Give it a shot if you're into this sort of film or have an urge to satisfy a harmless curiosity, while those that can't handle these would be advised to take caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language and Nudity

movieman_kev Jeffrey Combs is Colin Childress, an occult comic book illustrator, whom inadvertently sets a demon loose in his basement after he draws him on the comic page. He's able to destroy him, but in his wonderment he fails to notice that a fire has started before it's too late and he is engulfed along with the monster. That was 30 years ago. Now a huge fun of Mr. Chilress and another cartoonist herself, Whitney (Debrah Farentino of "Eath 2" cult fame) has come to Colin's house, now part of an artist's colony. She meets a new friend, Phillip (Bian Robbins primarily know for being Eric from 'Head of the Class'), he's the only one who actually likes her of the group of artists. Meanwhile, she's unaware that her drawings are resurrecting the creature to kill once more. Jeffrey Combs is great for the very limited amount of screen time that has. The rest of the film is fun enough, but it all felt too insubstantial, fluffy even. An entertaining little film, too bad it's not on DVD yet.My Grade: C- Eye Candy: Miranda Wilson is topless just getting out of a shower

a bradford Cheap and trashy, this film didn't scare but thrilled me with its sense of camp. Yvonne De Carlo is such an underrated actress and is always worth taking a look at. The film is low budget and apart from De Carlo doesn't have any other well known names. The story is very simple a man writes a story about a scary monster. The monster comes to life and kills him but of course that is not the end of the monster. It waits round for more victims... This film may turn up late at night on TV, if it does turn off the lights curl up on the couch and enjoy the next hour or so. The plot cant be taken seriously so just enjoy the absurdities of it. I saw this film on VCR several years ago and cant wait for it to be released on DVD. Yvonne has made several low budget shockers over the years and this has got to be one of the best.