CELLAR DOOR (AMAZON PRIME) (2024)

SYNOPSIS: In this suspenseful thriller, a city-dwelling couple (Jordana Brewster, Scott Speedman) is looking to relocate to the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. While visiting the grandiose home of Emmett (Laurence Fishburne), a mysterious man with a talent for pairing the right property with the right people, the couple is suddenly gifted the house of their dreams with one nonnegotiable condition — they must never open the cellar door. As time passes, the couple realizes that old houses are indeed like people…they all have their deep, dark secrets.

MOVIE REVIEW:

From the trailer alone, you might think Cellar Door is an intriguing psychological thriller—a mix of Fatal Attraction and The Twilight Zone. But don’t get your hopes up. This is a dismal effort destined straight for the bargain bin.

To escape the recent tragedy of a miscarriage, married couple John (Scott Speedman) and Sera (Jordana Brewster) begin searching for a new home and a fresh start. Luck seems to be on their side when a mysterious wealthy benefactor, Emmett Claybourne (Laurence Fishburne), offers them his mansion free of charge. There’s only one condition: they must never open the bolted cellar door. Despite John’s initial hesitation, the couple accepts the offer.

At first, life in the mansion appears to be going well. However, things soon begin to unravel. John becomes entangled in a sexual harassment case involving his colleague Alyssa (Addison Timlin). A former tenant suddenly shows up with a gas can, threatening to burn the mansion down. Meanwhile, John discovers a bullet lodged in one of the walls. Is the house haunted or cursed? Or is Alyssa somehow behind the strange incidents after being rejected by John?

Cellar Door has plenty of potential, yet nothing remotely compelling happens throughout the film. The premise ultimately plays out like a marriage-gone-wrong soap opera, with the mysterious cellar door serving as little more than a gimmick to mislead the audience. If you’ve seen enough movies, it quickly becomes clear that John is far from a faithful husband. What follows is essentially a tedious guessing game involving Sera and Alyssa—who is going to kill whom?

The biggest joke, however, is the supposed antagonist: the cellar door itself, which John spends much of the movie trying to pry open. What role does it actually play in the story? The honest answer is none at all.

Cellar Door is so underwhelming that it barely qualifies as a mystery thriller. Even the weakest episode of The Twilight Zone surpasses this ridiculous outing. It’s so mundane, uninspired, and boring that one has to wonder who at Lionsgate thought it was a good idea to greenlight this atrocity.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee