JKlein9823 "The Forgotten", also known as "Don't Look in the Basement" (1973), was released on a double bill, primarily for the drive-in theatre market, with "Last House on the Left" (1972). Today this kind of bottom-of-the- barrel low budget film would be released directly to home video or an online streaming service. It borrowed the tagline from its companion film "Last House" - "To avoid fainting, keep repeating: It's only a movie. It's only a movie". That tagline was fairly good rationale for "Last House", but it is ludicrous with this sloppy, non-scary film. Do yourself a favor and skip this one. Some movies of this type are so bad, they are good. This is not one of them ... it's just DULL and promises more than it delivers.

Mr_Ectoplasma "Don't Look in the Basement" (how's that for a gimmicky title?) has an attractive young nurse taking a job at a remote insane asylum that is known for its experimental approaches to psychiatric treatment (such as letting the patients simulate their own delusions, no matter how demented or dangerous). Upon her arrival, she is notified that the head doctor was murdered by one of the inmates, and is geared to run the asylum with the help of the head nurse, but finds herself receiving increasing hostility from the patients.Also known as "The Forgotten," this deceptive and dreary grindhouse flick was apparently a staple of drive-in horror in the mid-1970s, and has been put through the shredder by audiences online. The truth is that this is actually not nearly as bad a film as many reviews would lead you to believe.Make no bones about it, this is a low-budget production on all counts— it looks as though it were filmed inside a large farmhouse haphazardly made up to appear as a hospital, and the special effects are definitely minimalist, but there is something about the low-budget awkwardness that makes this film strangely effective. The narrative is admittedly slow-going early on and the film does feel a bit like a psych ward drama throughout the first forty minutes or so, but some well-played sequences and decent and sometimes disturbing performances from the inmate cast and the foxy, likable heroine elevate the proceedings from potentially dull to surprisingly engaging. Add to that a clever narrative twist that may or may not be easy to read between the lines, which may be the film's greatest asset.Overall, "Don't Look in the Basement" is an effective and atmospheric low-budget horror offering that aspires to greater heights than its budget could clearly afford. In spite of this, the quirks resulting from the production's monetary shortcomings add a raw edge to the film, and it boasts a decent cast of unknowns playing up the hysterics of a '70s psychodrama. What the film does well, perhaps inadvertently, is weave a drab and unsettling atmosphere that infects the entire production, up to its uncompromisingly gruesome conclusion. 7/10.

Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) Working at a psych ward can be a very scary thing. Especially, when you get transferred from a big hospital. For one nurse, it's an experience she will forget. Dealing with people with different psychological conditions can be a handful, but one must have a cool head for it. But during the transfer, one of the original nurses is killed by a patient who has a doll and treats it like it was a real baby. There's one who killed his own platoon; a man name Sam who had one lobotomy too many which makes act like a 8 year-old; and there's a former judiciary clerk who axed the doctor who was about to hire the nurse. When the replacement nurse takes over, it's all about to come together. This place has more secrets than you possibly know. The replacement doctor is really a patient in disguise, and she not only have the doctor killed, she also killed the telephone repair man, which one of the patients took a liking to. She also cuts out the tongue of the elderly patient so she wouldn't warn the new nurse. When Sam decided to let the nurse escape, all the other patients turned on the fake doctor, and utter mayhem is what happens after wards. I'll tell you straight, this movie is crazy. Nothing more I can say about it. 3 out of 5 stars.

Michael_Elliott Don't Look in the Basement (1973) * 1/2 (out of 4) A young nurse (Rosie Holotik) goes to work at an asylum and she soon learns that a nurse and doctor before her were brutally murdered by one of the patients. Before she can escape the nurse finds herself drawn into the mystery and soon her life is at risk. Director S.F. Brownrigg's drive-in film has become a major cult classic over the years and in fact his entire small body of work has a rather strong group of fans. This here is probably his best known film and there's no question that it contains some very memorable moments but sadly the overall feel is just way too slow for it to really work. I thought Brownrigg actually did a nice job at building up a rather strange and surreal atmosphere that hangs over the entire thing. The 70s made for some good "asylum" pictures and I think the low-budget nature of the filmmaking really worked well for this film because it feels very authentic. The setting of the asylum is a rundown building but this too helps add some to the atmosphere. I think another plus that the film has going for it is that the performances are actually good. I thought Playmate Holotik did a nice job in the lead role and the supporting players are also quite good and especially Bill McGhee who plays Sam, one of the patients. The biggest problem with the movie and the thing that really, really kills it is that the pacing is just so slow that the 89-minutes seem to last forever. There's way too much boring dialogue in spots and at times you just want to scream for everyone to speed up. Still, fans of the drive-in films of this era will want to check it out.