StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Leofwine_draca A mildly amusing title and a cameo appearance from Jeffrey Combs (dressed in his RE-ANIMATOR coat, apparently, and appearing for ten minutes at the beginning before going off to cash his pay cheque) are the best thing about this otherwise appalling movie from Empire - so at least with that company making it, you can't say you were surprised. Once again the director turns out to be John Carl Buechler, who is quickly becoming one of my most hated directors of all time - sure, the man makes good special effects, but must all effects men try directing too? It's obvious he has no talent yet still he churns these movies out.The plot is a non-existent excuse to throw a few bad actors together and have them get picked off one by one by a huge slimy demon that somehow lives in the cellar due to a comic book - childish isn't the word for it. As usual for the genre, there's plenty of poor humour, false scares and naked women being menaced by big monsters. The demon is actually quite an effective-looking monster so it's a shame that its not appearing in a better movie, and it just gets relegated to lurking around in the cellar, roaring. The violence is surprisingly kept to a minimum, and I think limited to a singular bloody decapitation scene and some severed body parts. Meanwhile, the cast is made up of boring unknowns, aside from the presence of Yvonne De Carlo who enjoys hamming it up as an unpleasant landlady - whatever happened to her career?The biggest enjoyment I had from watching this movie came when I realised that it only ran for seventy-something minutes and it was nearly over. It's one of those films which you get the feeling was only created in order to make money - neither the cast nor the crew seem to have any interest in it whatsoever, instead going through the motions and picking up their pay cheque at the end of it all. This makes it nigh on impossible for the viewer to be interested in it either. A cheap, pointless, shallow piece of drivel.

D. Ceased Ahhh, '80s monster movies. Even if you claim to hate them, deep down you really love them. Every time you look at one of the covers, or read the name, you envision some giant mutant or monster picking people off in gory and grotesque ways. Cellar Dweller is like any '80s monster movies, it has a campy story, way off acting, and loaded with effects. The problem is, there's not much of this in it.The movie starts off with a comic artist, played by Jeffrey Combs, accidentally unleashing an evil monster upon this earth. The comic book page is destroyed and the monster disappears... but it will return again. We cut forward in time as Cellar Dweller, that comic, is being relaunched. Whitney, whose favorite comic is Cellar Dweller, gets brought on to do the art. She winds up finding a forgotten crypt which contains old, unreleased Cellar Dweller pages, as well as an arcane book of unknown origins (one that gives the monster life.) She takes these and uses them in her artwork, unbeknownst to her that it brings the creature to this world to kill. When Amanda, a rival artist, tries to expose her, she is drawn into the comic, and eaten by the monster (WHO'S NEXT!) When her seedy boss starts spying in on her work, he too is written in the comic, and killed off by the monster. Whitney ends up realizing that the creature has came to life through her drawings and she sets out to destroy them. This ends with the rest of cast catching on fire and dying. I think there were a few fake out endings, but I don't really remember them.This movie had a lot going for it, the drawings coming to life is a great concept, and the altering of reality through the drawing (e.g. the banana peel), could have worked real well. However, it is under utilized in this, and it kinda bums me out. The effects are pretty good, the monster look pretty cool, and the face movements are awesome. It's not that intimidating though, and that kinda hurts the movie. There's a good amount of gore effect, like a sweet head rip. Unfortunately there is a lot of off screen kills. The acting is pretty good, Combs obviously being the best (he's under utilized as well.) The worst part though, is that this movie is too short for anything to get really rolling. There's too little plot or character development and there's interesting ideas that aren't fully developed or fleshed out. 6/10, for fans of the classic monster movie, or pure '80s cheese.

movieman_kev Jeffrey Combs is Colin Childress, an occult comic book illustrator, whom inadvertently sets a demon loose in his basement after he draws him on the comic page. He's able to destroy him, but in his wonderment he fails to notice that a fire has started before it's too late and he is engulfed along with the monster. That was 30 years ago. Now a huge fun of Mr. Chilress and another cartoonist herself, Whitney (Debrah Farentino of "Eath 2" cult fame) has come to Colin's house, now part of an artist's colony. She meets a new friend, Phillip (Bian Robbins primarily know for being Eric from 'Head of the Class'), he's the only one who actually likes her of the group of artists. Meanwhile, she's unaware that her drawings are resurrecting the creature to kill once more. Jeffrey Combs is great for the very limited amount of screen time that has. The rest of the film is fun enough, but it all felt too insubstantial, fluffy even. An entertaining little film, too bad it's not on DVD yet.My Grade: C- Eye Candy: Miranda Wilson is topless just getting out of a shower

Backlash007 Cellar Dweller is quite an original horror offering as well as my first Jeffrey Comb's flick. Of course I didn't know it was a Jeffrey Combs movie back then, I didn't even know who Jeffrey Combs was. But, being the huge Tales From the Crypt (if you see the movie you'll know what I'm babbling about) fan that I am, the movie had an impact on me. Cellar Dweller is a very loving tribute to the EC comics that are cherished by many a horror fan. It's also a John Carl Buechler film and he created the Ghoulies. That explains why the Cellar Dweller is simply an oversized Ghoulie (some people even say that he's cute). I spent quite some time looking for this movie and gave up. It's one of those movies you see when you're a kid watching Showtime after midnight and you never expect to see it again (especially since you don't remember the title). Then you run across it in a ghetto Blockbuster years later and you realize that this is the movie you've been looking for, and, indeed, one of your heroes is in it. Great gore effects, gratuitous chewing, and Lily Munster (Yvonne De Carlo) make Cellar Dweller a classic in my book, no matter how many people disagree. "Whenever there is imagination, I will dwell." Note for genre buffs: Look for a Troll and a Ghost Town poster on the walls of the colony. John Carl Buechler did the effects for both of those films.