Crime Wave, also known as The Big Crime Wave, is a 1985 Canadian independent surrealist comedy film written, produced and directed by Winnipeg-based filmmaker John Paizs.

Plot

The film is a homage to late 1940s-early 1950s "Colour Crime Pictures" (A fictional sub-genre). Paizs plays Steven Penny, a struggling screenwriter who lives above the garage of a suburban family, and begins typing each night from the moment the street lamps come on. Everything we learn about the character comes from Kim Brown (Eva Kovacs), the family's daughter, who has a schoolgirl crush on him, as Steven never utters a word in the entire film.