This is a rather brutal little slasher hearkening back to the pure slashers of the 1980s, the heyday of the sub-genre. The killer does not spew pithy one-liners nor do any characters exist purely for comedic relief. Basement Jack is an earnest horror flick with a nice budget. The acting is good, the direction is better than it should be, and the production value in general is as high as I've seen in any recent horror flicks.
Basement Jack is pretty gruesome. Like many of the '80s progenitors, it casually posits the killer as some sort of misunderstood antihero. It's a nod to the bygone era's hero worship of villains like Freddy and Jason but it didn't work for me. I found it forced and obvious. The leads are quite good-looking and capably carry the movie. Also, despite the format and some obvious homages, Basement Jack is far more than just a throwback to better times; it's about as good an update of the sub-genre as one could hope for.
It drags a bit and the CGI gets a little goofy sometimes, but I recommended Basement Jack.
© C Harris Lynn, 2012
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