Crawlspace

CRAWLSPACE (aka THE ATTIC) is a remake of an obscure 1980s thriller starring Klaus Kinski as a psycho living in an attic and terrorising the residents in the home below. In this version, Steven Weber (THE SHINING miniseries) is the psycho, a guy who definitely doesn't believe in traditional family values.

You know what? This turns out to be a fun, offbeat little movie that has much in common with other remakes like that of THE STEPFATHER, but it might well be the best of the recent crop. The reason for its success is a tight, focused script which sees the running time fly by, combined with some nasty little death scenes which go for creativity throughout. If ever you wanted to watch somebody getting killed - realistically - with a vacuum cleaner, then this is the film.

The worst thing about the story is, as usual, the characters, who aside from Weber's psycho are so bland that you'll be hoping he gets on with the job of bumping them off one by one. Again, the acting is nothing to write home about, with Weber (who looks like Andrew Lincoln in THE WALKING DEAD) convincing as the bad guy and that's about it. Still, I think CRAWLSPACE is a hoot: a tight little home invasion horror with plenty of gore to recommend it.

A mentally disturbed man hides in the attic of his former home to take revenge on the bank employee who forced the foreclosure of the property in order to buy it for his own family.

Crawlspace is not a remake of the 1986 Klaus Kinski film of the same name. It's much more akin to the 1989 Gary Busey thriller Hider in the House, in which a family are oblivious to the fact that a stranger is living unseen in their home (and, to some extent, another Busey film, A Crack in the Floor). So it's not exactly original.

Crawlspace's biggest problem, however, is not the lack of fresh ideas - the basic concept is strong enough to withstand reinvention (see also Freehold from 2017) - but rather its badly written script, poor acting, shoddy editing and weak direction. Two sex scenes and some reasonably bloody deaths aside, the whole thing looks and feels like a cheap made-for-TV movie, with zero style and implausible plot developments.

There are two gory moments that hint at what could have been had writer/director Josh Stolberg just gone all out with the outrageousness: the death of hot babysitter Mae (Nikki Moore), who has her neck gashed by a car window, and a murder by curling tongs, which are rammed through the victim's head. Unfortunately, the rest of the killings are less effective: the death by vaccum cleaner is lame, the garbage disposal scene doesn't deliver the graphic splatter, and the murder of the pest exterminator is bloodless.

Crawlspace is too dumb to work as a genuinely scary film, so why not just dial up the craziness and have fun with it?

This movie us weirdly retro, it has a Stepford Kids/Stepfather/people Across the Lake feel to it, I had to double check it was 2013 as it feels so dated! I'm not saying that as a negative btw.) It's far from the worst film I've ever seen. It was reasonably well acted, script was quite cringeworthy, mildly gory, there was some sex, (one with no boobs and one with boobs) usual highly implausible execution but it's a budget horror movie so I'll let it go. Usual horror flick rules apply, eg- don't over analyse the plot or ask how this can possibly be going on. How can people go missing and no - one notices.

Standard home invasion, enjoyable and disposable. Corny and charming.

4.5/10

Many a time the problem with a movie (and 'horror' movies in particular) is that you don't care about the characters. As 'Cabin in the Woods' pointed out, the 'stars' of such films are little more than: 'Generic Blonde A,' the 'Jock, the Slut' and 'the Best Friend.' So, for a start, they're not particularly entertaining and, secondly, you don't really care about them when they meet their grisly end.

However, in 'The Attic,' the characters are actually quite well-written. The main cast are all a family, who have just moved into a nice suburban house in America. And, they're actually quite likable. They're likable, largely because they behave like a real family, i.e. they bicker and get at each other, plus no one has been written as a deliberate 'comic element.' So, in a cheap B-movie, I found myself actually wanting to watch more and really enjoying the film. Unfortunately, although the writers can definitely do 'characters' and dialogue, they're not too good at story or plausibility.

The family move into their new home, only to discover that the previous occupant is still living in the attic (and he doesn't take too kindly to newcomers in 'his' house). And that's where the story falls down. You may guess that a certain amount of murders follow and no one seems to notice. People just disappear from the property and no one really bothers to look into it. Plus the badguy himself is pretty lame and not particularly threatening.

The death-scenes are at least inventive on the low budget and some of the kills are clever (if possibly a little unrealistic). And special mention to the youngest member of the family. He's not in it that much, so he doesn't have a lot to do, but his 'one-liners' are quite amusing.

All in all, I really enjoyed the dialogue and family interaction. It was just the plot and lack of realism that spoiled it. I'd quite like to see the same family in a different (horror) situation, as they were definitely the film's high point.

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An Uncredited Remake of "Hider in the House" (1989) Starring Gary Busey, and with the Same Title of the Klaus Kinski Horror from 1986, this is a By the Book Slasher/Home Invasion Horror Throwback with Genre Trope Kills that will Seem Familiar.

A Good Deal of Emphasis is Placed on the Family Unit with Many Scenes of Brother-Sister Banter and Bonding and Parent-Child Relationships and Responsibilities. It is This Focus that Gives the B-Movie a Bit of Gravity but Not Enough to Make this Rise Above Average at Best.

It is Formula for Most of its Short Running Time and Might be Worth a Watch for Horror Completists and B-Movie Slummers, but Others can Skip this Styleless Movie Without Missing Anything New.