I think I'm officially done with LMN. In this movie, the house was designed to send and read text, control different aspects of the house, etc. SO HOW DID THE HOUSE NOT HAVE A SMOKE ALARM!!!!

"Secrets in the Basement" (a.k.a., "Designs for Revenge") was a by-the-numbers thriller with especially slow pacing. The premise was clever in the occupation of new, high-tech Florida home by Sean and Delilah Brenner. But the underdeveloped characters and lack of engaging interactions were major liabilities.

One of the film's shortcomings was that Delilah Brenner was not a very sympathetic character. A brilliant interior decorator, she made a cost-cutting error with "cheap mouldings" that led to the injury of her client in an ensuing fire. She has subsequently tortured herself with remorse for the human failing.

The revelation of the role Delilah played in the fire was too slow, and her guilt in what was clearly an accident seemed strained and unconvincing. The plan of her tormentor in the basement was also too slow in unfolding

My favorite character was the kind Barbara Forlan, the bestie of Delilah. Barbara arranged for Delilah and Sean to purchase the home without knowing that the tormentor was residing in the basement. Unfortunately, Barbara paid the ultimate price for her loyalty to her friend.

By the end, the film moved into the horror genre with a mad dash through the house culminating in the outdoor pool. It was as if Delilah finally met her Samson in the fatal confrontation. It seemed like there was just as much anguish for the audience as there was for Delilah as the filmmakers strung things out with far too much dithering and not enough action.

I actually really enjoyed the general premise of this movie, and LMN movies are always cheesy and campy, so I was expecting it - but this one wasn't "so bad, it's good", it was just bad. Numerous issues, including a really frustrating one where the killer's wife was said by a nurse to have passed away, only for her to be completely alive in a later scene. Jay was obviously the killer from the beginning; there weren't even any red herrings thrown in, and he both looked and behaved creepily straight from the beginning. All the cringeworthy minimalism stuff wore thin in less than a second, and there was something off about the dialogue. All in all, not a good one, not even by LMN standards.