Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A gruesome twosome..., April 2, 2004
This review is from: The Attic/Crawlspace (Midnite Movies Double Feature) (DVD)
MGM releases yet another double dose of the macabre in their 'Midnight Movie Madness' series with The Attic (1979) and Crawlspace (1986). The Attic stars Carrie Snodgrass as Louise, a librarian and your classic 'old maid' stuck caring for her domineering and verbally abusive father (Ray Milland) who is confined to a wheelchair. Louise was left at the altar 19 years previous, due to the disappearance of her fiancé and has been waiting for his return ever since. The time spent living with her father has taken its' toll, and basically squeezed almost all of the spirit out of the woman. The maddening, soul crushing boredom of toiling away in a rather stale library while dreams of far away places danced in her head, and then having to go home and deal with the constant verbal lashings of her father, has manifested itself in strange fantasies with Louise humiliating or eliminating her father in various ways. She does struggle to exert herself, but always seems to be on the short end of the stick, at least when it comes to her father. What happens when she is finally pushed over the edge? Watch and see... The Attic was quite slow and some might even say tedious, but I rather enjoyed it. The plot seemed to drift here and there at times, but it did find its' way, providing a rather predictable, but satisfying ending. The build up crawls along at a snail's pace, allowing for some viewers to grow wary, but I felt the tension within the plot and I found myself unable to turn away. It was funny, but due to the title, I kind of expected something with more of a horror element, but instead found myself treated to a dusty little gem. I thought Ray Milland was pretty good as the tyrannical, father confined to a wheelchair, spying and berating his daughter at every chance. I found myself wanting to tell him off a number of times, as my dislike for the character grew. If you're looking for scenes of blood soaked violence in this movie, you're going to be disappointed. Crawlspace (1986) stars Klaus Kinski as Karl Gunther, former doctor and now owner of an apartment house. His hobbies include playing Russian roulette, writing his memoirs, conversing with the caged woman in the attic who's tongue he removed (talk about your one sided conversations), rats, collecting body parts, and sliding around the crawlspaces in his building spying on his comely female tenants in various activities and states of undress. The film also stars Talia Balsam as Lori, as student who has just moved in the building, but will soon find the place to be not quite the deal she first thought. I can see the ad for renting the apartment now... 2nd & 3rd floor units. Newly renovated & deleaded. Stove & refrigerator included. Front/rear balconies. Section 8 approved. First & last due at time of rental. Nice quiet area. Resident psycho included. Okay, maybe that last part was left out... As Lori moves in, she hears strange noises coming from the vents by the ceiling. What could they be? Mice? The idea of Klaus Kinski creeping around, peeping through vents certainly gave me the willies. He's such an ugly little man, and I have to wonder how much of his performance was acting and how much wasn't...His perversions seems to really begin to bloom when his new tenant moves in, driving him to extreme measures to satisfy his self proclaimed addiction to all things once alive but not anymore. Crawlspace, contrary to The Attic, moves along fairly quickly, and also has a fair amount of blood and some pretty gruesome murders. Most aren't shown, except for small details, leaving the rest to the viewer's imagination. The ending, while definitely final, almost seemed anti-climatic to the rest of the film, but if one looks a bit more closely, you will understand how it ties together, given the character played by Kinski. He's such an oddball in this film, and I loved how most of the other characters overlooked that, especially since they were women, and most women I know have better perceptive skills than I do...oh well...he also seemed to slip into his full blown dementia pretty quickly, but then again, I'm no doctor, so what do I know? Both films look really great, and are presented in wide screen format. I've found that MGM has consistently done a fine job in releasing their films, even the more dubious ones, providing very good quality. No real special features, except for a trailer for Crawlspace, but that's all right. I still feel like I got pretty good bargain with two watchable films at a decent price. Cookieman108
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
THE ATTIC = 2.5 stars / CRAWLSPACE = 3 stars, July 8, 2005
This review is from: The Attic/Crawlspace (Midnite Movies Double Feature) (DVD)
I love these 2-for-1 sets that MGM puts out. Of course, it's usually a mixed bag, and this one is no exception.
First, there's THE ATTIC: Slow, corny, and really rather predictable. Snodgress and Milland are fun to watch, but the story really is unbelievable, and the whole thing plays like a made-for-TV movie.
The real reason for my review is CRAWLSPACE, which is a lot of fun if you love Klaus Kinski, as I do. It's a pity that CRAWLSPACE isn't a little better, because Kinski is at his best here as a creepo landlord who only rents the rooms in his house to nubile young women (of course). Through voice-overs as he writes in his journal, it is revealed that he is the son of a Nazi doctor who was tried and executed for his role in the development of Nazi torture devices. Klaus has carried on his father's "work", first in Argentina, and now in the United States. He has made a hobby of designing various bizarre contraptions which he uses to kill people who get on his nerves; no knives for our Klaus... too unoriginal! Keeping him company is a woman in a cage, whose tongue he has cut out; needless to say, she's none too thrilled with her lot in life, though she seems to enjoy befriending the cockroaches that wander through. When he's not making weird weapons or reading his journal to his tongueless girlfriend, he's spying on his pretty young tenants from the... you guessed it! The CRAWLSPACE!!! Mwah-ha-haaaa!!!
When Klaus gets a new tenant, who turns out be our heroine, something sets him off the deep end (well, even further off the deep end) and he ends up chasing her with lipstick and mascara smeared incongruously all over his not-very-attractive mug.
Though I admit guiltlessly to enjoying this piece of crap, I must say that it's wildly uneven. In the scenes where Klaus sits alone in his room, hashing over the depravity in his past and contemplating the perpetration of further depravities, the film is nothing short of riveting. Kinski knows how to scare you almost without doing anything. His mannerisms suggest a sad, even kind man, but beneath that deceitful facade is a ravening maniac. It's disturbing!
But then, when we're in the crawlspace, leering at young ladies disrobing in front of open windows (which I find irritatingly stupid), the film crosses over into pure schlock territory (but still fun). There are some embarrassing dialogue scenes, and with the exception of Kinski, the characters are about as memorable and compelling as melted ice cream. But the aforementioned scenes of Kinski alone, combind with the admittedly effective ending, and the wonderful score by the great Pino Donaggio (not to mention some pretty good photography) make this one pretty easy to swallow. Overall, it's a bit frustrating, because it could've been better, but for Kinski fans, and fans of sleaze in general, it's essential.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More Midnite Madness, September 3, 2003
This review is from: The Attic/Crawlspace (Midnite Movies Double Feature) (DVD)
The MGM "Midnite Movies" series keeps its streak going with another entertaining release. Hey, all the movies in this series aren't fabulous, but they've all been at least perfectly watchable, some even much better than that. And it helps that these rescued-from-obscurity movies have mostly all been presented to us in the form of sharp, clean, widescreen prints. This is is the case with both "The Attic" and "Crawlspace", both of which I'd rate as "watchable-plus" in the entertainment department. In other words, they're both ultimately pretty average, but laced with interesting, offbeat moments here and there. Unlike other Midnite Movies releases, however, there isn't much in the value-added department here (meaning extras). Oh, well-- you can't have everything. Still, for the price you can't beat it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
