The Beast in the Cellar

The 1971 British horror film The Beast in the Cellar was directed by James Kelly and written by James Kelly and Christopher Neame, based on a story by Christopher Neame, with Beryl Reid and Flora Robson in the lead roles. Leander Films and Tigon British Film Productions handled production.

Plot

The story follows two elderly sisters, Joyce and Ellie Ballantyne, who live near a rural army base in Lancashire. Soldiers are being killed in the nearby woods, and while authorities suspect a wild cat, the sisters fear their brother Steven is responsible. He has been locked in their cellar for almost 30 years.

The sisters discover Steven has dug a tunnel from the cellar, allowing him to come and go. They find a soldier’s body and begin filling the tunnel, but Ellie falls and is injured, leaving Joyce to finish the work alone. Joyce buries the body near the house. With Ellie bedridden and cared for by Nurse Sutherland, Joyce realizes she cannot manage alone and calls the army and police.

She explains that Steven is their younger brother, born after their father returned from the First World War. Their father, shell-shocked and violent, abused Steven. After their parents died, Joyce, wanting to prevent Steven from being called up for the Second World War, drugged him and put him in the cellar, lacing his water with sleeping pills. After years of abuse from his father and then imprisonment, Steven has come to hate uniformed soldiers and has become savage.

Steven re-enters the house and attacks Joyce, who is wearing their father’s army overcoat and cap. A soldier shoots him fatally. Joyce realizes Steven was not attacking her, but a framed photograph of their father in uniform.

Production

The film was originally titled Young Man, I Think You're Dying, a line from the folk song "Barbara Allen". Christopher Neame said the idea came from a true story about two sisters who locked their brother in a cellar to keep him from war.

Neame developed the film for Tigon Pictures; Tony Tenser initially rejected it but later changed his mind. Beryl Reid recalled the film was difficult due to a limited budget and long takes, and she was disappointed that the filmmakers added cheap effects, making it more violent than the script suggested. Filming took place at Pinewood Studios in March 1970.