The new administrator, Dr. Geraldine Masters, reluctantly hires Charlotte but maintains a tyrannical and suspicious grip on the facility.

As the patients’ behavior becomes more violent and erratic, it is eventually revealed that Dr. Masters is actually a patient herself, playing the role of a doctor after the original staff were killed.

Nurse Charlotte Beale arrives for a new job, only to discover Dr. Stephens has been killed by an axe-wielding patient.

Despite the title’s warning, the basement holds a final gruesome secret: the original Dr. Stephens is still alive down there, though severely wounded. Key Characters & Performances The film is noted for its "eccentric" ensemble of patients:

The film is set at Stephens Sanitarium, an isolated mental institute where the chief doctor, Dr. Stephens, believes the best therapy is for patients to freely act out their delusions.