Crawlspace

Crawlspace (1986) is David Schmoeller's claustrophobic horror thriller, and you can watch online on iFILM. Karl Gunther rents apartments only to young women and plays the courteous, attentive landlord. The walls of his building hide something else entirely.

Klaus Kinski stars as the landlord whose spotless flats conceal secret crawlways, air ducts and rooms his tenants never imagine. Karl creeps behind the walls, spies on the women and feeds on their mounting fear, all while muttering a sick inner monologue about guilt, fate and the legacy of his Nazi-surgeon father. Kinski nearly carries the picture alone: his pale stare and soft, insinuating menace unsettle more than any stage blood could. One new tenant slowly senses she isn't alone in the house.

This is lean 1980s horror that builds dread from tight spaces and a single hypnotic performance rather than effects. It suits fans of cult psychological terror and anyone drawn to Kinski at his most diseased. Stream Crawlspace (1986) online on iFILM.