Review of the film 'Living space' (2018)

Living space is a horror film about two American tourists travelling through present-day Germany that encounter by chance a cursed Nazi house.

The film starts with a collection of documentary images about the nazis where the notion of living space (Lebensraum) is explained, intending to tie the nazis into the plot – but in fact, the plot turns out to be unrelated to this notion. This is just a book case of adding nazis to the story just for show.

The plot presents us with the typical scenario: the protagonists lose their way, the car won't start, the cell phones lack coverage, and so they approach the lone house. There's no innovation at the beginning neither there is later on. The plot is unintelligent, with the protagonists reacting at every event in the dumbest possible way. Dialogues are boring. And when the simple story ends fairly quickly, we are treated to a time loop – so we get to re-watch the story all over again, with little addition of new scenes.

This low-budget production has a definite amateurish look. The protagonists' car is a right-wheeled one with a GB sticker, unlikely for Germany – we have to kind of suppose they got it at United Kingdom and drove it from there, for whatever the reason. And, above all, the Nazi house looks too modern to be pre-World War II – there is no way to believe it was a Nazi house.

The direction is as bad as the script is, with the camera used in a too rigid, limited way. Illumination is still good, as is the sound. The music, using piano, fits in good enough. As for acting, it is flat and without interest.

The biggest offence is, no doubt, the whole time loop idea – to have the audience re-watch the same scenes again with little change or addition. It feels as if this wasn't at all a feature film, but a short film repeated enough to reach an eighty-minute length.

All in all, a bad movie. 1 out of 5.

Title:	Living space
Genre:	Horror
Year:	2018
Nationality:	Australian
Colour:	Colour
Director:	Steven Spiel
Writer:	Steven Spiel
Cast:	Georgia Chara, Leigh Scully, Andy McPhee, Jolene Anderson, Emma Leonard, Amelia Ayris, Charlotte McLeod, Erik Vent, Emma Burnside
Producer:	Natalie Forward
Executive producer:	Tom Bratovic, Andrea Buck, Kate Elizabeth Jean, Ren Papilion, Steven Spiel, Darren Vukasinovic
Production designer:	Das Patterson
Cinematographer:	Branco Grabovac
Film editor:	Nick Kozakis
Casting:	Natalie Forward, Steven Spiel
Set Decorator:	Narayan Patterson, Celeste Veldze
Costume Designer:	Chloe Greaves
Music:	Shaun Smith
Running time:	80 minutes
Language:	English, German with English subtitles