The most charming men are always psychopaths.
The first “screw staircase” appeared in 1946: it was noir with Dorothy McGuire in the title role based on Ethel White’s novel “Someone Must Take Care”. Then, in the 61st, the sequel with Elizabeth Montgomery was shot, in the 75th - with Jacqueline Bisset, and in 2000 - another, with Nicolette Sheridan. The action was moved from the beginning of the twentieth century to the beginning of the twenty-first, and otherwise the plot has not fundamentally changed.
Charming, but stopped talking after the death of her parents, Helen gets a job as a nurse in a huge castle on the island. She gets into a fairly typical company: the housewife is a rich middle-aged lady, bedridden, but not without charm; her eldest son Stephen is a dummy who visits his mother when money runs out, and his figure-shaped girlfriend; the youngest son Philip is an enviable bachelor of an intelligent appearance, who, on the contrary, is always nearby; the gardener Bobby is a chatty and loving young man; the housekeeper Rachel is a puffy, stiff woman; the cook Sarah is the most cheerful and good-naturedress, which contributes to the daily brand. When the sheriff is added to the listed characters, and the storm cuts off the castle from the land, the story “the killer among us” begins, so beloved by the authors of detectives (and readers / viewers).
Despite the dominance of templates (a group of people is locked on an island with a murderer - all suspicions fall on one, so the criminal is definitely not he - a terrible storm with a power outage - "and let's pair up and look for a killer!" - family Santa Barbara), the film can not be called very worn and boring. A certain intrigue is present, and everything is filmed well. I don't know if you can blame the ending on predictability - after all, thanks to the prequels, I knew what was going on. But, despite this, I wanted to inspect, which means that the artistic value of the tape is.
Among the cast are Nicolette Sheridan, Holland Taylor and Judd Nelson - they, however, according to the script. And of the supporting actors remembered Dolores Drake, the very good-natured cook, pouring over the collar. It was a very lively and funny character.
In a line of detectives, exploiting the theme of a group of people locked in a certain space, "Screw Staircase" pulls on a strong middle peasant: not bad, although Agatha Christie and Co. do not reach. But to spend the evening calculating the killer is fine.