The Man in my Basement
Based on Walter Mosley’s novel of the same name, The Man in My Basement takes us to 1990s Sag Harbour, Long Island and into the home of Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins), an African American man whose family history in the area dates back generations. Charles has recently inherited his late mother’s house, but her outstanding mortgage payments along with it. In desperate need of money to avoid foreclosure, Charles accepts an offer from a stranger named Anniston (Willem Dafoe) to rent his basement for unknown reasons. What follows is a battle of power, morality and redemption between the two men as they both attempt to face their demons through very different approaches.
Directed by Nadia Latif, The Man in my Basement presents itself as a thriller-come-horror movie, but the debutant decides to veer away from the usual tropes of jump scares and instead opts for greater emphasis on visual effects and tight editing from cinematographer Ula Pontikos. This makes the film an engrossing and refreshing watch, but it does also mean that any attempts the movie makes to crawl under your skin never quite manage it. Latif has assembled a stellar team to bring Mosley’s novel to life, including the man himself as a co-writer and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, who has created an excellent soundscape.
Much of the film’s successes come from the performances of its two main men. With complicated subject matter around race, inequality and identity, you need compelling actors to decisively deliver it. This is present with Hawkins and Dafoe, who both thrive in their roles and have a superb dynamic on screen together, something you yearn to see more of. Dafoe, in particular, harnesses that sinister and mysterious presence he is so masterful at and puts it to good use as the layers begin to shed on his ambiguous character.
There is absolutely nothing at fault with the two stars’ performances, and indeed the wider cast, but the movie stumbles because of its inability to truly get a foothold in what it is trying to be. It is tense at times, unsettling and unnerving too, but the slow pacing and bloated run time make for tough viewing. The exploration of such themes as ancestry and trauma gives the movie vast creative licence, but while the team behind the film have tried to grasp this opportunity, the end product leaves so many loose ends behind as the credits roll. The Man in my Basement is, without doubt, an achievement artistically and an ambitious directorial debut, but it just doesn’t quite become the film it wants to be.
Guy Lambert
The Man in my Basement is released nationwide on 12th September 2025.
Watch the trailer for The Man in my Basement here:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
RSS