Writer-director Brendan Muldowney gave horror fans an excellent short called The Ten Steps back in 2004. He has directed a few features since then, none of which have even appeared on my radar (so I cannot say whether they were good or bad), but this film is an expansion of that effective short. Sadly, it's pretty much an object lesson in how not to take your short film and make it into a feature.
A family move into a new home, a place that seems a bit spooky, and it's not long until they're affected by the forces within it. While busy at work one evening, the parents receive a phone call from their teenage daughter, Ellie (Abby Fitz). Ellie has to head down the ten steps that go down into the cellar so her mother (Keira, played by Elisha Cuthbert) tries to help her by getting her to count each step into the darkness. Ellie just keeps going though, counting past ten and heading to some unknown place, and is later declared missing. Keira starts to investigate the house they have moved into, and she finds that there may be a mathematical formula in place to help create something seemingly impossible.
Although there are some effective moments here and there, not least of which are the Fulci-esque images in the third act, Muldowney needlessly complicates what should have stayed a beautifully simplistic bit of creepiness, crafting a theory for the unfolding events that is as laughable as it is implausible. I'm also not entirely sure that he sticks to the rules he tries to create, but maybe that is more to do with my own perception of the film. Something similar to this can be very effective (e.g. the enjoyable You Should Have Left), but Muldowney seems determined to shoot himself in the foot at every opportunity. His weak script is more obvious while being delivered by leads who aren't as strong as they could be, and there aren't enough truly memorable supporting characters to help the pacing.
As much as I like Cuthbert, she seems to be unable to pick decent horror fare to star in. Her best horror role was in House Of Wax (2005), and even that wouldn't be as enjoyable as it is if it wasn't for the absolutely stellar production design throughout. Despite her age allowing it to be possible, she doesn't feel like a good fit for a role that has her being a parent, sorry, so she's not right in the main role here. Her onscreen husband is played by Eoin Macken, who feels equally miscast, unhelped by the fact that the script gives both of our adult characters some dull-as-ditchwater jobs in the world of social media advertising. Fitz is a lot better than her older co-stars, although sadly not onscreen for too long, and Dylan Fitzmaurice Brady is fine as the youngest member of the family, Steven.
There's a decent score from Stephen McKeon, some nice cinematography by Tom Comerford, and some excellent sound design, but those are the only aspects I want to praise here. Some music, some scenes that look very nice, and the audio work. Those things aren't enough to make up for the script, the performances (which aren't bad, just not very good), or the anti-climactic scenes that have to fill up the 70 minutes or so after the best moment reworked from the original short.
I'll still maybe check out the other films directed by Muldowney, and I would give some more time to any of his future efforts, but this seemed to be grossly misjudged from the very beginning. Sometimes a great short film should be left as it is. Expanding it can spoil what made it so great in the first place. The Cellar is proof of that.
4/10
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