Don't Look in the Basement (1973)

Dir: S.F. Brownrigg

No-budget exploitation from a particularly quirky corner of the grindhouse, set entirely within a private 'sanitarium' (blatantly just some guy's house). It's run by a doctor who believes that his patients, in order to be cured, should have more-or-less free reign within the walls of the institution. A cute but rubbish nurse (obligatory Playboy playmate Rosie Holitik) shows up for a job and soon finds that the good doctor's methods are, err, somewhat ineffectual. Much like the screenplay for this movie. There are some very dark ideas here and a couple of creepy moments (all livened up by inventive camerawork) but the severe lack of continuity and, ultimately, clarity just wrecks it. Somehow this film ended up on the UK Video Nasties list in the early 80s which, considering it's relatively low on nudity and gore, suggests the title alone was too suggestive for us poor, delicate islanders. Who knows? Had it not been banned, it may well have discouraged a whole generation of kids from making use of perfectly good underground storage space. Viva progress. *1/2