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As a child, the 1946 version of this movie was one of the most terrifying I had ever seen...and I loved scary movies. Years later, it still scared the hell out of me. This re-make is a travesty. I don't know what the director and cinematographer were trying to achieve, but it wasn't The Spiral Staircase. Apologies to Christopher Plummer, Mildred Dunnock and Elaine Stritch for having to endure this drivel. Times must have been bad then and paychecks much needed. If you want to see a brilliant horror film, see the original.

One would think a film showcasing the beauty and talent of Jacqueline Bisset would at least rate a 7. Well this doesn't. Not even the fine supporting cast can save it. The film moves too slowly to build any suspense. In fact, it is quite dull. Curiously, the movie was filmed in England but they try hard to make it lookije the USA. WHY?

To make things worse, the film stars that store mannequin, John Phillip Law. Ugh.

The highlight is Elaine Stritch. She has the best lines and provides much needed comic relief. Unfortunately, there isn't enough of her.

Even though this review is long enough, imdb is requiring 600 characters now. What are we supposed to do? Describe every scene?

Somewhere near the climax of this film, the killer states - and I quote - "I'm sorry, but there's no place for imperfection in this world". Well, if this were true, "The Spiral Staircase" itself never would have seen the light of day. That makes, I guess, the moral of this story: let's all try to be a little more tolerant and nicer to each other. Although another moral could be: if you need to recover from a mental trauma, have someone try to strangle you.

"The Spiral Staircase" is a remake of the sublime 1946 suspense classic with the same name. Or maybe it's a completely separate adaptation of the same source novel by Ethel Lina White, I'm not really sure of that. Fact remains that, of the two films, this 1976 version is definitely the weakest link, and a disappointingly tame 70s thriller altogether. The opening sequences is more than promising, though. A blind but stylish blond woman is rudely executed in a tunnel whilst walking her guidance dog. We hear from the police she's already the fifth victim of a sadist serial killer who exclusively targets disabled women. At this point, I was still anticipating a phenomenal thriller. Why shouldn't I? Everything seemed to be there, including a great cast (Jacqueline Bisset, Christopher Plummer, John Philip Law, Sam Wanamaker, the ravishing Gayle Hunnicutt), a more than talented director (Peter Collinson of "The Italian Job", "Open Season" and "Straight on till Morning"), a shivers-guaranteed premise, terrific settings and conditions (stormy night, big mansion full of suspects) ...

So then, what went wrong? I honestly don't know, in fact. What follows after the good intro is a long and dull hour without any action, suspense or emotion whatsoever. When the bodies do eventually start piling up, the murders are tame, bloodless and working towards a predictable finale.

I was surprised when I learned that "The Spiral Staircase" was a remake of an earlier movie, and that it's been remade since. The movie is actually little that we haven't seen before: disabled - in this case mute - woman (Jacqueline Bisset) suspects that someone is trying to kill her, she moves in with family, and there's eventually a big showdown. And the ending was pretty anticlimactic; at one point, you can basically tell what's going to happen.

However, there was one thing that I derived from the movie. Christopher Plummer's character in one scene talks about no tolerance for imperfection. We in the 21st century have taken that to the extreme. We want everyone made up so that they all look the same, we go for style over substance, and more. Then again, I'm probably reading too far into the movie, as it was most likely intended as a straight thriller (although it doesn't really thrill).

Anyway, it's a mediocre way to pass time. Also starring Elaine Stritch and John Philip Law (the "Barbarella" angel).

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.