Cobaye

This is an Australian Sci-Fi/Horror movie that has elements of Alien, Species and Scanners. Set in the Australian equivalent to Area 51 known as Pine Gap it involves a team of elite soldiers being sent in to see why the compound has come under attack, and to save the scientists still there. This is a pretty good little horror in my opinion. Although the story has been done before it takes a few different sub-plots from other films and melds them together making it an original movie in some ways. I watched it and liked it, yes it wasn't brilliant, but I enjoyed it to the point that if there is a sequel I'd be happy to see it also. I give this movie a 7 out of 10.

A special forces unit, sent to infiltrate Pine Gap Australia's top secret underground military compound, comes under attack from unknown forces.

Terrible effects, little use of science fiction in the plot, and just your average sort of experience makes this a typical lower budget action film. I am sorry, Australia, but you are going to have to try harder than this. We are already flooded with worthless films in America, and you cannot compete with the sheer number of throwaway pieces of trash we produce. (I am not proud of this.)

Most unfortunate, someone named this film "Crawlspace". While that may be a valid name for what takes place in the majority of this film, it is already the name of a better than average 1980s slasher film. If you are going to reuse a name, pick one that you can actually improve upon.

It is amazing how low budget movie from OZ, with hardly known performers can deliver such entertainment. I am not going overboard and say it was an Oscar material but the movie kept me interested up to the end, I have read some of the reviews on IMDb and to be honest I was disappointed because other reviewers decided to give negative review just because they can. The acting was very convincing as for the story line; the movie makers could have elaborated on the main two chatterer past to make sense of some parts of the movie. This movie wont make it to the Oscar but by its own right is good entertainment; I know that because while watching some boring movies I tend to do something else or my mind wander away, this one kept me on my seat to the end.

A team of elite commandos are sent into a top secret military base with instructions to rescue the scientists who are apparently under attack from escaped prisoners. What they find is something very strange and different...

Australia has produced some high quality horror in recent times, this sadly - in spite of some sterling efforts - isn't one of them.

Justin Dix's (director/co-producer/co-writer) film is guilty of lifting from a whole bunch of other sci-fi/horror films to the point where the smart ideas in the narrative are practically squashed. Everything from Aliens and Scanners to Event Horizon are greased in to maintain a viable interest factor, a shame because the low budget is never an issue as the debut director shows a keen eye for atmosphere setting.

The facility that the characters find themselves in, as they fight for survival, is splendidly awash with a futuristic metallic sheen. While claustrophobia, as the title suggests, is one of the key character's of the piece. Acting is fine, no ham or cheese here, and in spite of the leanings from elsewhere, pic is never dull. It's not one for genre fans to base their evening in by the fire with, but it's just above average and shows Dix to have some potential behind the camera. 6/10

Science fiction films are a tough genre to get right. There are those that go full on space style and others that just take a more subtle approach. With the latest film from Australia Crawlspace it takes on the more strange and unknown in regards to strange experiments. Could this be one of those that delivers something special or is it just another in a long line of failed attempts to a difficult genre.

Crawlspace follows a group of elite soldiers sent to infiltrate and extract a science team from an underground military compound. When they encounter and unknown woman with no memory things go from bad to worse as they realize something more sinister is happening. The overall film of the movie plays like Aliens with the soldiers running through various tunnels hunting and being hunted around every corner. While there is a bit of a mystery to the story most of it plays pretty straight forward and pretty well. The acting is good for most of the film, with just a few moments here and there that are questionable. The visuals to the film give it a gritty and dark tone that really fits well with the overall story. The first half of the film takes you on a fun ride and delivers a really cool creature, but then the film shifts into a whole different direction. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but that first part was so cool and creative it would have made for a much better overall film. As it stands though the rest of the film still works well, but does manage to get a bit convoluted at times trying to twist and turn things for a more creative direction. This never makes the film hard to understand, just doesn't always make a lot of sense in why they are doing it.

Overall this is a pretty decent action science fiction film. There is plenty of action and complexity to the story to keep things entertaining, but given the addition to more of the cool creature they delivered early on this movie could have been so much better. If you are a fan of films like Aliens, then you may want to give Crawlspace a chance.