History Film / GirlInTheBasement

* DefiantCaptive: Sara starts out as this during her few days of captivity, which includes screaming for help, and making several attempts to escape or harm her father. Over time, Sara loses her will to keep trying after her failed attempts are met with beatings and sexually assault by Don.

* AbusiveParents: Don. After imprisoning Sara in the basement, he spends the next twenty years abusing Sara mentally, physically and sexually abuse his daughter. The number of time he rapes her results in her giving birth to several children, who he treats just almost just as bad. Meanwhile, he is very mentally abusive towards Amy that she tries her best not to be around the family house as much as she can.

** For Thomas, he flips out when Don keeps talking disrespectfully about Sara's appearance.

* SexSlave: Don pretty much reduces Sara to being this, using her to satisfy his sexual urges. It's not exactly clear however if he is actually sexually attractive to Sara or if he is simply doing it because as a method to put her down.

* For Thomas, he flips out when Don keeps talking disrespectfully about Sara's appearance.

* AbusiveParents: Don fits all the criteria. After trapping her in the basement, Don would spend the next 20 years abusing Sara mentally, physically, and sexually. His relationship with Amy is just as bad, as she does not make a habit of visiting the house because of her fear of Don
* AloneWithThePsycho: Sara in the first year of captivity, where she is left powerless to escape from her father’s physical and sexual abuse.
* AndIMustScream: Once she is imprisoned in the basement, Sara is reduced to screaming for help, not knowing that the room is soundproof.
* ArchnemesisDad: Don is this to Sara, being the one who imprisoned and abused her for 20 years.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Sara’s children see her and Don’s relationship as this, not knowing that the man is actually Sara’s father. At one point, Marie suggests that Sara should divorce Don when they get out of the basement.
* BaldOfEvil: Don is depicted with a receded hairline throughout the film's run.
* [[BarefootCaptives Barefoot Captive]]: Sara spends her first few weeks of captivity completely barefoot. Though in her case, she was relaxing at home, so she had no reason to have shoes on.

** For Don, it’s a number of things, which include disobeying him, not cooperating with him, sneaking around his house.
** For Sara, it is when she sees Don making inappropriate looks and compliments towards their daughter, Marie. Her response is to send her kids to the other side of the room so she can angrily tell him to not touch their daughter.
* BigLittleBrother: Don taunts Michael by pointing out how Thomas is bigger than him despite being younger.

* BreakTheCutie: It takes some time, but Don manages to break Sara into being submissive to him after he rapes her for the first time.
* BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting: Sara tries to do this with her kids. Unlike her mother, who did little to nothing to stand up for her children, Sara is not afraid to go at Don for not providing enough for their children, and defends her own daughter from him. And unlike Don, who was an abusive asshole to his children, Sara has nothing but love for her children, who she considers to be her whole world.
* BreedingSlave: It’s unclear if this was a part of Don's plan, but Sara is reduced to giving birth to several children after he routinely rapes her throughout her captivity.
* BrokenBird: The amount of abuse and trauma she endures at the hands of her father reduces Sara into a broken and fragile woman who cooperates with his cruel demands just to get through another day.

* ChildByRape: Marie, Michael, and Thomas are all products of Don raping Sara.
* CleanPrettyChildbirth: Marie's birth, the only one depicted on-screen, is portrayed in this fashion.

* ParentalNeglect: Don pretty much to Michaela and Marie. He isn’t shown being present for the births of Sara’s children, and barely gives them a lot of food, especially once he loses his job. On their last day of captivity, he spent the whole day celebrating Thomas’ baseball game while Marie is suffering an extreme asthma attack

* DefiantCaptive: Sara starts out as this during her few days of captivity, which includes screaming for help, and making several attempts to escape or harm her father. Over time,Sara loses her will to keep trying after her failed attempts are met with beatings and sexually assault by Don.

* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: To Marie and Michael, they believe that Don is Sara’s husband, albeit an abusive one. When the two are old enough, Sara finally reveals to them that Don is not just their dad, but also their grandfather since he is her father too.

* CleanPrettyChildbirth: Marie's birth is the only one depicted on-screen, and is portrayed in this fashion.

* CoolBike: Chris rides a motorcycle, which he takes Sara out on. Even Don admits that it is a nice bike when Chris comes over looking for Sara.

* DefiantCaptive: Sara starts out her few days of captivity as this, screaming for help, and making several attempts to escape or harm her father. Over time,Sara loses her to keep trying after her attempts are met with beatings and rape at the hands of her father.

* AwfulWeddedLife: Sara’s children see her and Don’s relationship as this, not knowing that the man is actually Sara’s father. At one point, Marie suggests that Sara should divorce when they get out of the basement.

** Marie makes a full recovery from asthma attack, Michael is brought out of the basement. While Don is imprisoned for life for his crimes, Sara’s children are reunited together, while Sara is finally free of the basement

* GoodParents: Despite the situation she is in with her children, Sara is shown to be a very loving mother to Michael and Marie. She manages to persuade her horrible father to take Thomas upstairs to be raised by Irene, wanting the child to have a normal life outside of the basement. It is implied that Sara raised her kids by herself for most of their imprisonment.

* LiesToChildren: Sara keeps the illusion that she and Don are married, only saying that she knew Don most of her life when they ask how they met.
* LoveObstructingParents: Don is extremely opposed to Sara's boyfriend upon seeing him safely bring her home from a party. His reasoning being that Chris drives a motorcycle. Averted with Irene, who appears very open about Sara's relationship with Chris, as shown when she excitedly asked Sara if she was on the phone with Chris before going to the market.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: After being caught for sneaking out and being grounded, Sara decides to take her sister’s advice to lay low and not upset her father, as she will be out of the house when she is 18. When he asks her to help him move something she complies. Little did she know this one good deed would lead to her being trapped in the basement for twenty years.

* ParentalNeglect: Don pretty much to the two children. He isn’t shown being present for the births of Sara’s children, and barely gives them a lot of food, especially once he loses his job. On their last day of captivity, he spent the whole day celebrating Thomas’ baseball game while Marie is suffering an extreme asthma attack
* PervertDad: Averted with Sarah. While he does rape her throughout the film, he does so not out of attraction or even sexual desire, but out of anger and spite, and to put her down. He thinks Marie, his daughter/granddaughter, looks pretty with makeup. Sara, noticing how the man is looking at Marie, tells her children to go and get dinner ready. She tells Don to not touch her.
* RaisedbyGrandparents: Thomas, the only child Sara has that does not spend his life in the basement, is raised by Irene after Sara tells Don that there would be no room in the basement for her to raise three kids.

* SexForServices: Everything Sara gets to have in the basement has to be earned as Don tells her during her first few days of captivity, which involves her letting her father sexually abuse her.
* SexSlave: Sara is pretty much reduced during her captivity, as her father would sexually abuse. It’s unclear if he himself is actually sexually attractive to Sara.

* UselessBystanderParent: Irene is this when it comes to her daughters. While she does love them, she clearly is too afraid to stand up to her husband. Sara even complains to Amy that Irene just lets Don walk over her all the time instead of standing up to him.

* DomesticAbuse: According to Amy, Don had once put Irene in the hospital after striking her. And this before he trapped Sara in the basement so he could abuse her as well.

* DefiantCaptive: Sara starts out her few days of captivity as this, screaming for help, and making several attempts to escape or harm her father. After enough time passes, coupled with the sexual abuse she endures at the hand of her fater, she loses the will to keep trying.

* CleanPrettyChildbirth: Sara's giving to birth Marie is the only birth depicted on-screen, and is portrayed in this fashion.

* BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting: Sara tries to do this with her kids. Unlike her mother, did little to nothing to stand up for her children, Sara is not afraid to go at Don for not providing enough for their children, and defends her own daughter from him. And unlike Don, who was an abusive asshole to his children, Sara has nothing but love for her children, who she considers to be her whole world.

** For Sara, it is when she sees Don making inappropriate looks and compliments towards their daughter, Marie. Her response is to send her kids to the other side of the room so she can angrily tell to not touch their daughter.

* BeardOfEvil: Don sports a full beard tha

* ArchnemesisDad: Don serves as this to Sara, being the one who imprisoned and abused her for 20 years.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Sara’s children see her and Don’s relationship as this, not knowing that the man is actually Sara’s father. Marie even tells Sara that she should divorce Don when they get out.
* BaldOfEvil: Don’s hairline has receded, and only has a thin layer of hair on the back of his head.

* BeardOfEvil: Don sports a full beard.

** For Sara, it is the safety of her kids, especially when Don starts making eyes at their daughter.

* BluffingTheAuthorities: Don manages to use a convincing story to keep the police off his scent, making it seem like Sara ran off to pursue her dream to travel across the country.

* BreedingSlave: It’s unclear if this was a part of Don's plan, but Sara is reduced to giving birth to several children after she is routinely raped by her father during her captivity.
* BrokenBird: The amount of abuse and trauma she endures from her father, which include physical, mental, and sexual abuse, has reduced Sara into a broken woman who cooperates with her cruel father’s demands just to get through another day.

* CleanPrettyChildbirth: Out of the times she is pregnant, the film only shows Sara giving birth to her first child Marie, which is depicted as this.

* DefiantCaptive: Sara starts out her few days of captivity as this, screaming for help, and making several attempts to escape or harm her father. After enough time passes and she continues to fail to escape, she loses the will to keep trying.

* {{Gaslighting}}: Don does this to get Michael and Marie to turn on Sara, saying that they can get out of the basement when she learns to behave.

** Don boasts about how strong and good at sports Thomas is, while giving Michael a baseball glove that he can’t even use while they are locked in the basement.* LiesToChildren: Sara keeps the illusion that she and Don are married, only saying that she knew Don most of her life when they ask how they met.

* HatesTheirParent: According to Don, Sara has spoken about running away from home since she was 11 years old, revealing that she has a hatred and fear of her father for quite some time. Amy also clearly has an extreme dislike of her father, as shown in the beginning of the film, which shows her rather wanting to spend spring break at her college dorm instead of at home, despite Irene suggesting she should stay longer. She makes it clear to her father that she blames him for Sara running away.

* HowDadMetMom: When her kids start asking questions about Don and how Sara met him, she simply tells them that she has known for practically her whole life. Once the kids are older, Sara finally tells them the truth about Don also being her father, and how he trapped her in the basement so he could rape her. Her two kids are absolutely horrified by this revelation.

* {{Gaslighting}}: Don does this to get Michael and Marie to turn on Sara, saying that they can’t get out of the basement when she learns to behave.

* BrokenBird: The amount of abuse and trauma she endures of her father, which include physical, mental, and sexual abuse, has reduced Sara into a broken woman who cooperates with her cruel father’s demands just to get through another day.

* BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting: Sara tries to do this with her kids. Unlike her mother, who while loved her daughters did nothing to stand up for her children, Sara is not afraid to go at Don for not providing enough for their children, and defends her own daughter from him. And unlike Don, who was an abusive asshole to his children, Sara has nothing but love for her children, who she considers to be her whole world.
* BreedingSlave: It’s unclear if this was a part of his plan, but Sara is reduced to giving birth to several children after she is routinely raped by her father during her captivity.

* AbusiveParents: Don fits all the criteria. Over the course of 20 years, he abuses Sara sexually, physically, and mentally after locking her in the basement. His relationship with Amy is just as bad, as she does not make a habit of visiting the house because of her fear of Don

* HatesTheirParents: According to Don, Sara has spoken about running away from home since she was 11 years old, revealing that she has a hatred and fear of her father for quite some time.

* BarefootCaptive: Sara spends her first few weeks of captivity completely barefoot. Though in her case, she was relaxing at home, so she had no reason to have shoes on.
BeardOfEvil: Don sports a full beard.
BerserkButton:
* For Don, it’s a number of things, which include disobeying him, not cooperating with him, sneaking around his house.
* For Sara, it is the safety of her kids, especially when Don starts making eyes at their daughter.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Don has shades of this in how he treats Sara. In his head, his actions towards Sara in the film (which include beatings, rape, incest, pregnancy, starvation) is all just his method of teaching her how to respect him as a parent.