Absolutely Fantastic

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

In 1945, a suspenseful classic film called "The Spiral Staircase" chilled audiences with its story and atmosphere. Set in the beginning of the 20th. Century, it told the story of the beautiful and mute servant of a wealthy, elderly widow who's threatened by a serial killer of disabled women. Here, the story has been updated to the present, which meant that the filmmakers didn't have to spend money on costumes and sets to reflect the time it took place. The overall plot remains the same, but the flat direction and script causes it to be about as suspenseful as an episode of "Murder She Wrote." There are a few red herrings as we wonder whodunit, but it doesn't make us care. It's not really a bad movie. It features a cast of starts who were big back in the day, so the acting is satisfactory. The mansion where the story takes place is rather baroque and makes a pretty good setting. And the original story remains excellent. The problem isn't that the film itself is terrible, but that given the quality of the source material and the original film, it's a major disappointment.

I had first watched the 2000 TV remake of THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE and when I looked it up on IMDb I noticed that there were earlier films with the same title and plot.And so I first watched the original and fell in love with it... and then I moved on to this little gem from the 70's. I must say I really liked it A LOT! Jaqueline Bisset is stunning and the acting here is great. This is true 70's trash so bad its good film. I actually like this one over the original. The only performance I don't care for is the mother's here...in the original Ethel Barrymore played it so well! But still, this is good entertainment! Great way to pass the time!

The original The Spiral Staircase, made in 1945 in black and white by director Robert Siodmak, was one of the finest killer-on-the-loose-in-a-spooky-mansion films of all-time. This 1975 remake is a very poor attempt to update and remake the original. There is less tension this time around, as director Peter Collinson allows things to proceed at a sluggish pace. Even the performances are weaker, despite the fact that this film has a comparatively star-studded cast for its era.Helen Mallory (Jacqueline Bisset) has been unable to speak since she witnessed her husband and child being killed in a house fire. Her doctor, Dr Rawley (John Ronane), has tried for several years to help her recover her speech but without success. He is very concerned for Helen's safety, as a serial killer has recently been at work in the city and all the victims share one thing in common – they are all disabled in some way. Helen goes away to her uncle's nearby mansion, which also doubles as an institution for the handicapped. Here she finds herself in the company of her uncle Joe Sherman (Christopher Plummer), his secretary and lover Blanche (Gayle Hunnicut), angry brother Steven Sherman (John Philip Law), a strict nurse (Elaine Stritch), housekeepers Mr and Mrs Oates (Ronald Radd, Sheila Brennan) and the ill, old bed-bound Sherman mother (Mildred Dunnock). A ferocious thunderstorm plunges the house into a power-cut, and before long it becomes apparent that the serial killer who has been preying upon handicapped women is one of those trapped inside the mansion. It is now Helen who finds herself next on the killer's list, unless she can find a way to survive….This is such a reliable, some might say "archetypal", story that all it needed was some thoughtful lighting and a well-judged sense of pace in order to work. But sadly director Collinson has spent too much time setting up pointless and weird camera angles instead of concentrating on the basics of suspense. If he had gone for the afore-mentioned thoughtful lighting and the better-judged sense of pace, this would have emerged a half-decent remake. The actors seem indifferent towards the material and give performances way below their best. Bisset has the difficulty of contending with a wordless role and is nothing more than average in the part; Plummer looks rightfully bored as the professor; Law snaps and snarls ineffectually as his bad-tempered brother; Dunnock spends most of the film acting drugged as the poorly old mother of the clan. For a good hour or so, very little happens in the film and one invariably finds oneself staring vacantly at the screen, waiting with misplaced optimism for a flash of suspense. Not even the music by David Lindup manages to generate any excitement or atmosphere. When the killings finally begin and Helen goes on the run in the dark passages of the house, trying to escape from her murderous assailant, the sequence is done rather flatly with little in the way of true excitement. If you're planning on watching a version of The Spiral Staircase some time soon, the best advice I can give is that you stick with the vastly superior original!

Being of a nervous disposition I am not a fan of horror movies, but this was not what I would call a horror movie, although it was advertised as one. It is a slow moving thriller, with an obvious ending, and not very good acting, the only reason to watch the film is if you are enamoured with Jacqueline Bisset, (and it is not one of her better films).