The Beast in the Cellar: Tigon Collection – 88 Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: UK, 1971
Director: James Kelley
Writer: James Kelley
Cast: Beryl Reid, Flora Robson, John Hamill, Tessa Wyatt, T.P. McKenna, John Kelland, David Dodimead, Vernon Dobtcheff, Dafydd Havard, Christopher Chittell

Release Date: April 22nd, 2024
Approximate Running Time: 88 Minutes 51 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £16.99 (UK)

"When soldiers stationed in the local community are mauled to death in the local woods, a wild cat is thought to be the culprit. However, two sisters, begin to suspect that their brother who has been locked in their cellar for 30 years may be responsible." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "2K Remaster from 4K Scans of the Original Negatives."

The Beast in the Cellar comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 34.7 GB

Feature: 26.2 GB

The source looks excellent; this is another solid encode from Fidelity in Motion. Flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio sounds excellent, the dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with actor Christopher Chittel titled Getting in the Cellar (2 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Sound Camera Operator sound camera operator Graham V. Hartstone and sound mixer Tony Dawe titled Sound From the Cellar (7 minutes 52 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with editor Nicholas Napier-Bell titled Beast in the Cells (12 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with composer Tony Macaulay titled Beats in the Cellar (19 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with author Josh Hamilton titled Locked in the Cellar (23 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival audio commentary with associate producer Christopher Neame and executive producer Tony Tenser, moderated by author John Hamilton, an audio commentary with film critics David Flint and Allan Bryce, reversible cover art, a glossy O-ring (limited to the first pressing) and a 36-page booklet (limited to the first pressing) with an essay titled The Beast in the Cellar We Need to Talk About Celery written by Johnny Mains, an interview with actor Peter Craze titled The Secret of Blood Island, The Beast in the Cellar and Terror conducted by Mathew Edwards, an essay titled The Beast in the Cellar written by Andrew Graves, and publicity stills.

Summary:

The Beast in the Cellar is one of only two feature films that James Kelley directed.

An unknown creature attacks soldiers stationed near a rural English town.

With limited resources, Tigon film productions frequently resulted in films that exceeded the sum of their parts. Though their output covered all film genres, it is the horror genre where they are most remembered. Case in point: a film like The Beast in the Cellar, which epitomized the type of films Tigon made.

In its opening moments, The Beast in the Cellar does an excellent job setting the stage for what follows. An unseen monster attacks a soldier with talon-like claws, ripping him to shreds. In the aftermath, law enforcement is baffled when trying to discern what or who could have killed the soldier. Was it a beast, a man, or a hybrid beast or man?

Though The Beast in the Cellar has all the elements that one expects from a monster movie, It is also just as much of a whodunit as it is a monster film. There are two elderly sisters who take an interest in a series of murders, and while their interest might seem harmless, it soon becomes clear that they actually hold the key to the killings.

None of the performances are lacking. That said, the two best performances are by Beryl Reid (The Killing of Sister George) and Flora Robson (Black Narcissus) in the roles of two elderly sisters. Though they come off as two harmless old ladies, they actually have some sinister secrets lurking in their past.

From a production standpoint, there is no area where The Beast in the Cellar does not excel. The perfectly placed narrative does a superb job building momentum towards a shocking ending that reveals what has been in the cellar for 30 years. Another strength is composer Tony Macaulay’s score, which does a phenomenal job reinforcing the foreboding mood. Ultimately, The Beast in the Cellar is a very effective, low-budget horror film with a solid payoff.

The Beast in the Cellar gets an exceptional release from 88 Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a wealth of informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer