Crawlspace (2012)

Crawlspace (2012) - An Australian Army extraction team is sent to retrieve a group of scientists after a joint U.S. military/Autralian military research compound in the outback is compromised.  What they find there may be more than their training has prepared them for.

Even before I saw the cover tagline below, I knew this was a poor-man's knockoff of Aliens about fifteen minutes into the picture.  The tight corridors and air ducts, motion detecting equipment, and the snarky, grab-assing squad-mates kinda gave it away.  The fact that it is actually about telepathic human experiments does not detract from that feeling.

In general, I am a fan of movies where your group of heroes is trapped in a confined environment and
is getting picked off one by one.  Considering this movie is populated by Australian actors generally unknown to US audiences shouldn't stop you from checking this one out.  The acting is fantastic, the writing is pretty tightly done, and the effects are good for the budget and genre.

My quibbles with this movie are minor.  First, and this is just my own personal experience getting in the way, but Eve's voice reminded me of Tawney Kitaen's while she was possessed in Witchboard.  That was such a cheesy, poorly done film, I was cringing.  So every time she spoke, I was waiting for her head to spin around, or for her to try and chop someone up with an axe.  Took me out of the film every single time, but you should be okay.

Second, some parts were mind-numbingly predictable.  I won't spoil them, but I'm pretty sure you'll spot them too.  If you like your movies to constantly keep you guessing, this one may disappoint you in spots.

One laugh out loud moment, and that was when Eve woke up from clocking her head on a pipe, only to walk right into one again.  Pretty sure that wasn't intentional.  I did drop my knitting needles a few times for fight and action sequences, but for the type of picture this was, I would have expected at least one "Holy Crap!" moment, and there was none.  However, there was no eyeroll factor either, so all is forgiven.

Basically, if you're a fan of this type of movie, I think you'll like it.  If you've finished an Alien Quadrilogy marathon and still looking for a film to watch, this might not be a bad way to cap things off.  It's not perfection, but it will do.  I give it a four out of five stars.