Basement Jack (2009)

A young lady named Karen Cook (Michelle Morrow) is running away from a killer named Jack Riley (Eric Peter-Kaiser) who has killed her entire family during a thunderstorm in their basement but was sent away only to find out that he was released from the psych ward he was staying in 11 years later by not receiving a fair trial.
She discovers there's murders wherever she goes that resembled the killings of her family. She goes to the aid of an officer named Chris Watts (Sam Skoryna) who tries to solve the missing pieces in which family members are slaughtered and placed in different areas of their homes while the killer is in their basement ready to attack when a thunderstorm happens.
It seemed to effect Jack when he was a kid as he was tortured and abused by his nasty mother Mrs. Riley (Lynn Lowry) and has killed her since then so when he spots any family members he seems to hallucinate that it's his mother calling to him.

An independent slasher film which works very well by itself since it shows good elements with a killers history reminding you of similar old school slasher flicks like Halloween and Friday the 13th but yet alot of the plotlines are original at the same time.
There's many good flashback sequences with an evil mother torturing the killer when he was a young teenager which almost makes it hard to watch but it was the most entertaining piece in this horror flick which was quite clever on how this killer came to be with his bad memories going on a spree to kill every family from their basement. It's also a good fear on what can lurk in a basement during thunderstorms. It's of course every child's fear and watching this will make them never want to go in their basement ever again.
There's many good scenes with the two main actors in the film trying to track down the killer as well as arresting one of them for mistakened identity for the murders which keeps you watching for more to see how this murder case can get solved.
Bottom line is that this is a brilliant slasher film and the story works well from beginning to end adding great touches for having the killer kill from a basement whenever a thunderstorm happens which makes the film terrifying and entertaining even if it was made on a low made for DVD budget but it's not an awful budget at all offering some good effects used in this flick. Of course most independent flicks are made on lower budget's than other types. Turn off the lights while watching this one for sure.

Eric Peter-Kaiser was made up incredibly well as the killer Jack Riley and really knew how to show cold expressions and act menacing with his machette too. He brings his horror character out very well and deserves good credit for it.
Michelle Morrow had alot of great spunk in her part as target for this killer in which she shows a great outgoing attitude as well as being charming too. She also showed alot of great aggressions when she needed to for the certain scene's in the film. She showed terrific energy and inspiration with her role and a worthy character actress. She would portray a perfect scream queen.
Sam Skoryna shows a good passiveness as the main guy here playing an officer who is struck between a rock and a hard place with his job. He shows a real nice guy next door type of personality with a calm and quiet attitude to his part in the film.
This was a great comeback for Lynn Lowry playing an evil mother to the killer showing nice sneering actions with her abusive behavior and really getting into her role plus having a great sleazy attitude too. She knew this part inside out and studied this part terrifically. She was a perfect drawing card to the film and stood out the most.
M. Steven Felty knew his stuff as an obnoxious police chief in the film with his stern behavior towards others and gruff looks too. He knows how to come across clearly that he doesn't take crap from anyone and comes off well with that.
Billy Morrison sure came across as someone you'd hate to know with his sarcastic behavior and closedminded attitude playing the head detective in the film. He reminds you as one of those morons who wants to make your life miserable for sure.
Tiffany Shepis has a nice supporting role showing a great tough as nail no bullshit officer attitude in her role in which she puts everything she had into the role to make her part very believeable and I found this to be her best performance so far since I've never seen her portray a role as good as this and moving up to other horror films made on a bit of a bigger budget too.
Nathan Bexton brought a bit of humor to his part as an eccentric manager of a building although I didn't find him overly funny he did come across by having a weird personality. He could play a killer huimself as he could make a great suspect in this one.

A woman is topless fornicating in bed

Eyes are plucked out
Bodies slaughtered and bloodily stabbed
The side of a person's face is torn off in a vehicle
Many bodies are cut through by a machette
A machette is sliced through people's heads
Officers heads are chopped off in a police station
A woman officer is lying on the ground with her insides spilled out

Michael Shelton really knew how to make a slasher film like this look dark as he shows a nice scene with close up shots on some featured extras as corpses at a table and lightning light effects shining on them as well as a good chasing scene with Eric Peter-Kaiser going after Michelle Morrow around a house while there's shots on her trying to hide or defending herself against him in a basement with a good shot on him falling down from an electrocution.
There's a descent dialogue with M. Steven Faulty as a police sergeant scolding Sam Skoryna as a police officer about a situation and giving him some warnings in which the directing on the scene looked a bit plain but at the same time there's nice firm attitude on the Faulty with Skoryna acting nervous and good close up shots on each of them when they're talking too.
There's a nice camera shot rolling by on a house in the night with a good close up shot on Peter-Kaisers eyes with a good flashback sequence on Lynn Lowry at the house in the daytime getting nasty and abusive with supporting actor Kyle Sanders as a younger Jack Riley chained to a metal pole and getting upset which looked quite disturbing. There's also a good shot on Peter-Kaisers holding his hands to his head acting as if he was in pain from the memory.
There's a good close up shot on Peter-Kaisers looking at some photos from a box in a basement and then some nice shots on his feet walking up some stairs and then peeking through a doorway watching a woman feed her baby. Next there's another great shot on Lowry acting nasty by trying to feed her baby which looked believeably dysfunctional. There's great close up shots on Lowry as well.
Shelton directs a good scene with Faulty planning a mission with the rest of the cast as officers trying to track the killer down which looked quite well done with the shots on him, some pictures and surrounding the supporting cast as the officers.
Shelton shows some good shots fading in and out on Peter-Kaisers placing down a bloody machette and then placing corpses at a table which looked like a nice grisly work of art. There's also some good shots on bit part actor James Williams as a resident running up some stairs and suspenseful shots on him trying to hide away in a bathroom with good shots on Peter-Kaisers feet walking up some stairs as well as swinging his machette and trying to find him. There's also a good shot on a machette stabbing at the bathroom door along with Peter-Kaisers smashing the door open with his hands which is necessary for a slasher film.
There's a perfect shot on a corpse lying on a ground with a machette in the head with a camera looking up on Peter-Kaisers taking the machette out.
There's a perfect dialogue with Morrow talking to Skoryna about what happened to her family and discussing the killer with Skoryna showing her pictures of some victims they found as it looked nicely done.
There's a great moment with Morrow and Skoryna going to a house invaded by the police with them questioning Billy Morrison as a detective on what's happening and he acts ignorant as well as Joel Brooks arreasting Morrow as a suspect which picks up alot of intense energy while he tells her she's under arrest.
There's a great moment with Morrow getting straight to the point with Skoryna at his office about what the killer's going to do and getting a little aggressive which looked powerfully directed.
There's a nice shot on Peter-Kaisers kneeling down in a basement and then getting up after he spots a door opening and swinging his machette with a good close up shot on bit part actress Kelly Ryan walking down in the middle of the stairs and then a good shot on Peter-Kaisers holding his machette and getting ready to kill. There's also a great shot on bit part child actor Dakota Carter opening the door to the basement with a nice dark shot on Peter-Kaisers staring evilly at him and then he slams the door in fright which looked very energetic.
There's a good shot with Sanders in a hospital bed strapped down acting in pain from the electricity charging in him. Then a nice shot on Peter-Kaisers slamming his machette down near a table.
There's a nice sleazy scene between Lowry with bit part actor Nic Nac as a delivery man and Sanders being forced to watch this as she speaks nastily to him telling him to watch them when she tries to make passes at him.
There's a good shot looking down on Peter-Kaisers walking into a kitchen and then a good flashback sequence with Lowry laughing evilly and Sanders sitting in a chair tied down with an event happenming which looked very disturbing and well done as well as good close up shots on his wrists tied to the back and trying to get out while she taunts him what's going to happen to him when he gets older like his father being electrocuted to death.
There's a nice moment with Morrow lifting up her shirt showing Skoryna her scars from the killer as if she wanted to seduce him as it looked very horror and playful like.
There's some good struggling moments with Morrow trying to get away from Peter-Kaisers as well as doing battles with him and suddenly the supporting cast as policemen breaking in and stopping her which showed some good timing.
There's a good moment with Morrow trying to get demanding towards Skoryna once she's arrested the second time telling him what's going to happen with the killer getting away as she shows great aggressions while he acts stubborn about it. It looked very believeable.
There's a good shot on Peter-Kaisers' feet walking into a police station with the wind blowing and then swinging his machette at the cast as officers chopping them away which looked good and gruesome. There's alot of suspense and excitement with both Skoryna and Morrow trying to get away.
There's a nice chase up at the top of a building with Morrow trying to hide and good dark shots on Peter-Kaisers looking around and trying to find her.

We hear some nice synthesizer low violin sounds which works well for a low budgeter type of horror like this one plus alot of good piano effects too. There's the odd great gloomy low keyboard type of thumps for the killer about to attack in the dark. There's also some good scraping metal sounds with the odd bumps too which worked perfectly. All of this was done by Alan Howarth who has worked in countless horror films with his music including many of the Halloween sequels.