From Book to Movie

The premise behind Into the  Basement was to revisit the suspense thriller in the tradition of the horror, slasher flicks of the 70’s.

The process of bringing Basement to the screen began with the discovery of the novel written by Norm Applegate in 2006 by J.L. Botelho. Months went by until the winter of 2007 when Norm Applegate and Triad Studios made the commitment to partner and bring Basement to life. Taken by the dark characters and nature of the story, J.L. Botelho created the trailer for the film with Megan Lynn the first actress to be cast in the production.

Unveiled at the 2008 World Horror Convention, YouTube, and Myspace , Basement immediately had a following. Norm Applegate then brought his friend and international horror writer Nicholas Grabowsky, of Black Bed Sheet Books into the project. From their distant offices in Sarasota and Sacramento, the screenplay for Basement was developed. The momentum was picking up.

When the casting search began, J.L. Botelho had no difficulty in finding resume rich actors for the movie; Naama Kates, Courtney Gains, Larry Laverty, David Fine, Jesse Kozel, Jamie McCall, and Johathan Breck all found their way to the Basement. Assistant producer and actor DeeDee Bigelow, cemented the relationships and horror queens the beautiful Nicole Fiore, and the talented Melanie Robel, were added. A brilliant addition to the group is Two Foot Fred as Dr. Moro. The film was cast.