Crawlspace, Mad Doctor vs. Beautiful Women

What do sultry young women do when alone in their apartments?  They pay bills, answer emails, clean counter tops, and fold laundry.  However, in the world of old guys who make movies, these women prance around in lacy lingerie, engage in erotic role-playing, and have pre-marital sex with a different guy each night.  The film industry's portrayal of women is demeaning, no doubt, and it does give impressionable young men a warped sense of the opposite sex.  Enough of this sermon, let us turn our attention to 1986's "Crawlspace."

Carl Gunther (Klaus Kinski) is a super of an old apartment building.  He has a secret past that concerns Nazi Germany and his homicidal stint as head of surgery at an Argentina hospital  Carl rents his apartments to beautiful women and crawls through the air ducts and spies on them through vents. He also keeps a gal in a cage in his torture chamber/dungeon/laboratory as a pet.  He sees all sorts of erotic shows from his tenants.  Lori (Talia Balsam), a beautiful, clean cut woman leases one of the units.  She is not like the other tenants...she doesn't engage in pre-marital sex and is not afraid of rats (...this will end up being big). She bonds with her neighbors, Sophie (Tane McClure) a beautiful blonde pianist, Harriet (Barbara Whinnery) a slut from Dixie, and soap opera actress, Jessica (Carole Francis).

All of her neighbors are into the aforementioned pre-marital sex.  This is too much for our Nazi peeping-Tom, as he usually kills the poor saps and preserves some of their body parts.  After the guys are all dispatched, he turns his attention to the ladies, and their deaths will be incredibly tortuous.  But wait....Lori is different.  She is smart and...did I mention....not afraid of rats.  Oh yes, she has not engaged in pre-marital sex. Instead of prancing around in seductive undies....Lori studies...Prude! Will Lori's virtue save her from the evil Nazi fiend?  What of these rats (hungry ones, too) I keep mentioning? Will the intellectual Lori turn the tables on the misogyny present in these 1980s horror films?

Mr. Kinski is perfect as our monster, and everything about his character oozes evil.  Filmed in Rome, direted by David Schmoeller, and produced by Charles Band, "Crawlspace" is a creepy pseudo-classic with some nice gore and a beautiful cast...though many of them will meet awful ends.  Available on YouTube, enjoy "Crawlspace."