Crawlspace (1972)

Based on the novel by Herbert Lieberman, Crawlspace is what happens when Albert (Arthur Kennedy, The Sentinel, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue) and Alice (Teresa Wright, Best Supporting Actress for the film Mrs. Miniver, as well as The Little Foxes and The Pride of the Yankees) Graves take in Richard Atlee as their adopted son.Well, let's hold on a second. The Graves have moved to a small town to help Albert recuperate from his heart attack. And when their furnace goes, the repair company sends Richard to fix it. They invite him over for dinner and the furnace goes bad a few days later. When the new repairman shows up, he tells them that Richard disappeared.Strange sounds come from the crawlspace. Turns out Richard has been living there. And even when the Graves adopt him and try to care for him, he refuses to sleep anywhere but the crawlspace.Even after Sherriff Birge warns the couple about the boy, they keep him in their home. But then, Richard starts acting out. His violent outbursts toward the Graves and the entire town (particularly a general store) increase in intensity and menace.Directed by John Newland and Buzz Kulik (who also did Bad Ronald), this February 11, 1972 TV movie is slow, haunted and pretty effective. You can see why the couple wanted Richard in their lives, as he becomes the only topic of their conversations. And as he begins to fix things around the house, he becomes oddly necessary."What the hell are we doing with a boy in the hole in our cellar?" You'll wonder this same question! This is a real actor movie, with Arthur Kennedy really shining here, his anger toward what he perceives as Richard's rudeness balanced by Teresa Wright's need for someone to care for. The scene where she asks if she should add Richard's name to Christmas cards is heartbreaking.The police finally give up on trying to convince Albert and Alice to give up Richard and refuse their calls when a gang of boys he's feuding with attack their house. Despite pleas for Richard to leave, despite offering him money, despite all attempt at sanity, Richard will not leave.An attack from the gang of boys leads to Richard killing one of the men and Albert covers for Richard one last time. Alice loses her civility and screams that she wants Richard to leave. He attacks her, leading to Richard shooting him and dying for a stress-related heart attack. Only Alice is left behind in the crawlspace.Crawlspace is filled with sadness. A couple that could never find a child. A man who can never find his place in the world. And even in the brief moments of happiness they find together, there is always the chance that it could fall apart at any moment. You can see the ending before the characters do, but that doesn't lessen its impact.

Albert and Alice Graves (Arthur Kennedy and Teresa Russell) have a most unusual infestation in their house. Instead of rats, bugs or raccoons they have a teenager who has taken up residence in the crawlspace under their house!! Do they call Orkin or some other pest control company? Nope. Do they call the police or social services? Nah. Instead they decide to keep him and take care of him like a member of their family!! After all, they don't have kids and they sort of adopt the guy. Their response to this weirdo is anything but typical, that's for sure!! And as for this weirdo they name Richard, he is super-odd--looking a bit like a caveman and having some obvious emotional and possibly intellectual problems. It certainly is NOT like an episode of "Father Knows Best"!! So, what's to become of this odd family? Will they have a happily ever after or will Richard end up actually being a serial killer or, worse, an used car salesman?! Look for the film on YouTube to find out for yourself.Interestingly, although the plot for this made for TV movie sounds ultra- bizarre, for the ABC Movie, it's actually relatively tame. After all, this is the same series that brought us alien impregnation ("The Stranger Within"), Witches reincarnated from the colonial period ("Crowhaven Farm"), Monsters living in the chimney ("Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"), a possessed piece of equipment ("Killdozer") and Hauntings ("The House That Would Not Die")...among other weird topics. Sure, many of the films were more mundane...but the network has got to be commended for approving pretty much any strange idea the writers came up with during the course of the series! So is this a great made for TV movie? No. The plot leaves many plot holes unanswered--such as the couple never trying to get Richard any counseling as well as how quickly they went from a happy family to a couple under siege (their change in attitude towards Richar was simply too fast to be believable)! And, when they later had really SERIOUS problems, why didn't the couple go to the police and why did they behave like they did?! But on the other hand it is never dull in the least and deserves to be seen.In some ways, this plot sounds like it was reworked into another made for TV movie, "Bad Ronald"...it's also about a young man living within the walls of a home and some unsuspecting folks movie in to the place! It came out two years after "Crawlspace", so it looks like "Crawlspace" spawned at least one imitator!

Albert and Alice Graves are a retired elderly couple who discover a wild-looking homeless man named Richard living in the crawlspace of their basement. At first they are a little worried and ponder ways to get rid of him but eventually their sympathetic side gets the better of them (as well as Alice's motherly tendencies) and they take him in. First they begin leaving food outside his hole and then Alice even knits him a wee jumper for Xmas. In return Richard helps around the house, mainly chopping wood (he seems have a thing for axes).Everything is going along swimmingly until the jock at the grocery store rips off Richard $20 and he goes back that night and trashes the store with an axe. Albert and Alice cover up for Richard as they are beginning to think of him as the son they never had, but one night after returning home from the orchestra, the couple discover Richard has smashed Alice's loom (he has abandonment issues) and they begin to get a little worried. As time goes on Richard's behaviour becomes more and more psychotic & violent and the old couple basically become prisoners in their own home as Richard refuses to leave & won't let them leave either. This all culminates into a pretty bleak finale involving drunken jocks, the police and an axe (surprise, surprise).Based on a novel by Herbert Lieberman and directed by John Newland (Don't be Afraid of the Dark), Crawlspace is a decent little low-budget 70s thriller. Arthur Kennedy's (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, Emmanuelle on Taboo Island) performance as Albert and Tom Happer's as Richard are both brilliant and Jerry Goldsmith's eerie score adds loads to the already tense & claustrophobic atmosphere. 4/10

It's been awhile since I've seen this one, but I remember what it was about. A different young man is taunted by the so-called "normal" kids until he's finally driven to kill violently. This movie may be almost 30 years old, but (unfortunately) its message is still timely. Time to dust this one off and show it again. Good to watch as a family with discussion afterwards.