उपयोगकर्ता समीक्षाएं

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.

Hey I love this one. I've always been a Klaus Kinski fan and he's so particularly demented and soft-spoken from the get-go in this one, that he can't possibly be the good guy. No one with a German accent is.

He plays the Dr. Karl Gunther, son of a Nazi war criminal, who's escaped to America from Argentina and becomes an apartment manager. It also turns out that many of his tenants mysteriously disappear while the building is under his supervision.

It seems the 'good' Doctor can't stop killing them and he sets up his murders by crawling around in the building's heater ducts and observing his victims before making his move. There's also a woman he holds captive in an animal cage up in the attic, who he keeps as company after he's cut out her tongue.

Then innocent Lori Bancroft (Talia Balsam) moves in and Kinski takes a lot of interest in her before going on one final murder spree towards the end.

Also notable for being filmed on the same apartment building set as TROLL (1986), with all the action taking place indoors and in the heater ducts. Don't look for a wide variety of locations here. It's a small film.

Like I said, I enjoyed it and would recommend it mainly for Kinski's performance, but don't expect any extras on the MGM DVD because they're aren't any.

7 out of 10

From director David Schmoeller, who gave us the enjoyably offbeat slasher Tourist Trap, Crawlspace is an equally bizarre horror starring the inimitable Klaus Kinski as Karl Gunther, a mentally unhinged landlord who has developed an addiction to killing, satisfying his urges by luring his tenants into his deadly, booby trapped apartment. When he's not in a murdering mood, Gunther can be found crawling through the air ducts of his building to spy on the women who live there, writing about killing in his diary, playing Russian roulette, or wearing Nazi regalia while watching footage of Hitler (Gunther's father was a Nazi surgeon).

For an '80s horror film, Crawlspace is fairly light on the gore and scares, but with its star in full on demented mode, the film cannot fail to entertain: whether it be carefully preparing a chair with a spring-loaded spike in the seat (nasty!), crushing rats with his bare hands, travelling at speed through the air ducts on a wheeled toboggan, smearing his face with make-up, or simply chatting to the tongue-less woman that he keeps caged in his room, Kinski's crazed performance is a delight to behold.

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

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.

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 ****

A retired doctor (Klaus Kinski), who is also the son of a Nazi surgeon, rents out apartments to young women so he can crawl through the air ducts and spy on them. Of course, with Nazi blood running through his veins, spying is not all he has in mind.

"Crawlspace" is, unfortunately, not a very well known film. Sure, slashers in the 1980s were common enough, and being a Charles Band production, you might have your doubts. But this was during his Empire years, when he was producing such greats as "Re-Animator". And this is no typical slasher: the focus is on the subversive nature of the killer, not on the body count (which is actually rather low). Band's influence can be seen in only one real way: the re-use of sets from the movie "Troll", which helped keep the budget low.

As horror historian and ambassador Jon Kitley says, "Despite the unique storyline, it is really Kinski that makes this movie memorable." Kitley says he was "amazed at the sheer talent" of Kinski. This is absolutely true: while the film could have starred anyone, Kinski's look, voice and mannerisms really give him the rich, creepy feeling the character of Dr. Gunther needs. All else is background to his presence, making him something of an anti-hero.

Director David Schmoeller really gets in there with angles, and shows us just how tight those crawlspaces are that Gunther worms his way into. It's not quite claustrophobic, but pushes the boundaries of where we think a man can hide. Schmoeller, along with Ken Hall, went on to write the screenplay for and direct "Puppet Master". Frankly, I think this is the better film.

I was somewhat confused by the Friedrich Nietzsche photograph on the office wall, the Nazi film and the Nazi hat. I understand the Nazi ideals and beliefs somehow came from Gunther's father, who fled Germany to raiuse the family in Argentina. But to lump Nietzsche in with the Nazis is just misguided, at best.

If you can find a copy of this, pick it up. Rent it, or buy it. Netflix has it available for you, but I really think this is one of those films any horror buff should have in their personal collection. I am not sure what is on the DVD as far as special features, but if any film is worthy of some great features, this would be the one.

The movie consists of: Kinski being a creep, a chase scene, a few booby trap kills. That's it. Short, forgettable, and cheap. Not much to see in the end.

Revisited for the first time since seeing it in the theater in 1986: it's every bit as lame as I remembered. The ONLY interesting thing here is an quick opening uncredited role by Sherry Buchanan of DOCTOR BUTCHER, MD infamy. I guess those afraid of rats might enjoy this. Otherwise it's a lifeless peeping Tom story about a nut job who plays Russian roulette after each person he kills. Too bad the bullet didn't go off after the first murder.

Klaus Kinski's performance is, as usual, well beyond the expectations of the film (and, as always, in another world beyond the accompanying cast). But that isn't to say the notion of a creepy ex-Nazi landlord crawling around in the ceiling and spying on and killing pretty college girls isn't a good one for horror ...just that if somebody else had tried to pull it off, it would never have been so much fun. Perhaps part of the problem with this movie getting the attention of horror fans (none of those I know had seen Crawlspace before I recommended it) has to do with marketing. The box gives it the appearance of something more akin to drama or even mystery. If the designers had done something so simple as put Kinski on the front cover, dressed in his Nazi costume, applying lipstick to those big lips of his, this movie would have received a lot more attention.

In real life Klaus Kinski was more of a nutter than most of the characters he played - read his demented autobiography Kinski Uncut if you need proof of that! (it reads more like a porno than a star memoir) - and on the set of this film he seemingly started six fistfights by day three of shooting, leading to the producer looking into having him murdered for the insurance money! Anyway, despite his deranged personality, Kinski is always a great actor to watch and here he plays a twisted landlord who rents out rooms to young women who he then watches from a series of crawlspaces he has built into the house. Add to that, he has a Nazi fixation, home-made death traps and an emaciated victim imprisoned in a cage. It all adds up to a pretty effective thriller/horror.

Granted that the sight of Klaus Kinski applying lipstick and eyeliner to his own shriveled, transparent face is terrifying, this film is unbelievably bad. Kinski's potential is completely lost in an utterly inept production. Even at 80min, it's tediously long.

Equal parts PEEPING TOM, PHANTASM, and APT PUPIL, this film could not possibly be any cornier or unscary than it is. Take the climactic 'chase' scene for example (included in the trailer), in which Kinski grabs hold of a scooter board to race through the crawlspace; cut to a close-up of his bucktoothed grin ...... surfs up!

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.

This Italian-produced slasher flick is merely a cheap rehash of Michael Powell's PEEPING TOM (1960) with all its exploitation elements accentuated and psychological insights all but removed. The cast is very weak - Talia Balsam (Martin's daughter and George Clooney's ex-wife!!) is something of a novelty in that she is hardly attractive enough to be the leading lady for this kind of film - and it's only the sight of Klaus Kinski crawling from one apartment to the other to do his peeping - not to mention his limb-laden room where he keeps narrating the entries in his diary - that holds any interest at all for the viewer; some of the killings are grisly enough perhaps but nothing sufficiently memorable.

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.

He's a voyeur's delight, this Kinski chap, smearing his thick lips with lipstick and watching Adolf Hitler speeches in his attic, where he has assembled a good number of torture instruments and weapons. He watches a lot of Hitler's filmed speeches on a screen in his attic, even saluting once in awhile--that is, when he isn't busy slithering around the crawlspace to watch his pretty tenants through the vents or distract them with noises they might attribute to mice or rats.

His fondness for being a voyeur takes up most of the running time of this brief thriller and the payoff is only a few scenes of real horror in between long stretches of minimal suspense. But the last fifteen minutes are the most suspenseful, as his chase through the crawlspace begins in earnest when one of his tenants (TALIA BALSAM) discovers his favorite hiding place. The final confrontation scene, however, is a distinct letdown and ends much too abruptly.

Good for a few chills, but really not satisfying enough as a thriller to please most horror fans. A scene involving a man seated on a special kind of chair has a certain stabbing effect, but most of the killings occur off screen and only the results are shown in brief shots.

Fans of KLAUS KINSKI will probably want to see this. Others beware. He's quite a menacing character and could easily have followed in the footsteps of Conrad Veidt if he'd chosen to do films in the U.S.A., playing Nazis and other villainous types as Veidt did.

Crawlspace is one of the creepiest films you'll ever see; largely thanks to Kinski's portrayal of Gunther, the son of a Nazi war criminal- and seasoned serial killer- who runs a boarding house for women. Rarely do films give you an idea what lays in store, so quickly. And few actors possess the natural creep factor that Kinski exudes.

After fleeing from Argentina- where he was a doctor, practicing his trade by, killing off all his patients- Gunther would settle in America; where he would build a mansion that would make Holmes proud: complete with a crawlspace for voyeurism; and all manner of booby traps- to prevent anyone who might discover his secrets from escaping.

Gunther keeps one of his former tenants, hostage in a cage, as a pet. He cut out her tongue, so that she may never speak of what she's seen, but he keeps her around for someone to talk to.

He also knocked off his last tenant, and, considering such, is looking for someone to fill the vacancy. Enter our protagonist, Lori.

Whereas he first began killing (the terminally ill) for reasons of compassion, he now suffers from an insatiable bloodlust, and has become addicted to killing. It makes him feel closer to his father.

Though, after each murder, he leaves it up to fate to decide whether he will continue on...to kill again. He draws blood, smears it on a bullet and uses it to play a round of Russian roulette. If he does not blow his head off, he considers that divine sanction to continue on.

However, he didn't count on his newest tenants tenacity, and will to live. Perhaps she is just lucky, or perhaps this is what fate ultimately had in store.

Worth watching to see the master-of-creepiness in action...and for all those awesome booby trap kills.

6 out of 10.

STEER WELL CLEAR of this movie unless you are unable to sleep and then watch it and you will sleep like a babe. When I saw Klaus Kinski's name shown first as the 'star' of the film I knew it would be BAD because I like everyone else instinctively know that certain actors CANNOT carry a film on their own.You could see most of what was going to happen about 10 minutes before the scene arrived.Kinski to me seemed as if he was trying to speak like the late Peter Lorre but he is neither as good or exciting!Talia Balsam was much better in her role as Lori, one of several boarders in the large house belonging to Dr.Gunther, son of a Nazi who became more insane as the movie progressed.Other parts were played by actors I'd never heard of - either before or since and the budget was probably less than $10K, at least that's what it seemed like.

Fans of Kinski, such as myself since 2/25/07 will enjoy this. He's his usual schizophrenic nympho self. He's such a good maniac course....he was one. But if you have no idea who Kinski is, and at one time I didn't then 10-1 you won't enjoy this in the least.

A Nazi landlord of an apartment house rigs the space with all kinds of deadly booby traps to terrorize and kill his all-female tenants.

Crawlspace isn't much for nuance and, at 80 minutes, it doesn't have time for it either. We learn precious little about Klaus Kinski's creepy building manager or the victims he's terrorizing. One wants to be a Barbra Streisand-esque singer if the picture of the pop star over her piano is any indication. She also likes to play sex games with her boyfriend where he pretends to be a rapist and break in to her apartment. The others are only distinguished by the color of their hair or the fact that one of them as a possible drunk with a southern accent.

There's not a lot of suspense for most of the film, but the finale does summon up a few chills and thrills as Kinski terrorizes his final victim through the maze of tunnels in the titular crawlspace. It's not a bad way to waste 80 minutes.

An ugly, mean-spirited horror movie, directed in a detached, hallucinatory style, like "Phantasm." Klaus Kinski is repugnant as the sadist; his performance is garbage, but can you blame him? Just soft-core enough to make it to dvd. 1/10