The Man In My Basement review — 'an unnerving thriller'

There’s a tried-and-true saying: if an offer seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. When Charles ( Straight Outta Compton 's Corey Hawkins), facing the loss of his home and grieving his late mother, is offered $1,000 a day by a stranger named Anniston (Willem Dafoe) to live in his basement, Charles simply can’t refuse. Thrillers often hinge on bad decision-making, but The Man In My Basement does well to establish Charles’ dire circumstances. Were you in his position, you’d welcome Anniston into your basement in a heartbeat.

Excitingly, the film never unfolds like you’d anticipate. In her directorial debut, Nadia Latif boldly eschews the expected, opting out of easy jump-scares and implementing a minimalistic score instead of the pulse-pounding, bombastic music that’s often