Everything is properly in place in "The Cellar," which makes it satisfying and underwhelming at the same time. General creepiness, check; interesting notions, check; bloody red MacGuffins, check; valiant heroine, innocent victims, and remorseless evil, check check check. On its merits it could rate a point or two higher than what I've rated it here, but at the end of the day we're spoiled for horror movies, and this one needs a little more edge to stand out in the crowd. It's competent, but to what end?

Points up for gleefully nonsensical formulae - this is an Evil Math story, if you follow the Nutty Plot Devices too carefully (not recommended). The Evil Math summons the demon, you see, because the Scary Formula is left unfinished, but if you count upward from - you know, never mind. It reminds me of a day in high school when my friend Michael proved, via mathematical induction and the presence of two other Michaels in class, that everyone in the world was named Michael. That's not how mathematical induction works, but it was entertaining at the time, and I feel pretty much the same about the Evil Math here. It justifies the creepy counting that comes up a few times along the way, with especially nice effect the first time it happens. That part gets a pass.

Points down for the usual haunted house movie trappings: doors that open ominously onto abandoned rooms filled with Demonic Bric-a-Brac, kids who don't mention the terrifying events they've seen, a medley of engravings of our Demon of Choice found by Googling, experts at the local university who just happen to recognize this and that arcane inscription, random use of foreboding Hebrew letters. "The Cellar" is all about the numbers, but it's a little too _by_ the numbers to ace its landing. The actors do well and make the material feel pressing, the scares arrive about when they should, and the film fits easily into the comforting Scary Movie space that it's designed to fill.