Movies like The Spiral Staircase (1961)
The best movies like The Spiral Staircase (1961) are When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), Someone's Watching Me! (1978) and The Woman in Black (1989). If The Spiral Staircase hooked you with its thriller and tv movie, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPsycho (1960)8.4/10 from 11,440 votes
- NewestThe Girl Who Got Away (2021)Released 2021
When a Stranger Calls Back (1993)
Jill Johnson, now a crisis center counselor, reunites with retired detective John Clifford to hunt a killer stalking a coed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisSomeone's Watching Me! (1978)
A young woman moves to a high-rise apartment building and soon begins to be tormented by an unknown stalker who seems to know her every move.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Woman in Black (1989)
A lawyer travels to a small seaside town to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman, but soon becomes ensnared in something much more sinister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIs There a Killer in My Family? (2020)
True-crime author, Carly, and her husband Kevin take a vacation at a historical mansion on Crawford Island. Kevin thinks it will be a chance for them to reconnect, but Carly plans to research the puzzling unsolved murder of Diana Crawford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPsycho (1960)
When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Girl Who Got Away (2021)
A female serial killer who killed four young girls is sent away to prison, but a fifth victim escaped with her life. Twenty years later, the killer escapes and begins hunting for the one who got away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHush (2016)
A deaf woman is stalked by a psychotic killer in her secluded home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Invisible Man (2020)
When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Number 23 (2007)
Animal control officer Walter Sparrow becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him, as more and more similarities between himself and his literary alter ego seem to arise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Not a Serial Killer (2016)
In a small Midwestern town, a troubled teen with homicidal tendencies must hunt down and destroy a supernatural killer while keeping his own inner demons at bay.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSee No Evil (1971)
In the English countryside, Sarah Rexton, recently blinded in a horse riding accident, moves in with her uncle's family and gallantly adjusts to her new condition, unaware that a killer stalks them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIncident On and Off a Mountain Road (2005)
While driving at night on a mountain road, Ellen gets distracted and hits an abandoned car. When she tries to get help, she is attacked by a backwoods killer and must fight to stay alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMad Love (1935)
An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her wounded pianist husband's hands with those of a knife-throwing murderer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It (2007)
Cassie, a 13 year old Gothic girl, is trying to fit in at her new school. To entertain herself, she plays a series of pranks on the popular kids and her younger brother, Max. When she goes to a Halloween store looking for new tricks, she finds a little book called "The Evil Thing"
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery (1989)
While on vacation at a resort hotel in the West Indies, Miss Marple correctly suspects that the apparently natural death of a retired British major is actually the work of a murderer planning yet another killing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Still See You (2018)
Ten years after an apocalyptic event left the world haunted by ghosts, Veronica 'Ronnie' Calder receives a threatening message from beyond the grave. Joining forces with a mysterious classmate, Kirk, Ronnie descends into a shadow world that blurs the bounds of the living and the dead—and begins a desperate race against time to stop a cunning killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGarage Sale Mystery: The Novel Murders (2016)
When Jennifer makes a home delivery for a customer, she finds the recipient has been murdered. She soon realizes that the victim's cold-blooded demise is a re-enactment of a murder in a classic mystery novel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMercy Black (2019)
A woman is sent to a mental institution after stabbing her classmate in an attempt to conjure an evil spirit called, Mercy Black. Fifteen years later she's released, and must save her nephew, who has become obsessed with the phenomenon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrooked House (2017)
A private investigator helps a former flame solve the murder of her wealthy grandfather, who lived in a sprawling estate surrounded by his idiosyncratic family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Marple: 4.50 from Paddington (1987)
Travelling on the 4.50 from Paddington, Mrs McGillicuddy witnesses a murder on a passing train - but where is the body?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEyes Wide Shut (1999)
After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDer Venusmörder (1996)
A serial killer kills redheaded women and drapes them like Venus from Sandro Botticellis artwork.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Nerve (2001)
A man seems to possess a psychic link to a serial killer who has abducted his 4-year-old son. This black-and-white short played numerous film festivals in 2001. Parts were eventually folded into Prendes' 2003 feature Corpses Are Forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror & mystery
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZodiac (2007)
Police conduct a manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters, bloodstained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShaft (2000)
New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWild at Heart (1990)
Young lovers Sailor and Lula hit the road to start a new life together away from the wrath of Lula’s deranged, disapproving mother, who has hired a team of hitmen to cut the lovers’ surreal honeymoon short.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Beach (2000)
Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he sets out to find it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBirds Without Names (2017)
An unstable young woman pines for the ex-boyfriend who nearly beat her to death – and who has mysteriously disappeared.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both mystery
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Spiral Staircase?
The closest matches to The Spiral Staircase are When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), Someone's Watching Me! (1978) and The Woman in Black (1989). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Spiral Staircase?
Start with When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), the closest match to The Spiral Staircase.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Spiral Staircase?
Psycho (1960), rated 8.4/10 by 11,440 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Spiral Staircase?
The Girl Who Got Away (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Spiral Staircase?
Yes: When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), Someone's Watching Me! (1978) and The Woman in Black (1989).
How are movies similar to The Spiral Staircase chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Spiral Staircase, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.