Dom's B-Movie Round-Up Issue #10

Servants of Twilight

If you thought had completely tunneled through the "evil kid" subgenre, think again. "Servants of Twilight" is based on a Dean Koontz novel about a fanatical religious cult who is convinced that a little boy is the son of Satan. As far as Koontz adaptations go, this is a solid thriller. As far as "evil kid" movies go, it's underwhelming. There is an upside, though. The acting is competent. Unbelievably, I liked Jarrett Lennon, the bantam brat who may or may not be demonic. He wasn't as carcinogenic as I was expecting. The pace moves along at a spry clip. Mild tension creeps in at cyclical moments.

The second half of the film lost me. The characters kept making stupid decisions that made me want to flog my VCR. I was especially disillusioned by the lubberly climax. I can't say much about it without spoiling a couple of plot twists, though said twists are fairly easy to predict. Suffice to say, it's moronic. "Demon Seed" remains the most accomplished Koontz adaptation to date. I don't have anything against Corey Haim or Golden Retrievers, but I get weak in the knees over robot rape.

Crawlspace

Klaus Kinski is a Nazi landlord who rents out apartments to beautiful women. He crawls through the air ducts and spies on them, occasionally nudging rats into their bedrooms. Oh, and he's a crossdresser. This film would have been odd enough without the "Nazi crossdresser" angle. It's Klaus Kinski, for crying out loud. He could creep me out just by reading a magazine and nibbling on a bagel. The plot of "Crawlspace" gives Kinski plenty of stretching room to explore his character's shivery mind. He gives a focused, scene-stealing performance. "Crawlspace" is one of the few Kinski circuit clouts that is neither a masterpiece nor a sci-fi cheapie. It feels like a cross between "Apt Pupil" and "The People Under the Stairs."