“Crawlspace” will be available in select theaters, on IFC Midnight Cable VOL & Digital Outlets (SundanceNOW, iTunes, Amazon Straming, XBOX Zune, Playstation Unlimited on Friday January 4th 2013
Now that you know all of the particulars of when and where you can find this movie, I will go on to say you should definitely seek it out. “Crawlspace” is a tight, exhilarating piece of entertainment that mixes bits of horror, sci-fi and mystery. The result is a solid and sharp flick that plays as contemporary storytelling while its D.N.A is pure 80s action cinema. This is the type of film Bruce Willis would have made with James Cameron back in ’87.
Now a warning: “Crawlspace” was produced in Australia so if you don’t like Foreign Films, you might want to steer clear. (Kidding).
In 1966, the United States opened a Military Intel Base in Pine Gap, Australia. True story actually. This is thought of as the Area 51 of Down Under and it is where all of our horrors await. Not only is it the Down Under’s Area 51 but it is deep down under the base (a couple of hundred feet beneath the surface actually) where we meet Eve (Amber Clayton). She awakes in a darkened corridor, alarms blaring. The slaughtered remains of several people lie next to her so, understandably, she vomits revealing to us a huge scare running up the side of her head. She remembers nothing and we only know her name because it is etched in a metal cuff around her wrist.
Only hours ago, all communication with the outpost had been lost. Who better send into the rescue but an elite force of grunts with cool guns and communicate in nothing but pithy one liners? (This is where the 80s action movie mentality comes in). One of the commandos goes by the name Romeo (Ditch Davey), a killer who is rough and ready and has the stubble to prove it. The troop is to go into Pine Gap and kill any unfriendlies they encounter. Unfortunately, Eve is considered one of those unfriendlies but Romeo recognizes her from his past. It will be hard to follow orders when those orders are to murder your wife! Who Romeo already thought was dead! But she isn’t!!!!
“Crawlspace” unravels its mysteries nicely. Nearly the entire film is spent in these corridors and vent shafts and the claustrophobic tension slowly worked its way into my shoulders as I watched. It must have been a hell of a shoot as the actors had to hunch and crawl through every scene. There are some fun moments of fright, in fact the film will really grab you about 20 minutes in when a giant, skinned gorilla makes an appearance. Great stuff!
All the acting is top notch as every player takes the silly seriously while investing completely. Clayton as Eve has a few levels to convey (crazy, frightened, Frightening!) while Ditch Davey (my favorite Actor name of 2013 so far) grumbles through accordingly. Other standouts include Peta Sergeant as mean-bitch solider Wiki and Eddie Baroo as Fourpack. Baroo also co-wrote the film. So kudos to you, Baroo.
“Crawlspace” is the feature film debut for Aussie FX supervisor Justin Dix and is a very promising first effort. Most of the time, FX people who take the Director’s Chair usually focus on an FX driven movie (Stan Winston’s “Pumpkinhead,” Tom Savini’s “Night of the Living Dead” remake) but here Dix has proven that he can tell a story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYNEzyfxZ-A