Don’t Look in the Basement | 1973 | USA | S.F. Brownrigg

A rather sleek and tense thriller set in a madhouse, Texan director S.F. Brownrigg brings us this film, sometimes released as The Forgotten. Nurse Charlotte transfers to the Stephens Sanitarium after a patient murders the director, intent on helping resident Dr. Masters with the mentally ill residents of the place. Slowly but surely, Charlotte begins to suspect something is not right with the house’s policy of not locking up the patients and it soon becomes clear that the definition of who is mad and who is insane is blurred exponentially. While quite mild and a rather slow burn, the film nonetheless generates some genuine shocks combined with a rather decent plot and acting. The VHS version released was already cut too, so it’s bizarre to think this was in any way obscene.