Home invasion is a well trusted idea that is returned to time and time again by filmmakers. Whether it be by human, alien, monster or otherwise there is little more frightening than feeling that your personal space, the place you should be most safe, somehow no longer is. With that in mind it would be fair to presume that a film based on this premise would go one of two ways; either those primal fears are awakened and exposed as in Dark Skies or Pacific Heights, or over familiarity has indeed bred contempt and what remains is a dull, bland affair with no originality or scares.
The Attic, or Crawlspace depending on which continent you’re on, is definitely the latter. The Gates family are, in part at least, excited to be moving into their dream home. Parents Tim (Jonathon Silverman) and Susan (Lori Loughlin) are finally getting the house they have always wanted and the dark history of child deaths, misery and foreclosure in the property doesn’t seem to be putting them off one iota. Daughter Kayla (Raleigh Holmes) is just back from college while sons Shane (Sterling Beaumon), a horny teenager with designs on the babysitter, and the younger Taylor (Xander Stolberg) seem more indifferent to the move. Very quickly it becomes clear though that perhaps not all of the previous residents have left and the family find themselves in great danger.
There are several things wrong with writer and director Josh Stolberg’s film but the greatest problems lie within the story itself, and the execution of said story through the direction and editing. It is never really clear what is going on or at what part of the story we are at. When something happens to the family, for example the alarm goes off and they discover the front door wide open, they seem happy just to turn it off, lock up and go back to bed.
At no point does anyone really express fear or worry that there is something really strange going on; everything is just brushed under the carpet and ignored in an annoyingly unrealistic manner. Even when the highly strung Kayla spots someone spying on her from the air conditioning vent this is quickly dismissed as nothing. The worst crime though, the singularly most ridiculous plot point that will make you shout “Oh for crying out loud!” at the top of your lungs is that not once, not even once does someone think about checking the attic. Despite fears that there is a stranger in the house, despite worries over their safety, not one person bothers to check the attic space where there just happens to be a deluded former resident with a penchant for spying on women in the bathroom and more than a little murderous intent living quite happily.
The difficulty the film has is in recovering from this glaring and fatal miss-step. Neither the acting nor the script is strong enough to harbour any glimmer of hope and as the plot moves on with its inconsistent narrative and pacing you find yourself simply not caring about any of the characters motives, which is a good thing given that none of them seem to really have any.
OVERALL SUMMARY
When judged overall The Attic is an example of what not to do, a lesson should one be required of how to take a story that should produce a few scares, even of the routine kind, despite not having any real depth and turn it into a bland and uninspiring film. Certainly one to be avoided. The Attic is available on DVD now.
