The Spiral Staircase is a 1946 American psychological horror film[5] directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, and Ethel Barrymore.

Set over the course of one evening, the film follows a mute young woman in an early-20th century Vermont town who is stalked and terrorized in a rural mansion by a serial killer targeting women with disabilities.

Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Gordon Oliver and Elsa Lanchester appear in supporting roles.

The project originated with producer David O. Selznick, who purchased the rights to White's novel, intending to cast Ingrid Bergman in the lead role.

Selznick subsequently sold the rights to RKO Radio Pictures, who commenced production and cast McGuire in the lead.

Also residing in the house are Mrs. Warren's stepson Albert, a local professor; her son, Steven, a charming, rakish playboy; and live-in staff: Mrs. Oates, a housekeeper; her husband Mr. Oates, a handyman; Blanche, Albert's beautiful secretary who is having an affair with Steven, who has recently returned from abroad; and Nurse Barker, who Mrs. Warren verbally abuses.

Meanwhile, the constable shows up and is answered at the front door by Albert; he leaves a message for Helen letting her know that Dr. Parry is unable to return that night.

[7] Although characterized by contemporaneous press as a "mystery romance,"[8] the film has been noted by contemporary critics for its prominent Gothic horror elements.

[9] It has also been cited as one of numerous progenitors to the slasher film,[10] specifically for its female-centric cast[11] and point-of-view cinematography deployed during scenes in which the killer stalks his victims.

"[5] Writer Denis Grunes in 2007 suggested the film is "in fact a masked allegory of the passage of silent cinema into sound," citing the mute protagonist's predicament as evidence.

[13] This notion was also suggested by film scholar Amy Lawrence in her 1991 book Echo and Narcissus: Women's Voices in Classical Hollywood Cinema.

[21] The film was shot between August and November 1945[22] on the RKO Studio lot in Los Angeles, California,[18][23] on a production budget of approximately $750,000.

[3] In November 1945, it was publicized that actress McGuire went missing for approximately twenty minutes during filming after unintentionally locking herself in one of several labyrinthine rooms constructed in a studio basement.

[18] The film featured in the opening sequence at the movie house is D. W. Griffith's The Sands of Dee, which was in reality released in 1912, six years after The Spiral Staircase takes place.

[27][18] This was followed by a national theatrical run, during which the film screened in various cities across the United States during the late-winter and early-spring months of 1946.

"[36] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote, "This is a shocker, plain and simple, and whatever pretensions it has to psychological drama may be considered merely as a concession to a currently popular fancy.

[40] Pauline Kael praised the film's establishment of characters, noting that it "has all the trappings of the genre...but the psychopaths are quite presentable people, and this, plus the skillful, swift direction, makes the terror convincing.

[46] On October 2, 2018, Kino Lorber released DVD and Blu-ray editions in the United States under license from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, which owns this film as part of the David O. Selznick library; Kino Lorber's release features a 4K scan from the original film elements.

The Spiral Staircase was adapted as a half-hour radio play on the November 25, 1949, broadcast of Screen Director's Playhouse, starring Dorothy McGuire in her original role.