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Wei Dai
Professor Holly Batty
ENG-113B
5 May 2015
The Basement Shelter in the Film The Divide
A Basement is always a scary place that is rooted in peoples memory. There are many
horrible movies, such as The Basement, The Divide or Dont look In the Basement, that evoke
fear in people. The dark and wet basement always makes us feel alone and produce the endless
imagination in our mind. In sum, People regard the basement as a scary space are normally
because of their imagination. For example, people put the dead bodies in the underground so it
makes the basement associated with a grave or some other place that reminds one of the dead
people or we can say ghost. Nevertheless, the reason why the basement is scary is because it
evokes the atmosphere of loneliness and evokes claustrophobia, and these two feeling are listed
in the fifth and ninth place in the Top 10 Strong Human Fears concluded by Medrano (Medrano).
Therefore, although people generally are not afraid of ghosts any more, the fear of the basement
is still entrenched in their mind. In the film the Divide, it doesnt use the normal setting of a
scary movies, such as a monster or ghost in the basement. On the contrary, it uses the atmosphere
of the basement itself to evoke feelings of fear in the audience, which are the loneliness,
hopelessness, the mental sickness and claustrophobia.
First of all, what is fear? In the article Fear, Phil Barker states that fear is an
unpleasant and often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. Fear is
completely natural and helps people to recognize and respond to dangerous situations and

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threats. However, unhealthy or pathological fear can lead to exaggerated and violent behavior
(Barker) He claims that fear can have different kinds of forms, and unhealthy fear can make
people do some extreme actions. In the movie the Divide, the environment of basement evokes
the fear of loneliness, hopelessness, death and claustrophobia and they are encapsulated that is
entirely set in the basement of a New York City building. These fears that produced by the
atmosphere of the basement slightly and gradually influence the emotions and actions of the
nine, and finally push them into desperation.
The Divide is a 2011 released horror film that is classified as science fiction movie based
on the post-apocalyptic events of a nuclear bombing in the United States City in the New York.
The story line revolves around nine characters mostly tenants of the building that has just
collapsed owing to the effects of the nuclear bomb. A superintendent, rather, the caretaker of the
building known as Mickey takes the leadership role in the basement. He immediately establishes
his dominance over the other group members making it clear that listening to him is how they
were going to survive. The after effects of the nuclear bomb lead to tremors making those
trapped in the basement fear for their lives. Mickey explains that the tremors are from falling
buildings and the dust in the basement is internal, and no radiation has entered the basement.
This is where the story begins
The fear of hopelessness dominates the front part of the movie. In the beginning of the
movie, the nine people are possessed of the radio, which is used to call for help although no one
answers. The occlusive information from the outside world makes the nine survivors start to feel
alone. The fear of loneliness spreads among the people since they cannot receive any information
from the outside world. In the Top 10 Strong Human Fears, Medrano indicates that loneliness is
the fifth strongest fear among the human fears, he said: The fear of being alone is that dreadful

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feeling of emptiness caused by the absence of interaction with another human being. This fear
has also evolved from one of our early survival instincts: we fear loneliness because it is more
likely that we would survive if we live in group (Medrano). Exactly like Medrano said, under
the junction of the building and sealed in the basement with horrible nuclear explosions
loneliness becomes the first fear appear in this group of people. They do not know what is
happening in the outside world and whether they are the only survivor or not. The noise from the
radio is likely telling them that they are the only ones who have survived, and nobody can help
them.
Then the basement environment incept another fear, unknown. When the movie
transitions to the next section, the basement is breached by suited men who for no reason whisk
away the only child in the group, Wendi, to a secret lab facility that is wrapped in white tape
using only tunnels made of plastic perhaps to protect the lab from the radiation. Josh opts to
retrieve Wendi from the invaders by dressing in one of the suits of the dead soldiers Josh
disguises himself as one of the invaders and enters the lab to investigate. Eventually, he fails and
is discovered when his ID doesnt match his face. However, the mission is partially
accomplished since Josh learns that in the lab there was a host of children like Wendi included all
of whom had bandages on their eyes, and their hairs were completely shaved off. Josh makes his
way back to the shelter in the basement barely with his life having to shoot down two enemies to
make it. The unknown soldiers and scientists totally subvert the outside world that they were
familiar with a few hours ago. The fear of unknown is introduced quietly and gradually, and the
fear of unknown is exactly the 9th strongest fear in human beings. In the article Medrano said
This fear has been with us for thousands of years, and it is a great part of what has helped us
survive as a species (Medrano). It is true that fear of unknown helps us thousands of years to

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improve so that we can know the volcano eruption is not the anger of god or the Kraken is not
that horrible since it is probably a giant squid. However, all these fears of unknown can be solved
are mostly attributed to the huge number of human beings who are grouped together to fight the
fear of unknown. In the movie, only nine of them obviously cannot counter the fully armed
soldiers without speaking of that they have no weapon. The power of nine individuals is too
weak comparing to the army. Unknown army and outside world drag these people into a deeper
worse fear.
It is after that when the hopelessness for survival when Josh arrives with news that the
surface is full of hostiles in that there was no help coming to them that the storyline begins to
unfold. The film takes a turn from the focus of the apocalyptic idea of the end of humanity and
rather begins to show the desperation for survival and the fear of death among the people in the
basement. Foremost, the confined space in the basement leaves them very little to no choice at all
in regards to working together to survive, and this confined space exactly provides the space for
claustrophobia. Kulbarsh, a frequent guest speaker related to psychiatric emergencies, wrote in
her article Claustrophobia: Are you A Victim that shows how claustrophobia affects people.
When in a small confined space, someone with claustrophobia may start to show the following
symptoms: sweating, accelerated heart rate, increased blood pressure, hyperventilation, and light
headedness, fear of actual harm or illness, and panic attacks(Kulbarsh).
After the inception of claustrophobia, the fear develops in to a higher level in this sealed
basement. Later on as the films storyline develops into disintegrate after individuals break down
into mental insanity caused by distrust and emotional apathy. Marilyn for instance after realizing
that her daughter Wendi is dead from Joshs confirmation she opts to enter into a sexual
relationship with Bobby. Eva learns of the sexual relationship between Marilyn and Bobby and

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realizes that her depression is what led her to do so. Not only this time, but also the time when
situation when the groups begins to suspect one another at the beginning. Delvin suspects
Mickey is holding out for the group and arms himself with a Taser gun that he uses to threaten
Mickey. The group turns on Mickey and cuts his finger in order to make him reveal the
combination to the door where the supplies are. Mickey gives in after one of his fingers is cut,
and he shows the combination of the other group members. Soon after, Marilyn is turned into a
sex slave by Bobby and Josh who physically, sexually, and verbally abuse her. For now, the
effects of claustrophobia expends rapidly. It is even worse than Kulbarsh described in the real
world. Josh and Bobby take control of the basement and begin to make decisions on behalf of the
others pertaining to the running of routine issues such as rationing the food. A sense of fear
within the basement develops into another level: the crazy before death. People use their crazy
actions to pretend to be not afraid of death.
Eventually, after the process from hopelessness to the abnormal actions due to the
claustrophobia, humanity collapses. In the end, Desperation turns into panic as a tied up Mickey
secretly reveals to Eva that there is a gun hidden in the room with the supplies and later tells her
that she could escape via the basement through a tunnel in the septic tank. Bobby and Josh have
gone mad and assaulted Marilyn till she died, they now have their eyes set on Eva the only other
female in the group. Sensing danger, Eva colludes with Sam to distract Bobby while she distracts
Josh so that Sam could later steal the gun. The plan succeeds but not without a lot of endurance
of pain, Eva is raped by Josh, Sam is beaten up half to death, and Adrien is shot and killed. It all
culminates to the survival of the fittest as Josh sets the shelter on fire making Eva elude Mickey
and Sam who are desperately trying to put it out. She locks the two in and remains as the only
survivor making it onto the surface through the septic passage that Mickey had revealed to her.

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The movie stops here, the basic trust in humanity has gone. The selfish side of human beings that
in front the fear of death exposed totally. It makes me anxious. In the face of fear of disaster, is it
true that the basic humanity will disappear? Merely from the movie that director wants to tell us,
the answer is yes.
However, all the fears, such as fear of unknown, the sealed basement, the sickness
caused by claustrophobia or the lost in humanity, are all begin from the fear of hopelessness and
end with it. In the end it is all in vain because as Eva comes to the surface the world is in ruin as
New York City is destroyed by the effects of the nuclear bomb. What remains is a mere shell of
the infrastructure that once was and dark clouds in the sky a sense of hopelessness is what is
depicted at the end. At the end of movie, the theme of this film turns back to the beginning of the
movie --- Hopelessness.
In the article Why the Divide is the Most Disturbing end-of-the-world flick we've ever
seen, the author says As the minutes tick by days become weeks, weeks become months, time
starts to blur causing the audience to get just as confused and lost as the survivors. It's almost
impossible to tell just how long everyone has been trapped in this bomb shelter (there's no
daylight to indicate time or clocks). The characters start to lose their sanity. Little grievances
spark massive fights and soon enough, we're going full-blown Lord of the Flies, only with more
sexual assault, dirt and lunacy(Woerner). The Divide is a tale of desperation at its peak where
the nine individuals are trapped in the basement of a building in New York City for days that turn
into weeks and then months. It is unclear how time passes since the enclosed space in the
basement doesnt give the cast or the audience a sense of time, yet makes audience a sensation of
asphyxia.

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The basement is scary in the movie The Divide, because it includes so many scary
element which are stimulating our mind mentally, such as the fear of hopelessness, the unknown
and the death. Whats more, the inception of claustrophobia by the sealed basement accelerates
the sickness of nine people and enhances the fear of the basement.

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Works Cited
Barker, Phil. "Fear." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict
Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: July 2003
<http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/fear>.
Medrano, Caty. Top 10 Strong Human Fears. September 30, 2011
< http://listverse.com/2011/09/30/top-10-strong-human-fears/>
Kulbarsh, Pamela. "Claustrophobia: Are You a Victim?." Officer.com, (2012):
< http://www.officer.com/article/10694138/claustrophobia-are-you-a-victim>
Woerner, Merdith. "Why the Divide is the Most Disturbing end-of-the-world flick we've ever
seen." io9 We Come From The Future 11 3 2011. Web. 21 4 2015.
<http://io9.com/5781913/why-the-divide-is-the-most-disturbing-end-of-the-world-flickweve-ever-seen>.