165 - Crawlspace

    A peculiar ex-doctor runs an apartment building.  He uses vents as a means of spying on his tenants, and eventually killing them.
    This is one of the strangest 80s movies I've seen.  It's not unusual in any particular way, but there's a very strange feel to this movie.  I'll see if I can explain.
    The movie is noteworthy for one main reason - it stars Klaus Kinski.  I mostly know him for his role in the 70s Nosferatu, which he plays incredibly well.  Otherwise, the picture looks like a mid-budget project.  There's this bizarre feeling to the script.  Like it was not quite done.  The entire cast - outside of Kinski - is acting in this weirdly amateur way.  Combined with the direction, I had this constant feeling like there was going to be a reveal that there was a movie within a movie.  The coloring supports this.  Everything is very vivid and well lit, which doesn't seem like the right approach to this kind of movie.  Even during scenes taking place inside the vents, there's plenty of light, and just a touch of shadow.  For a movie taking place entirely inside, in apartment living spaces, everything is way too clean.  Even the messy area of the villain's apartment looks like a strangely organized mess.
    The villain is another weird problem.  Some backstory is developed, but it pulls in two directions, and one of them is the clearly weak choice.  First, we hear about how he got in the habit of euthanizing patients that he thought were in serious pain.  Then he accidentally euthanizes a completely healthy patient (although why he had a completely healthy patient is never addressed).  He discovers that he has a taste for killing patients.  This is a good enough background.  The movie then makes this strange attempt to further deepen the character by turning him into a Nazi.  This doesn't really add anything, and is seems almost like a distraction.  If it were just hinted at, that would be great.  But they spend roughly an equal amount of time developing this backstory.
    The one thing I would like to point out is that there's a hilarious sex scene really early in the movie, around 10 minutes in.  It's not how it's shot, but the acting and the dialogue is great.