Floyd Levine | Through the Shattered Lens

1987’s Cellar Dweller opens with Jeffrey Combs playing an artist.

Sitting in his art studio (located in the cellar of his home), Combs draws a picture of a monster and he adds a few Lovecraftian occult symbols and — uh oh! — the monster comes to life and start to destroy everything that Combs holds dear. Combs discovers that he can stop the monster by setting his drawings on fire but, in the process, Combs also destroys himself.

This ten minute prologue features Jeffrey Combs at his best, bringing his neurotic Re-Animator energy to the role of the artist who discovers just how dangerous an active imagination can be. One reason why Combs is a horror icon is that he can win your sympathy even while playing a character who does some objectively stupid and terrible things. Unfortunately, once the prologue is over, so is Jeffrey Combs’s role in the film. He may be first-billed but he doesn’t appear after the opening credits.

The film jumps forward to 1987. Cartoonist Whitney Taylor (Debrah Farentino) is the latest artist to take residence at Mrs. Briggs’s Institute For The Arts, which just happens to be in the same house that was once home to Jeffrey Combs’s artist. Mrs. Briggs (Yvonne DeCarlo) is a noted critic of modern art. In fact, Whitney and Mrs. Briggs disagree so vehemently about art that you really do wonder why Whitney would apply to the Institute in the first place.

There’s a few artists at the Institute. Norman (Vince Edwards) is a tough guy writer. Philip (Brian Robbins) is a bad boy artist. Amanda (Pamela Bellwood) is a former rival of Whitney’s and the two still hate each other. (Whitney seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way.) Best of all, there’s a performance artist named …. LISA!

Lisa is played by Miranda Wilson.

Frustrated with Amanda, Whitney gives into her worst instincts and draws a cartoon the features a monster killing her rival. Uh-oh. Soon, the monster has reemerged from the cellar and Amanda has disappeared. One-by-one, the other residents are picked off and their deaths appear in Whitney’s cartoons. The monster claims that he dwells wherever there is imagination but Whitney is convinced she’s figure out a way to destroy him and bring everyone back. Has she? You’ll have to watch the film to find out!

Produced by Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, Cellar Dweller is an enjoyably macabre little tale. It’s only 77 minutes long and the fast pace makes the film feel like an extended episode of a horror anthology series. The monster and the plot feel like they could have been lifted from a 50s horror comic and the other artist are all memorably eccentric. The cast appears to be having a ball. It’s a fun treat for horror fans like you and me.

Cellar Dweller was directed by special effects specialist John Carl Buechler and he does a good job with the monster. It’s both intimidating and kind of goofy at the same time. A year after Cellar Dweller, Buechler directed his best known film, Friday the 13th Part VII — The New Blood. That film too was likably goofy.

Chuck Lumley (Henry Winkler) was a Wall Street wizard until the stress of the job started to give him ulcers. He dropped out of the rat race, got a less stressful job as an attendant at a New York City morgue, and eventually met and became engaged to Charlotte (Gina Hecht). When Chuck’s supervisor decides to give Chuck’s day shift to his new guy, Chuck is promoted to the night shift. “He has the same last name as you,” Chuck says when he learns the about the new employee. “Yeah, I think he’s my nephew or something,” his supervisor replies.

Chuck finds himself working nights with “Billy Blaze” Blazejowski (Michael Keaton), a hyperactive “idea man,” who has so many brilliant plans that he has to carry around a tape recorder so he doesn’t forget them. A typical Billy Blaze idea is to battle litter by creating edible paper. Another one is to rent out the hearse as a limo and give rides to teenagers. Chuck may not be happy about his new shift or coworker but he is happy that he shares his new work schedule with his upstairs neighbor, Belinda Keaton (Shelley Long). Belinda is a high-class prostitute who first meets Chuck when she comes by the morgue to identify the body of her pimp. When Chuck discovers that Belinda needs a new pimp, he and Billy take on the job themselves, which brings them into conflict with not only the vice cops but also with Pig (Richard Belzer) and Mustafa (Grand L. Bush).

Raunchy but good-hearted, Night Shift has always been one of my favorite comedies. Along with being Ron Howard’s first movie for grown-ups, it also featured Michael Keaton in his first lead role. Keaton is both funny and surprisingly poignant as Billy. He’s hyperactive and impulsive and doesn’t think things through but his friendship with Chuck is real and later on in the movie, he reveals himself to have more depth than he lets on. Also giving good performances are Henry Winkler and Shelley Long, two performers better-known for their television work than their film roles. With his role here, Winkler proved that he was capable of playing more than just the Fonz. Shelley Long has probably never been better (or sexier) than she was in this film. The scene where she makes breakfast for Chuck is unforgettable. Even though she’s playing a stock character, the prostitute with a heart of gold, Shelley Long brings her own unique charm to the role and makes Belinda seem like a real person.

Night Shift starts out strong but falters slightly during its second hour, when Chuck and Billy seem to magically go from being nerdy morgue attendants to successful pimps overnight. Some of the violence feels out-of-place in what is essentially a buddy comedy with a dash of romance. It’s still a funny movie that is full of memorable one liners and good performances. As you might expect from Ron Howard, Night Shift is a surprisingly good-hearted look at the business of sex. Ron Howard has directed a lot of films since but few of them are as much fun as Night Shift.