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Crawlspace (1986) More at IMDbPro »

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Crawlspace (1986) -- The mad son of a Nazi war criminal rents rooms to young women, then spies on them from behind the walls.

Overview

User Rating:
4.7/10   780 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 17% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writer:
David Schmoeller (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Crawlspace on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 May 1986 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
He seduces them in his mind and traps them in his crawlspace. more
Plot:
A man who runs an apartment house for women is the demented son of a Nazi surgeon who has the house equipped with secret passageways, hidden rooms and torture and murder devices. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Reviews:
"I had her tongue cut out..." more (36 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Klaus Kinski ... Dr. Karl Gunther

Talia Balsam ... Lori Bancroft

Barbara Whinnery ... Harriet Watkins
Carole Francis ... Jessica Marlow

Tane McClure ... Sophie Fisher (as Tane)
Sally Brown ... Martha White
Jack Heller ... Alfred Lassiter
David Abbott ... Hank Peterson
Kenneth Robert Shippy ... Josef Steiner
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Additional Details

Runtime:
80 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Ryder Sound Services)
Certification:
Iceland:16 | Finland:(Banned) (1987) | USA:R (certificate #28107) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Australia:R | France:-16 | UK:18

Fun Stuff

Goofs:
Miscellaneous: The heating ducts (or crawlspaces - from whence the picture derives its name) are absolutely immaculate. Not a speck of dust or anything. This is highly unlikely. more
Quotes:
[repeated line; after each failed attempt to kill himself by playing Russian Roulette]
Doctor Karl Gunther: So be it.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Please Kill Mr. Kinski (1999) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful.
"I had her tongue cut out...", 19 April 2004
6/10
Author: macabro357 from U.S.

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

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