Cellar Dweller (1988)

Cellar Dweller is a 1988 horror film, written by Don Mancini and produced by horror producer Charles Band.

In the 1930s a horror-comic artist's creations come alive and kill him. Years later a new cartoonist revives the creatures in his house, now part of an artist's colony.

Plot
Colin Childress (Jeffrey Combs), a highly successful comic book artist who gains inspiration from a mystical book of horrific drawings, inadvertently summons an evil spirit into his basement studio. Decades later, his house has become a small art institute run by the stern Mrs. Briggs (Yvonne De Carlo). One night, comely student Whitney Taylor (Debrah Farentino) goes rooting around the sealed boxes in the cellar and releases the supernatural forces trapped there.

Cast

 * Debrah Farentino as Whitney Taylor (credited as Debrah Mullowney)
 * Brian Robbins as Phillip Lemley
 * Vince Edwards as Norman Meshelski
 * Cheryl-Ann Wilson as Lisa
 * Jeff Combs as Colin Childress
 * Pamela Bellwood as Amanda
 * Yvonne de Carlo as Mrs. Briggs

Release
The film was released directly to videocassette and laserdisc on September 20, 1988 by New World Video. In 1991, Starmaker Video released a tape in the EP Mode. After that, MGM released an Amazon.com Exclusive VHS of the film.

On October 29, 2013, it was released on DVD by Scream Factory, along with Contamination .7, Catacombs, and The Dungeonmaster as part of the second volume of their Scream Factory All-Night Horror Marathon series. It was released again by Scream Factory with Catacombs as a Blu-ray double feature on July 14, 2015.

Reception
Anthony Arrigo from Dread Central awarded the film 3/5 stars, writing, "Cellar Dweller might not be quite up to the level some of Empire’s celebrated cult classics have attained, but with equivocal production design and a few familiar faces – not to mention great FX work – it’s another unique picture worth watching." TV Guide awarded the film a negative 1/5 stars, writing, "An enjoyable although not particularly distinguished effort, CELLAR DWELLER has a number of small worthwhile moments. Director Buechler gets the most out of a somewhat-limited script, pacing the action nicely, and the special effects are adequate--but, like everything else in this film, small and limited in scale."