The basement doesn't play a large part in Don't Look in the Basement (1973). It takes a long time for anyone to even know they're not supposed to look in it, although the minute they do find out, of course they look in it. Even then nothing big happens, as most of the action, such as it is, takes place on the main floor. The original release title The Forgotten isn't any more apropos.

A beautiful young psychiatric nurse, Charlotte Beal (Rosie Holotik), comes to work in an asylum. She does not realize the woman doctor running the place is actually a patient who just naturally took over the joint when the real staff fell victims to the inmates. And it can be quite dangerous for any patient who tries to warn Charlotte the doctor's a phony.

The crazies are for the most part boring caricatures & the film has scarsely any merit, although there is a bit can be said in favor of William Bill McGhee's performance as Sam the ex-psycho turned sweet & simpleminded after his lobotomy. And crazy old Mrs. Callingham (Rhea MacAdams) who gets her tongue ripped out is a valiant figure in her own limited way.

As victims mount up, slow-to-catch-on Charlotte finally realizes "Doctor" Geraldine Masters (Anne MacAdams) is a psycho killer. By then Geraldine has just about convinced the other inmates that Charlotte was never really a nurse but just another of the patients.

All hell breaks loose for the climax & the asylum's inmates unite to defeat Geraldine before Charlotte can be lobotomized. The ending is a big gore sequence in the asylum while Charlotte escapes across the countryside. A bad picture, but peculiar enough to stand a little apart from most no-budget slashers with inmates running the asylum.

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