The Creepiest Basements In Movie Adaptations

Basements often seem like a very natural place to set a creepy scene. After all, basements are dimly-lit, often damp, and typically very low-traffic, making them the perfect place to set a scene where someone feels unseen or unnoticed.

A basement is a great place for horror movies to craft a terrifying scene, and that scene can sometimes be even more terrifying when it comes from a book initially. Of this list of terrifying basements, are some of the basements that made the leap from the pages to the big screen.

The Exorcist

One of the most interesting things about the movie The Exorcist is the cultural panic that surrounded it. Although it’s not as gory or explicit as many movies you might find on horror channels today, people lost their minds at the initial release, with some reports claiming that a woman had a miscarriage due to fear. The book upon which the movie was based has similar terrors and similar blasphemy. The basement, however, only features as the location where the main character finds an Ouija board.

Misery

Psychological horror is the name of the game in Misery, which consists largely of only two characters. The movie’s based on a book written by arguably one of the greatest horror writers of the 20th and 21st centuries: Stephen King. Throughout the movie, the two main characters pit their wits against each other. One of them, Annie Wilkes, keeps the other trapped in her home, partially by using the damp, rat-infested basement as a discouraging factor.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

No one can really claim that The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a full-fledged horror; it allows itself to be campy and silly on the regular. The original product, which was just called The Rocky Horror Show, was a musical for theatre. The original writer, Richard O’Brien, helped transfer it to the big screen. In the movie, the main character, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, keeps his laboratory in the basement of a castle; he stores a Medusa Transducer, which can turn people into statues.

The Amityville Horror

One of the reasons for the prevailing terror of The Amityville Horror is the fact that the individuals at the center of the story maintain that it’s true. Still, the movie did come from a partially-fictionalized account of the Lutz family’s purportedly real events in the Long Island house, put together by author Jay Anson. There may be a reason to believe the Lutz’s story isn’t entirely true, but who’s counting? In the movie, particular attention comes to a Red Room in the basement, which wasn’t on any of the basement plans.

Psycho

The enduring appeal of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is a testament not only to its cinematic prowess but also its terror. The original book writer, Robert Bloch, didn’t consult on the movie adaptation, but nonetheless it’s remarkably faithful to the book in story and detail. In both movie and book, the main character uncovers a startling revelation in the fruit cellar when she enters and finds Norman Bates’ mother’s mummified corpse.

The Silence of the Lambs

Although The Silence of the Lambs is where most people know Hannibal Lector, it’s not where he originated. The man himself originated in a series of books by Thomas Harris, of which The Silence of the Lambs isn’t even the first. Still, regardless of where the idea came from, The Silence of the Lambs is definitely one of the creepiest movies out there. It’s also got one of the creepiest basements: serial killer Buffalo Bill uses a dry well in his basement to starve women before he skins them.

Conclusion

Clearly, horrifying basements are a staple of the horror genre. Whether you take it in through the book or the movie, you can get your dose of horrifying basements when you get a piece of just about any horror story. These are some of the most terrifying ones out there, but there are certainly plenty that this article hasn’t brushed on. Pick up a book or watch a movie — you’ll be able to find something horrifying.