La muerte espía en las sombras

Meet Karl Gunther (played by legendary eccentric Klaus Kinski). He's the demented son of a notorious Nazi war criminal and a former doctor with his own shady past. He's now the landlord of an apartment building that strictly caters to young females. He regularly spies on the ladies from the buildings' hidden crawlspace area, and kills them as well. He even keeps a woman named Martha (Sally Brown) enclosed in a too-small cage. He keeps a diary of his thoughts and activities, to provide us with some exposition and insight into his character. After he brings in a new tenant, university student Lori Bancroft (played by Talia Balsam, the daughter of actor Martin Balsam), he begins to be visited by a Nazi hunter named Josef Steiner (Kenneth Robert Shippy).

Kinskis' performance essentially IS the movie. Overall, this brief bit of nutty mayhem, written and directed by David Schmoeller ("Tourist Trap", "Puppetmaster"), is mildly amusing but quite forgettable. Kinski, of course, is anything but, and he does seem to relish portraying this character (although he did make life miserable for Schmoeller and crew). There are a bunch of rats in this thing, some entertaining makeup effects gags (but not very much blood), excellent production design (by Giovanni Natalucci) and music (by the great Pino Donaggio), and a very nondescript (if attractive) supporting cast, including Tane McClure, the daughter of Doug McClure. Balsam is a reasonably personable heroine, but Shippy is boring and unintimidating in his part. Schmoellers' direction lacks style, and his dialogue, for the most part, ain't so hot. (He does admit that the movie isn't particularly good.)

Kinskis' presence and performance raise the rating by a point.

Future "Tremors" director Ron Underwood was the associate producer here. Schmoeller has a cameo as a rejected tenant.

Six out of 10.

Crazy old landlord, and former Nazi, preys upon the lady tenants of his building via a system of passages.

Being directed by David Schmoeller (maker of 1979's excellent Tourist Trap) I expected a better-than-average horror film and was sadly disappointed. While Crawlspace has its moments of creepiness, it doesn't possess hardly any of the tension or suspense that one would hope for. It basically becomes a run of mill killer-psycho movie with little imagination.

However, the film is not a complete waste. Klaus Kinski does make for a decent villain, who is one very sick and twisted character. Kinski fans will likely enjoy this movie more than most viewers.

Over all, an OK effort that could have been much better.

** out of ****

Crawlspace (1986)

** (out of 4)

Klaus Kinski plays the son of a Nazi who rents out his apartment rooms to pretty women so that he can spy on them and then kill them. This could have been a rather interesting film but absolutely nothing happens here. I mean zero, zilch, absolutely nothing. I'm really not sure what the point of the film was, although it's clear the director was trying to get into the mind of a killer yet we never know what the hell Kinski is thinking or why he's doing what he is. Kinski is quite amusing in this role but it's a wasted opportunity.

Karl Gunther is the superintendent f an apartment complex. His discerning tastes lead him to rent to only the choicest of tenants….female and beautiful. Does his leaning to the fairer sex have a more sinister reasoning or is he just a supreme pimp-daddy. Klaus Kinski is by far what makes this movie fun. There are a lot of good things happening in this movie but it would only be half the film without him. This film is producer by Empire Pictures, a now defunct Charles Band headed studio that was responsible for a lot of cool mid-80's genre films (Troll, Ghoulies and Eliminators come to mind). The direction has flare and the script is decent. The music by Pino Donaggio is excellent. It's fun but the script should have had more. I wanted to know more about the character, in particular the Gunther characters past.

The Lesson Learned: That said it wouldn't make a high brow top ten list for that year but it would make a genre fan happy. I enjoyed it and you might too. So be it.

This movie is very much of its time and is probably more something to watch with a few friends and a running commentary. Otherwise while it has some fun quirks to it, there isn't much that really makes sense or is compelling.

What it has going for it is some originality. The way it is told from mostly the killers perspective as he views others and we get a view into his life with his journals is a great idea, however it is underdeveloped and doesn't really pay off in the end.

Overall there is some fun to be had here and with better writing this could have been something very interesting. As it is, it is some very schlocky 80s camp and that's not too bad if that's all you are looking for.