a watcher in the walls

In the spring of 1982, I’d come home from kindergarten and eat my lunch watching Superman and Mighty Mouse. After which, my local station would show an afternoon movie that I would stay around for if I wasn’t going over to my best friend’s house to play. Back then, there weren’t standards for daytime television like there are now. So I saw all sorts of things… like a Dracula movie that I loved. However, the stuff I could remember from that film (a buxom woman in a green dress bitten by a handsome vampire on the moors) would probably apply to most vampire movies of that time so I’m going to focus on another movie I saw back then.

Basically a lovely young woman comes to live in a house and she’s being watched by someone who lives inside the walls. The movie was in color and might have been British. It could have been made in the 1960’s but it was probably from the 1970’s. I remember the girl looking similar to Nancy from “Oliver!” but can’t be sure. I don’t know if the story took place in a different time period or if it just seemed so because the house was old and remote.

I don’t remember much else about it because the very idea was so terrifying to me as a kid that I either blocked out the memory of the rest of the movie or stopped watching. I vaguely remember an old woman (grandmother? housekeeper?) and a large kitchen pantry that may have led to the cellar/ living space of the watcher/hider. I also remember the watcher being male and possibly deformed (like Quasimodo?). Possibly a relative of the main girl.

It’s not ‘Bad Ronald’ or ‘The Shuttered Room’  – and based on the 2006 remake, I’m pretty sure it isn’t ‘Black Christmas (1974)’. I’m open to any suggestions. Believe me, I’ve watched a good number of movies “looking” for this one. It’s been my top mystery movie since I was telling a friend about it as a teenager and realized I did not know the name of it. Thanks for reading!

9 thoughts on “a watcher in the walls

  1. Only one I can think of is Through the Eyes of a Killer
    A woman lives in a place she has refurbished, and the contractor who does the work lives in between the walls?

    1. Thanks alexh, but there’s no way I could have seen this movie as recently as 1992. I would say 1985 at the latest. Looks like an interesting movie though. Cheers!

    1. that certainly has some elements in common with the movie and I should definitely check it out but it’s not the one. Thanks for the guess, GG. 🙂

  2. Two guesses…”The Ghoul”(1975), or “And Now the Screaming Starts”(1973). Both are british and have older housekeepers.

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