Crawlspace

Plot synopsis:
The plot of this film was very similar to the novel written by Lieberman, (the teleplay, written by Ernest Kinoy, was also based on the novel).
Albert Graves, (Arthur Kennedy), and his wife Alice, (Teresa Wright), have just moved from the city to this small country town for Albert to recuperate after suffering from a heart attack.
The elderly couple finds that they are having trouble with their furnace in their basement. Upon the discovery, they call for a repairman to come out and take a look at the furnace. The local repair company sends a boy by the name of Richard Atlec, (Tom Happer), to the house. The couple seems to take an interest in Richard so they invite him to stay for dinner.
A few days later, Arthur awakens to hear noise coming from under the house. To Arthur's shock and bewilderment, he finds that the boy, Richard, has taken residence in the crawlspace of the house. Arthur and Alice, who have been longing for a child of their own for years so they decide to take Richard in and, more or less, raise him. But Richard refuses to sleep in the house, only wanting go sleep in the crawlspace. But even after being warned about Richard after the local sheriff, Sheriff Birge, (Eugene Roche) stops by to tell the couple about his suspicions about the boy, the couple still develop a close bond with the boy.
Sheriff Birge's suspicions come true after Richard begins acting violently towards the Graves and the town. Richard even resorts to crime. One of his violent outbursts was smashing up a section of the town's local store.
The movie finally ends with the death of Richard and Albert suffering from another heart attack.

Tags: paranormal, violence, psychological, murder, flashback

Review:
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.
The overall film of the movie plays like Aliens with the soldiers running through various tunnels hunting and being hunted around every corner.
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..
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..
The score for Crawlspace stands at 4.8 at the time of writing which is ridiculously low for such a competent, not to mention fun, piece of film making.
Premise - a military team is sent in to an underground complex ("Australia's version of Area 51" one character notes) with the mission of eliminating a group of escaped prisoners and saving the scientists.
The similarities to Aliens are evident at every turn, from the way the military team interacts with one another (much like James Cameron's colonial marines), to the motion trackers and a lead protagonist who bears more than an uncanny resemblance to Michael Biehn.
Sure it rips of Aliens, but it rips it off well and if like me you've been waiting for over 25 years for a film that had that Aliens vibe going for it then you will love this.There's another layer to Crawlspace too though - a pretty intriguing psychological mystery plot woven through that hides just enough answers to keep your interest.
But, like all good old school movies, it doesn't try to get too clever and the end is obvious but deeply entertaining including a couple of kiss-off lines that I said right along with the actors and then grinned my head off.I dunno, I suppose kids these days want something different from movies than we did in my generation.
When I go into a sci fi horror movie about soldiers vs underground monsters, all I really want is some gore, some action, and some entertainment and Crawlspace delivered on all accounts.
Will the soldiers succeed in their assignment?"Crawlspace" is a claustrophobic movie with a promising idea, good acting but poor beginning and conclusion.
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.
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 also enjoyed the several classic science fiction movies homages like James Cameron's "Aliens", Roger Donaldson's "Species", the Resident Evil games and even Steve Barker's "Outpost" if you want, and some others.
Nevertheless I think it is a good film for those hardcore science fiction fans that are always searching for new productions..
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.
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.
Why?It blatantly rips off all manner of well known American science-fiction/action films that have gone before, and then relies on cheap tricks and lazy writing to shove the 'story' along,While the camera work was high quality, and in camera special effects very impressive, the laugh out loud dialog negated these credible efforts time and time again.The color by numbers plot is insulting to any movie goer, and seemed to follow a genre rules book instead of creating anything of substance.I am assuming with a blonde leading actress (in tank top naturally) and enough blood and bullets, Justin Dix was hoping we wouldn't notice the lack of depth to the story.Yes we do like blonde's, bullets, and blood, but the audience still has a brain.Dix would be best to learn his craft deeply before attempting another film, Crawlspace is simply to shallow..
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.
A pretty good and fairly entertaining movie worth watching most definitely!.
Although this movie may have borrowed a bit heavily from a few better made sci-fi films, (and you can pick and choose as you see fit where hints of 'Aliens', 'Scanners', 'Resident Evil', and 'Doom' is sprinkled in throughout), this film still manages to thoroughly entertain throughout the length of the film and even provide a fairly decent, "Hmmm, I definitely wasn't expecting that" conclusion at the end of the film.
Usually, if a sci-fi movie doesn't begin to deliver a believable plot, good character acting, and more importantly, strong, well thought out dialogue within the first 15-30 minutes of the film, I tend to find other things to do while watching many movies, i.e., multi-task, if I just don't turn off the movie entirely or watch something else altogether, but this movie did manage to keep my attention focused from beginning to end, .
even though there were a couple of times where I had to pause, rewind, and playback just to make sure I didn't miss an important scene or clue in the movie, but overall a fairly good and entertaining movie!.
So we watched Crawlspace this morning and while it's not as bad as some movies I have seen( like Amber Alert ) , it was no where near any good either.
Unfortunately it is a very common process to copy a successful movie and repeat it's formula over and over again, let's face it as long as people keep paying for mediocrity; then directors will keep pumping them out.First time director Justin Dix then, I assume, knows formula and cliché sell well.
Very few people are looking for a good scare that time of year.Maybe because they're already shivering from the cold, perhaps or maybe it's just that there's no mental association with winter and virtually any form of thrilling excitement.
Another case of Could Have Been So Much Better, here, I'm afraid.Without a seemingly real beginning, the audience is thrown into the action not caring much for anyone or having any real concept of the environment, its trappings or the perils within, only to instead wonder what happened to the rest of the so-called "elite" unit that is suddenly just four bikers and a former spy.I'd like to think that 20 minutes from the beginning were sacrificed due to budget restraints meaning that the film was either spat out as is, or left forever incomplete, but others reviewing this may prefer to cuss the writer-director, who did show moments of a brighter future (if given more money).Yes, the film does feature a hot blonde who can actually act, and the former spy is a decent-enough character to maintain interest, so as it progresses, the film does prove to be somewhat rewarding, but that lack of seeing the elite unit go through the entrance of the compound to give us an idea of how cramped and isolated it really is, of seeing the rest of them wiped out to amp' up our fear for the few surviving on the lower, more dangerous levels, really takes a viewer out of the film before giving one much chance to get into it, and that is a shame..
The premise of Pine Gap suddenly being out of communication together with a group of special elite tactical soldiers to investigate and rescue the resident scientists -sounds great.
We learned also that he formed an "incredible" team of film makers around him to create this Crawlspace.From the very start the tone is set when we see the briefing of a soldier team in an airplane on their way to the research facility in question.
I know it is not customary to challenge military orders within a briefing, but this is too easy, too black&white and thus not very believable.The first scene within the facility follows a woman with a brace band showing Eve as her name (with orange pants, hence a "prisoner").
This is the first hint that something very peculiar is going on.The story line deteriorates soon after this, when impossible things start happening (like an over-sized gorilla suddenly turning up), combined with testosterone driven actions by the military without a proper plan how these actions can advance their mission.
Yet by the end, this sci fi/horror movie has a solid punch by the end even though its not to most people's liking.
Though if one reflects on horror movies, their twists don't always conform to the popular American storyline.The strong points in this movie sort of reminds me of the atmospheric mood of Alien (1979), the plot and character development of Splice (2010) or the horror movie 1408 (2007) including their endings.
To this movie's strongest credit, the foundational sci fi concept at its core is developed in a way that takes it concept further than many or most of the sci fi/horror movie of its kind, advancing the premise to a new level which most movies never obtain.Of coarse the flaws in this movie almost become detracting, such as the incongruity of the purported monster until one factors in the mind twisting element like that found in the fascinating sci fi/horror thriller Galaxy of Terror (1981).
The most upsetting element of this movie is the tortured character manipulation of one of the scientists, the sidekick, to some extent even the protagonist and his relationship to his wife's purported character some of which seem more designed to conform to a plot outline that didn't necessarily have to flow in the fashion it did as Aliens (1986) or even espionage thriller The Numbers Station (2013) or horror flick The Cell (2000) did so well.
Nevertheless, the outcome has some merit, albeit in its own twisted way sort of like THX-1138 (1971) but perhaps in reverse or Brazil (1985).So with all its flaws, this movie moves the quality of storytelling up a bar, something so hard to do these days.
This is a very well done grade B film in the tradition of well crafted, unpretentious projects by people who don't mind making a good movie while they are at it.
'CRAWLSPACE': Two Stars (Out of Five)An ultra-low budget Australian sci-fi/horror flick about a team of special forces soldiers sent in to a secret military compound underground to rescue a group of scientists there.
The movie is one of those 'wannabe' sci-fi monster flicks that you can tell is heavily influenced by bigger and better films.
A special forces team is sent in to a secret military compound underground (known as Pine Gap) to find and rescue a team of scientists there.
The movie is really just a much smaller-scale and much lower budget 'wannabe' 'ALIENS' film (one of my all time favorite movies).
I like that the other reviews on IMDb don't talk too much about the plot, I watched this film tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it, and I was happy to not know too much beforehand.
The references to other movies are fair enough, but I think there's a bit of a trend to describe films as "This movie" meets "That movie", and sometimes that's fair enough: but I think this film stands on its own merits.I liked the characters, I liked the plot, I like the pace of the story; I like the idea of the movie; I like the special effects.
This looks like a direct to disc movie release and its not got much going for it.
I think the Pine Gap secret facility reference in the film is gratuitous since there actually is such a place and its a communications base in real life Australia.
We're told by the writing at the beginning of 'Crawlspace' that all contact with a top secret Australian military base has been lost (don't you just hate it when that happens?) and now, the only thing left to do is send in a platoon of gruff, rough-and-ready soldiers (think that squad of 'Colonial Marines' from 'Aliens') armed with motion trackers (think those 'motion trackers' the Colonial Marines used in 'Aliens') to see what's gone wrong.Of course Aliens had about an hour of screen time before the Marines arrived.
Then, while doing so, we're treated to some 'first person' shots showing our heroes' gun barrels that make you feel like you're playing Doom while some of the lines the characters speak are directly lifted from Aliens (in particular the scene where the Colonial Marines first get attacked under the Cooling Towers and their motion trackers are going crazy).So, what's waiting for our Aussie Colonial Marines?
But then the whole film turns into something more like Scanners.There's a couple of nice twists in the tale that you might not see coming.
All in all this film is too average to be that memorable, which is a shame, because Australia is gaining quite a nice reputation for coming up with films that are a little bit different to Hollywood's output.Watch if you really want to (or have scratched your Aliens DVD and can't be bothered to buy a new one just yet)..
The facility is on high alert, security teams are shooting anything in sight.The military unit runs into this girl and it turns out that the commander knows the girl--it's his wife who he thought was dead.
People confined in a "crawlspace" rarely make for an entertaining movie.
And people going mad and hallucinating also makes for terrible movies.
The script is rich and shows depth, far more than most sci-fi/action/horror movies.
Starts off interesting with a bunch of soldiers sent to a top secret underground compound to extract the lead science team but quickly falls apart as the story unravels into a series of dull twists and loses the viewers interest long before the finale.
When I saw him first I thought he looked like a guy who should be in a biker bar than an elite military unit, as the film progressed it annoyed me even more, surely an elite soldier should be ripped fit and young but this guy is so out of shape he can barely crawl through a vent.
Her character was annoying though especially for the latter half of movie.2: There was a big gorilla type monster chasing our heroes early on leading me to believe more was to come, how wrong I was.Overall : like an average Stargate episode if Stargate had gore..
I am huge fan of the Horror/Sci-Fi/Military genre that takes the viewer into the darker recesses of our imagination and pits science against the occult.
Thus after coming across this film during a google search for the like, I wasted little time ordering a copy - it looked that good.The first turn off for me while viewing 'Crawlspace' was the commandos receiving the order to kill all prisoners of the facility on sight.
Maybe that form of acting is popular 'down under' I cannot say.In short, I wanted to like the film.
But the best part of the movie hands down was Peta Sergeant's screen time - but not her acting.
The beginning of the movie starts right off the bat with action and big things happening, there was certainly no 20-30 start-up scene that lays the whole backstory.
Not that this is a bad approach, it is just confusing to figure out what is going on and why each little thing matters towards the end of the movie.
There are a couple events in this movie that don't make perfect sense for a while and I think that is why many people call this movie just like "Aliens" or similar to resident evil.
Other than the beginning, where they have beeping motion trackers, the movie quickly goes away from seeming like "Aliens".
(the movie is called Crawlspace so it is all in tight spaces which "Aliens" does a lot of as well..)There is are a few odd sci-fi aspects to this movie that made me give it a 7, along with it's confusing beginning.
The twists in the plot the come out over time are really entertaining.
After watching the movie you start to think about the beginning and now knowing what you just learned, could probably go back and make perfect sense of it all.
Yes, the movie did have some elements of Aliens (you could tell the actors were trying to recreate that kind of energy with the soldiers charging in) and Scanners (which I loved).