AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Scott LeBrun Screen veterans Arthur Kennedy ("The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue") and Teresa Wright ("Shadow of a Doubt") play Albert and Alice Graves, a childless middle-aged couple living outside a small town, on the edge of the woods. They discover that Richard Roy Atlee (Tom Happer), a young man who's recently left his job, is now squatting in a crawlspace underneath their kitchen. Initially disturbed, they come to welcome his presence, and although somewhat sullen and withdrawn, he does appreciate the kindness that they show towards him. He never does, however, take them up on their offer to move into one of their actual rooms; he prefers the crawlspace.There is a feeling of grim inevitability to this engaging made for TV combination of character study and psychological horror. Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise when Richard displays a dark side to his personality. Yet, one can't really hate him; you do feel some sympathy towards him, and realize that he is mentally imbalanced and needs family ties & a sense of belonging.Of course, this being a TV movie, it's disturbing without being graphic in any way, even when people are felled by bullets or an axe. It's all directed with efficiency by John Newland, who went on to make 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark', one of the most famous TV horror movies of the 1970s. It gets by largely due to convincing performances by the main trio of actors, and capable work by character actors Eugene Roche ("Slaughterhouse-Five"), as the concerned local police chief, and Matthew Cowles ('All My Children') as a young troublemaker. Kudos, also, to Jerry Goldsmith for his affecting music score and the filmmakers for creating a sombre atmosphere.Good, if not great, material was scripted by Ernest Kinoy, a TV veteran who worked on things such as 'The Defenders' and 'Roots', from the novel by Herbert Lieberman. It doesn't conclude as strongly as it starts, but it keeps its grip for a decently paced 75 minutes.Seven out of 10.

Rainey Dawn This film is so odd that it becomes very interesting quickly. It would have been better to have a bit more backstory on Richard (the guy living in the crawlspace). The middle aged couple, the Graves, are without child and when they, found the young man Mrs. Graves' motherly side wanted to keep him, nurture him while her husband was reluctant at first but decided to be a father to him and try to reintroduce into society. Things are okay but weird for awhile but when Richard had trouble at a store with some ill-mannered young punks things start to get ugly. The Graves start having mixed emotions over Richard: they want to love him as Richard wants but they are also afraid of Richard.A pretty darn good thriller - the film gets intense and scary. I found this one to be a worthwhile movie.8/10

Coventry I had nearly given up all hope to ever see this particular "Crawlspace"! When you're actively searching for this title, you can encounter a couple of interesting cult movies, but not easily this 1972 made-for-TV movie. Now that I did finally get my eager little hands on a decent copy, I can safely state that it's another delightfully curious and out-of-the-ordinary TV-gem! On one hand it's a typical 70s TV-thriller, meaning that it is short and low- budgeted and not featuring any special effects, but on the other hand this also means that the plot is uniquely bizarre and that the atmosphere is moody and unsettling throughout. Additionally, it also means that it stars several adequate actors and actresses and that the story, although highly implausible and far-fetched, remains stuck in your mind and keeps you contemplating. Albert and Alice form a lovable elderly couple living in a remote countryside mansion. One day, they discover that the 20-something homeless and extremely introvert Richard has moved into the crawlspace underneath their house uninvited. So Albert and Alice react like any normally functioning person would react… They feed him milk & cookies, knit winter sweaters for him and invite him over to the family Christmas diner! They adopt and welcome Richard like the son they always wanted but never had, in fact. Problems arise when Richard turns out to be a bit of an aggressive sociopath and runs into a dispute with the local grocery boy. Based on a novel that I haven't read, the intriguing basic concept and character developments are undoubtedly the strongest points of this film. These, along with the excellent performances of Arthur Kennedy and Theresa Wright, make "Crawlspace" one of the finest TV-thrillers I have seen in my life. The pacing is slow but intense, the music and ambiance are continuously eerie and the inevitable climax is almost emotional. Matthew Coles also gives a good performance as the arrogant small-town bully, while Tom Happer (as the crawlspace resident) hits the exact right tone being simultaneously pathetic and menacing. Believe you me, this thriller is way better than director John Newland's widely acclaimed but vastly overrated "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark".

Michael_Elliott Crawlspace (1972) ** (out of 4) Made-for-TV film has an elderly couple (Arthur Kennedy, Teresa Wright) finding out that a strange young man (Tom Happer) has been living in the crawlspace in their basement. The couple never had their own children so they decide to let the man stay there and try to teach him right and wrong but slowly things start to go bad. CRAWLSPACE has a lot of interesting ideas but sadly none of them have much done with them and in the end we're left with a very talky and long feeling movie. The film actually runs just 74-minutes so it's certainly not long in any way but while watching it the thing feels to go on and on. A lot of this is due to the fact that not much happens in the picture outside of the characters constantly talking about everything that's happening. This is one of those films were the people talk more about something that happened rather than us actually seeing what happened. I say this because there are so many conversations between the husband and wife yet they never seem overly worried about everything that's happening. I mean, I had an extremely hard time believing that anyone could find someone living in their crawlspace and being okay with it. I never believed the story being told and I think had they simply had a reasonable discussion about it then I could have bought into it more. The film does contain some very good performances with both Kennedy and Wright coming off extremely good as the couple. Happer is also good in his role, although he isn't given too much to do since most of his time is unseen in his crawlspace. The film really doesn't turn to the horror elements until the very end so for the majority of the running time we're watching a drama that just never connects.