Crawlspace (1986) on Netflix
Lori Bancroft inquires about a vacancy at Karl Gunther's apartment building. Gunther is the son of a Nazi surgeon, and the building hides secret passages, hidden rooms and torture devices.
- Netflix1.8/5
- IMDb5.4/104,519 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes17%
Trailer
Plot summary
Lori Bancroft, twenty-seven, has just moved and asks about a vacancy advertised at a small apartment building in the city. Karl Gunther, who is the landlord and the building superintendent, is an older German man. He hospitably shows her the apartment. He says the previous tenant was a young woman who left owing rent and never paid it. Gunther is the son of a Nazi surgeon, and the house he runs for women is equipped with secret passages, hidden rooms and devices meant for torture and murder. During the tour he secretly passes his hand over the flame of an open stove top.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Crawlspace (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- When Empire Pictures refused to let director David Schmoeller and his producers fire Klaus Kinski from Crawlspace, Schmoeller alleges that the Italian producer, presumably Roberto Bessi, devised a plan to have Kinski killed for the insurance money, but "cooler heads prevailed."
- By the third day of filming Crawlspace, Klaus Kinski had started six fistfights with other actors and crew and had thrown the production significantly behind schedule, director David Schmoeller claims.
- Kinski ordered Schmoeller never to say "action" or "cut" on Crawlspace, forcing him to film continuously so Kinski could start and end his scenes at will, and refused to say lines he disliked until "scenes were starting not to make sense."
- Before filming Crawlspace, Klaus Kinski threw a fit over the wardrobe chosen for him, then bought his own clothes, charged them to the film and kept them; director David Schmoeller says he had not known of Kinski's reputation as difficult.
- Crew members on Crawlspace asked director David Schmoeller to "Please kill Mr. Kinski" as tensions peaked, a request that became the title of his later short film about the experience.
- Co-star Tane McClure said Schmoeller begged her to stay on the Crawlspace set because Klaus Kinski, who she says was "unfortunately, very interested in me", behaved better when she was around.
- Crawlspace began as an anti-Vietnam War tale about a returning vet who recreates a prisoner-of-war camp in his attic; producer Charlie Band of Empire Pictures felt America was not ready for a Vietnam story and suggested a Nazi protagonist instead.
