A disappointing outing from Joe Dante. As a horror movie, it’s on the level of his “Gremlins” but without any of the originality and charm. Two teen boys and the de rigeur pretty girl next door find a bottomless pit in the basement of their new home, and clichéd, predictable “scary” things happen: chased by a scary clown doll, transported to a phantasmagoric caricature of their childhood home to fight a monstrous version of their absent father, etc. etc. etc. I dunno, man. Sam Raimi started his career with the execrable sub-bottom-of-the-barrel “The Evil Dead”, and even he’s made a better horror movie than this.
