Crawlspace (2013)

Many a time the problem with a movie (and 'horror' movies in particular) is that you don't care about the characters. As 'Cabin in the Woods' pointed out, the 'stars' of such films are little more than: 'Generic Blonde A,' the 'Jock, the Slut' and 'the Best Friend.' So, for a start, they're not particularly entertaining and, secondly, you don't really care about them when they meet their grisly end.However, in 'The Attic,' the characters are actually quite well-written. The main cast are all a family, who have just moved into a nice suburban house in America. And, they're actually quite likable. They're likable, largely because they behave like a real family, i.e. they bicker and get at each other, plus no one has been written as a deliberate 'comic element.' So, in a cheap B-movie, I found myself actually wanting to watch more and really enjoying the film. Unfortunately, although the writers can definitely do 'characters' and dialogue, they're not too good at story or plausibility.The family move into their new home, only to discover that the previous occupant is still living in the attic (and he doesn't take too kindly to newcomers in 'his' house). And that's where the story falls down. You may guess that a certain amount of murders follow and no one seems to notice. People just disappear from the property and no one really bothers to look into it. Plus the badguy himself is pretty lame and not particularly threatening.The death-scenes are at least inventive on the low budget and some of the kills are clever (if possibly a little unrealistic). And special mention to the youngest member of the family. He's not in it that much, so he doesn't have a lot to do, but his 'one-liners' are quite amusing.All in all, I really enjoyed the dialogue and family interaction. It was just the plot and lack of realism that spoiled it. I'd quite like to see the same family in a different (horror) situation, as they were definitely the film's high point.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Hmmmm...this wasn't a great movie. It was average in everything - average story, average acting ability, average cast. And some things didn't make any sense other than to be a point of spookiness - like the old lady neighbor. *SPOILER ALERT* So the dude in the attic is nuts and starts killing those who get in his way. Let's be real, there's not that much saran wrap in a single roll, OK?! And how is it no one could hear him above creeping around. Wood floors creek. I kept watching though and tried to enjoy the concept. I have heard of an incident or two where unbeknownst to homeowners there's someone living in the crawlspace. The concept is extremely scary, but the execution here was very flawed. Good try though.

Moving into a new house, a family's unusual encounters within the house are soon discovered to be the disgruntled former owner looking for revenge against the occupants and must try to survive his vicious attacks.This was a huge disappointment and really didn't have a whole lot here that's really enjoyable. The main thing hurting this movie is the fact that the main villain here is one of the weakest and lamest villains in horror-film history. The central premise of why he's haunting the family, being so grief-stricken over losing his house that he moves into the attic and lives there undetected for as long as he does here makes for a pretty lazy story, especially with the multitude of murders committed on the property before anyone realizes he's there. Then comes the fact that the film tries to make him some sympathetic hero with the reasoning for the family's loss of the house and what they did to his psyche is pure fluff and has no regard in the rest of the story when the seemingly sympathetic hero embarks on such a rampage as what occurs here when he finally starts dishing out the violence. Even before he starts off, the fact that the majority of the film is spent on areas outside the stalking and killing that really drags this one down, as there's so much going on with him observing the family but not actually doing anything that there's such a long time in this before it actually starts getting interesting. Simply watching them in the attic has a creepy feel at first but does little to hold the viewer's attention as it goes along since that's the only tactic employed here throughout the whole first hour, and the fact that he undertakes this while they have no idea of how long he's been doing things around them is so lazy and lame that it makes them look all the stupider for failing to realize what's going on. Even the few times it seems like he should be found out are written off like they're nothing, and that makes even less sense in keeping the ruse alive. All told, this makes the main villain uniformly weak and uninteresting in such a boring film. The only thing that really holds up here is the final half, which has some rather fun confrontations and stalking to go along with some pretty nasty and bloody kills, but otherwise there's little to like here.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, Brief Nudity, a mild sex scene and children-in-danger.

Strangely enough in the U.K I watched this on SKY Satellite as a U.K Premiere this week on The Horror Channel yet it is listed as not yet released in U.S.A ! I will be very sad if U.K audiences miss out on this as a cinema release. For me it is surprisingly well made and modern,extremely believable story and every aspect of a families daily life is written and captured beautifully by the director and a very effective cast. In short there has been an awful accident in the pool that is now drained that afflicted the previous owners who left as the house was foreclosed by the bank...and the new family are not alone in the house and soon become aware of this fact.The twists and turns that then follow I did not expect and just when you think my that must be it another twist occurs....how will this end?..Who or what is in the house and what do they want? A spooky old lady neighbour adds to the suspense and I will reveal no more.It is so scary that as a life long horror fan if I think it is good then usually its well worth a watch. I did not expect things to pan out how they did and at the end was left with an open mouth and a feeling of wow so glad I got to watch that. Another problem is a movie with the same name has been released the same year from an Australian company and this is confusing many far and wide. That is a great shame if it means this is lost in space.