Hulu might be one of the quieter streaming services in terms of big releases, but I truly believe it’s one of the strongest platforms for thriller movies, especially if you’re looking for a dark thriller to stream around Halloween (or anytime of the year).
“The Man in My Basement,” Hulu’s latest release and a TIFF festival premiere, proves that the platform is more than capable of delivering powerful stories in the thriller format.
Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe engage in tense psychological chess amid disorienting (yet impressive) visuals that center around the movie’s important themes. While “The Man in My Basement” sometimes tries to tackle too many ideas at once, the two central performances give it real spark, and the cinematography keeps you hooked even when the story gets a little messy.
Despite its 43% score on Rotten Tomatoes, I’m glad I didn’t listen to the critics as the movie is far more engaging than that number suggests. Now that this psychological thriller is streaming on Hulu (Disney Plus for those in the U.K.), here’s why it’s worth adding to your weekend watchlist.
What is ‘The Man in My Basement’ about?
“The Man in My Basement” is set in the 1990s in Sag Harbor, New York, and follows Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins), a man facing foreclosure on his ancestral home. In desperation, Charles agrees to rent his basement to a mysterious businessman, Anniston Bennet (Willem Dafoe), who offers a substantial sum for the arrangement.
However, Bennet's presence becomes increasingly unsettling as he constructs a cage in the basement and insists on being cared for, leading to a tense and psychologically charged confrontation. Exploring race, power, trauma, and moral compromise, the movie sheds light on the interwoven threads of history and personal legacy.
‘The Man in My Basement’ keeps your nerves on high alert
The premise of “The Man in My Basement” is deceptively simple but quickly grows tense. As you would expect, Dafoe delivers a predictably captivating performance. His character is at once charming, disarming, and deeply unsettling, gradually revealing a past that explains (in disturbingly human ways) why he wants to set up shop in Blakey’s basement.
Hawkins, on the other hand, infuses Charles Blakey with thoughtfulness and vulnerability, portraying a flawed, often unlikable protagonist rarely seen at the center of a movie. He makes terrible decisions, treats his friends poorly, and frustrates his family, yet Hawkins makes him genuinely compelling. What’s most impressive is how he plays off a force of nature like Dafoe. The chemistry between them is electric, and these exchanges form the undeniable high point of the movie.
Nadia Latif makes a strong visual impression in her feature debut, giving the movie a unique and memorable look. There are plenty of diopter shots that represent power imbalances, and colorful filters that attack the frame whenever Charles is undergoing a personal crisis. At times, it becomes a mind-bending visual labyrinth, reflecting the characters’ evolving emotional states in a really powerful way.
The movie truly brims with ambition, but at times that ambition works against it. Co-written by Latif and Walter Mosley, it juggles themes ranging from grief and intergenerational trauma to race, ancestry, and legacy. At moments, it feels like a tightly focused character drama, and at others, it flirts with ghostly horror, leaving the tone uncertain and occasionally breaking the tension.
With so much to tackle, some storylines never get the depth they deserve, stretching what could have been a lean, high-stakes thriller into a longer, uneven experience. The result is a movie that’s fascinating and compelling in parts, yet sometimes pulled in too many directions to maintain a consistent grip on the viewer.
Still, there’s plenty to like about “The Man in My Basement,” and it has enough of a commanding presence to make you see it through until the end. If anything, the movie is worth watching for Dafoe and Hawkins alone, as the two share some really powerful scenes in the murky basement.
The critics are wrong about ‘The Man in My Basement’
When I saw the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score, I was genuinely shocked to see the green splat. Its low 43% might put a lot of people off, which is why I decided to stream it myself and not let the critics sway me.
As Barry Levitt from Empire Magazine said: “Though The Man In My Basement juggles a few too many ideas, Nadia Latif has crafted an unnerving thriller with dynamite performances from leads Willem Dafoe and Corey Hawkins.”
To be honest though, the ending of “The Man in My Basement” might not land for everyone, and the movie could arguably have been trimmed for greater impact. Still, it remains engaging throughout, with striking moments that linger in the mind for some time.
Fantastical dream sequences are sprinkled in, from a surreal scene in which Charles tears at his own skin to reveal gold beneath, to ghostly apparitions haunting a green- and blue-tinted version of his home. These moments add a hallucinatory layer to the tension, making the movie genuinely memorable even when the narrative occasionally meanders.
Stream "The Man in My Basement" on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney Plus in the U.K now.
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