Crawlspace

Crawlspace (1972)

An older couple moves from the city to a home in the country in an effort to improve the man’s health (he has had heart problems). Not long after moving into the home they have a man over to fix their furnace, and decide to invite him to supper. What they don’t realize is that a simple act of kindness encourages him to start sleeping in the crawlspace under the house. Rather than provoke the man by calling the police they instead lock the door that he used to sneak in the house, but after a guilty night of worrying about him they remove the lock and allow him to return. Eventually they manage to coax him out of the crawlspace and upstairs to live with them. But he doesn’t really have social skills and reacts inappropriately towards the townspeople, who just consider him another college drop out hippy weirdo (this is the early 70s). When some one steals the grocery money he sneaks back and wrecks the store, and when the local teenagers come to the house and throw firecrackers at the house he kills one with an axe! That last act causes some concern to the couple, who start to worry about their safety around him.

This is a very well written story with fleshed out characters complete with foibles and issues all their own. When I first started watching this movie I made the assumption that it was just going to be about the creepy guy in the crawlspace. But this movie is as much about the couple (who are childless) trying to adopt the damaged boy as their own. The story is very subtle about it, but we find that they chose to never have children because they enjoyed their life too much. But now that they are older and the man has had some health issues they need and want a “child” of their own. But their old habits come back and as he becomes a distraction they decide they want to be rid of him. Now this is before he commits that final act of violence, and in fact their rejection plays a part in his overreaction to the trespassers. At no time does he become sinister or the villain of the movie. He is just protecting his new family and wants their acceptance. There is a whole lot to the story here and it really surprised me. Of course no matter how good a story is you can ruin it with a bad cast. But the cast here is great with Hollywood veterans Arthur Kennedy (5 time Oscar nominee) and Teresa Wright (2 time Oscar winner) as the man and his wife. They bring a lot of experience to their roles, which help this movie to avoid the melodramatic overacting and adds a serious tone to it.

This movie is more about the story than any shocks or effects. So there isn’t anything here for the gore hounds to sink their teeth into. As for the rest of the technical stuff the movie very professional looking and sharp. Which is what I would expect from a network funded movie of the week.

This is a very good movie that I highly recommend that everyone check out. Trust me you won’t go wrong with this one. To check out this and other great products from Wild Eye Releasing go to http://www.wildeyereleasing.com/

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer