The Forgotten (1973)
Surprisingly Good!
1 June 2003
Some can call it cheap, others can call it stupid and some may even call it pointless, but these are all adjectives once attributed to classics such as Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left. As the latter was also distributed by Hallmark, they obliged to reproduced the same tag line here - `To avoid fainting keep repeating: ‘It's only a movie…only a movie…only a movie'.'

Don't Look in the Basement tells the story of Charlotte Beale (heartstoppingly gorgeous Rosie Holotik and Playboy covergirl, April, 1972), a young nurse whose arrival at her new position coincides with a dramatic change within the Stephen's Sanatarium for the mentally insane. The unusual treatment here involves allowing patients to roam free around the hospital, allowing them to express their repressed inhibitions to cure their madness. The patients are a truly frightening gathering. One girl shuffles around with a doll she believes is her baby and if you offend her you'll die; A chap believes himself to be a judge, constantly preaching courtroom jargon; A nymphomaniac wanting love from anyone who lunges at all men; An ex-Vietnam vet watches over the premises, assuring nobody escapes…etc. Soon, poor Charlotte realizes that all is not as it should be and '...a sense of unease creeps over her...' Will she solve the mystery of the Sanitarium before she too is driven insane?

If you allow yourself to get with the flow of this low budget horror film, then you might even see the twist in the tail. I won't spoil it for you here
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