‘The Man in My Basement’ Wastes Willem Dafoe in a Clunky Racial Thriller

The Man in My Basement explores racial power dynamics using horror theatrics in an onerous and plodding attempt at a thriller. Author Walter Mosley adapts his novel for the screen with director Nadia Latif, making her feature film debut; their combined efforts have stylistic merit, but fall woefully short in addressing thorny issues. The role reversal that drives the narrative becomes lost in a myriad of other subplots concerning the Black protagonist. His journey of addressing self-worth needed better integration with the film’s overall message, which in itself could be viewed as divisive. What we get are N-bombs dropped for shock value and declarative prejudice that’s casually dismissed.

The Man in My Basement takes place during the early ’90s in Sag Harbor Hills, New York, a historic African-American community nestled on prized Long Island beachfront. A drunk Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins) plays cards at his house with close friends Rickey (Jonathan Ajayi) and Clarence (Gershwyn Eustache Jr). The conversation becomes heated when Clarence tells Charles he needs to find a job and stop being shiftless. Clarence then implies that Charles’ deceased mother would be ashamed of his current state. Charles insults Clarence in a personal way that leads to a physical altercation.

A Poor Racial Discourse

The Man in My Basement

2
/5

Release Date

September 12, 2025

Runtime

115 Minutes

Director

Nadia Latif

Writers

Nadia Latif, Walter Mosley

Producers

Diane Houslin, John Giwa-Amu, Dave Bishop, Len Rowles

A hungover Charles gets a surprising visitor the next morning. Anniston Bennet (Willem Dafoe) knocks on his door with a bizarre, seemingly random offer. He’d like to rent the basement for two months and is willing to pay a staggering sum. Charles, who desperately needs money to prevent foreclosure, declines Anniston. He doesn’t want a roommate and is unnerved by a creepy white guy just stopping by out of the blue. Anniston leaves his business card in case Charles changes his mind.

Charles continues to drink with the mere pennies he has left. His aged Volvo almost runs out of gas on the way to the bank, where he curses the loan officer after being given a week’s notice to pay some of his outstanding mortgage. Then Rickey tells Charles about Narciss (Anna Diop), a local historian and appraiser who may be able to help him sell the old artifacts in the house. But that may take months. Charles has nearly run out of time, leaving him little choice but to call Anniston and accept his puzzling arrangement.

Corey Hawkins as Charles

The Man in My Basement
Hulu

The film opens with Charles as a known commodity. He’s a lazy and aimless drunk. The only thing he has left is the house, which we learn has been in his family for generations. (They were among the first Black people to settle in Sag Harbor Hills.) This fact means nothing to Charles, whose reasons for staying are both straightforward and complex. Charles has nowhere else to go, but traumatic events associated with the house have him shackled there with guilt and grief.

The rub is that Anniston has no intention of leaving the basement for the agreed rental term. He wants to be locked away behind bars, with Charles as his warden. This stunning development unnerves Charles even further. Why is this ostensibly crazy man here? What’s he trying to accomplish? Why did he choose Charles and this house? Charles can kick him out in a heartbeat, but he needs Anniston’s money.

The plot thickens to mud in a second act that embraces racial discourse in an ugly way. Anniston’s a rich and powerful white man in a society that lets him get away with everything. So he has chosen a unique penance for his many awful misdeeds. Forget therapy or flagellation, being under a Black man’s lock and key is the best soul-cleansing alternative. It’s time for the oppressor to get a taste of his own bitter medicine, which he’s perversely prescribed for himself.

A Devil’s Bargain

The Man in My Basement
Hulu

Meanwhile, Charles has to wrestle with what his Black heritage truly means. This is primarily represented through African masks that haunt Charles’ dreams, forcing a disturbing reckoning with his past. Charles has done nothing with his life while failing to understand the values and struggle of where he came from. He spirals into further self-loathing and rage, as Anniston becomes the ideal vessel to vent his anger. You can see where The Man in My Basement is going from a mile away. No one knows that Anniston is there. A Black man holds Anniston’s fate like a master with a slave.

There’s zero complexity or subtlety to the film’s racial themes. There are clear villains to this story and they have the least melanin. Mosley and Latif are heavy-handed with no shades of gray. They paint a damning picture with a broad accusatory brush. That’s a tough pill to swallow as an impetus for Charles to get off his behind and make something of himself.

Latif achieves a modicum of thrills with discordant sounds, eerie lighting and disturbing imagery, but despite Charles’ hallucinations, the film isn’t a haunted house story. Instead, the atmospherics fuel an obvious turn that’s clumsy in its execution. The Man in My Basement can best be described as a hollow exercise in reparations.

The Man in My Basement is a production of Andscape, B.O.B. Filmhouse, Good Gate Media and Protagonist Pictures. It premieres September 12th exclusively on Hulu.

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