The movie of the week used to illicit goosebumps when I was growing up.  Back in the day, TV Movies favored all kinds of intensely dark films.  Call them horror, call them thrillers, call them whatever you like but if you were a kid stuck in the house on a weeknight, you were probably in boob tube heaven.

One of the movies that left an indelible mark on those growing up in the 70s was Bad Ronald.  Based on a popular book, Ronald was a gloomy and pretty creeped out character study.  Aside from a limited vhs release, Bad Ronald remains unavailable (I believe because of legal issues).

What does this have to do with Crawlspace, you ask?

This was a movie that slipped by my radar until I was an adult searching out TV Movies from my childhood.  It's recently become available and is a perfect companion piece to Bad Ronald.  When I got to watch this excellent film last week, I was surprised that this movie doesn't have the same cultish following.

Both movies are about disturbed young men and the impact they have on the families they've invaded.  Whereas the family in Bad Ronald were unaware of the fact that he lived in a walled up room in the middle of the house (complete with nifty peepholes!), the elderly couple in Crawlspace welcome Richard (Tom Happer) with open arms.

In the beginning it's hard to distinguish who is kookier, the couple (played by Teresa Wright and Arthur Kennedy) or the man.  Why anyone would allow a homeless guy who's shacking up in the crawlspace into their lives is beyond me, but that's because I'm not this couple.  Retired and without children, Richard symbolizes the son they never had and presumably always wanted.  You know the couple is feeling pretty close to Richard when the wife adds his name to the Christmas Cards!

Unfortunately, they don't know what they've signed up for and once they let Richard get too close they find out, he's not leaving without a fight.  Crawlspace is a nice allegory on the post-hippie culture, where some of the free love folks just got left behind and were forced to re-convene with society. 

Richard is a compelling character who symbolizes the disenfranchised youth of that era.  Arthur Kennedy and Teresa Wright are excellent as the only couple who will give him a shot.  It's heartbreaking how badly they want Richard to become a part of their lives, to fill a void both have never spoken about.  The pay off in Crawlspace is unsettling and the movie never lets the viewer out of the darkness of the situation.

Any film that can follow in the footsteps of Bad Ronald is a film worth seeing and Crawlspace also serves as a fine example of the type of filmmaking you could make for television back then.  It’s a depressing thought the networks have abandoned such great television.  But thanks to Wildeye Releasing and the world of DVDs, we can relive the good old days (“I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony…” C’mon, everyone sing!).