Help Me Find This Horror Movie
December 15, 2011 12:14 PM   Subscribe

What is that 80s/90s horror movie involving someone terrorizing residents of a condo or apartment building by crawling within the walls?

I don't have too many details, but I remember seeing ads for this as a kid in the 80s or 90s. Someone terrorizes the residents of either a condo building or upscale apartment building by crawling within the walls. I believe the movie was set in California, but I'm pretty uncertain. Google, movie databases, and past AskMeFi questions haven't turned up anything.
posted by dovesandstones to Media & Arts (17 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Crawlspace
posted by oh pollo! at 12:17 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]




Best answer: Not positive about the crawling in the walls but in Pacific Heights, Michael Keaton does some serious terrorizing of Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine, set in San Fran.

On preview, it's probably one of those others.
posted by Glinn at 12:20 PM on December 15, 2011


Going to throw out Shivers just because trashy early Cronenberg movies deserve more exposure.
posted by Oktober at 12:21 PM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]


Bad Ronald. Probably not your movie, but the same plot. The original was from 1974, but it was re-made in the 1992.
posted by roue at 12:21 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: IMDB has keyword searches: crawlspace (feature, horror).
posted by zamboni at 12:21 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]


It's also possible you're thinking of Squeeze and Tooms from the first season of The X-Files.
posted by yellowbinder at 12:22 PM on December 15, 2011 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: I was thinking of Pacific Heights! Perhaps it was the cockroaches crawling within the walls, rather than a human. But now I have more scary movies to watch...so thanks, everyone!
posted by dovesandstones at 12:23 PM on December 15, 2011


Just in case you're misremembering a TV episode for a movie, the "Squeeze" episode of X-files featuring Eugene Tooms, a mutant who could stretch and contort his body into and through tight spaces in his quest to kill people and eat their livers before he hibernated again for another 30 years, aired on September 24, 1993. It was the third episode of the new series and quite memorable/disturbing.
posted by empyrean at 12:24 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]


And oops, already mentioned as I typed that up aaaand dismissed as the wrong answer. Sorry.
posted by empyrean at 12:25 PM on December 15, 2011


Just watched Dario Argento's Opera last night, which had a very effective scene along those lines.
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:28 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]


Ah, Pacific Heights shows up on IMDB under crawlspace (feature, thriller). Curse you, premature optimization!
posted by zamboni at 12:29 PM on December 15, 2011


Response by poster: I actually had done keyword searches w/in IMDB but didn't think of using "crawlspace."
posted by dovesandstones at 12:31 PM on December 15, 2011


There is also Hider in the House, which has an exponentially increased creep factor due to casting Gary Busey as the hider.
posted by something something at 12:34 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]


Since the question has been answered, might I add a recommendation for the January 16, 2011 episode of Bob's Burgers entitled "Crawl Space"?
posted by Sys Rq at 12:47 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]


A funny episode along the lines of this theme is :

"Murder, She Wrote" : No Accounting for Murder (1987)


"Grady becomes the prime suspect when one of the partners is murdered, but Jessica discovers that a "phantom" rumored to haunt the office building is a real person, a homeless man who lives in the vents and air ducts, swipes food off desks, and may be a witness to the murder."
posted by HopperFan at 12:50 PM on December 15, 2011 [1 favorite]


There is also Hider in the House, which has an exponentially increased creep factor due to casting Gary Busey as the hider.

I read this as Hitler in the House, with Gary Busey as the lead crawling between the walls.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:19 PM on December 15, 2011


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