Ernest Kinoy adapted this bizarre story from a novel by Herbert Lieberman, concerning a young, unemployed electrician in a small town who returns to the last house he worked at--that of a friendly, elderly couple--and lives in seclusion in the basement. The couple, who have no children of their own, are initially disturbed to learn the kid has been sleeping in a damp, cramped crawlspace under their house...but soon they find themselves welcoming his appearances, fixing him dinner, buying him clothes, and giving him things to do. The local sheriff, and apparently some of the town residents, quickly find out about this unspoken arrangement between the wayward youth and his benefactors, causing all hell to break loose. For a TV-movie, this is pretty strong stuff, commendably given a matter-of-fact treatment which helps the plot unfold naturally (even if the material itself is unconventional). Unfortunately, Kinoy's teleplay goes awry in the third act, changing the personalities of its key players without warning and concluding on an absurdly melodramatic note. Otherwise, two-thirds of a good picture, and the performances are excellent all around.

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

The movie was partly filmed in my father's old grocery store in 1972 in East Norwalk, CT. I was only 13 years old and all I remember was eating the many different kinds of cereals that were used for props in my father's store. I know that it took about 1.5 to 2 days to complete the shooting of the store scene. I was told that part of the movie was also shot in Westport or Weston, CT. There was also another movie shot in my father's store about a year later, but I am not sure what then name of it was. I would be interested in purchasing a DVD of this movie if I could find one. I have seen the movie when I was 13 year old, but I only remember the store scene and the scene were the boy lived in the crawlspace of a house.

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.