User Reviews

The third installment of Thriller's opening series, 'Someone At The Top Of The Stairs' is a certifiable classic. Chrissie Morton and Gillian Pemberton, played by Donna Mills and Judy Carne respectively, are two young American students who take lodgings at a quaint boarding house run by Mrs Oxhey (played by Alethea Charlton who lends the role a smoldering and repressive sexuality. Sadly she died in 1976 at the young age of 44).

While the surroundings are comfortable and the rent cheap something is not quite right in the house. The other inhabitants, namely Elgar (Brian McGrath) and the odious Patricks gradually reveal their sinister sides and you can almost smell the air of foreboding that will inevitably unfold in tragedy.

Chrissie finally learns the house's terrible secret in one Thriller's most chilling endings.

On a separate issue I note that Brian McGrath now attends the same Sunday mass as my parents. While I have seen him in a variety of different roles over the years, none compare to his turn as the handsome but creepily tainted Elgar.

In the words of Mrs Oxhey, Marvellous!

As the saying goes, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. When two young women, foreign students, turn up at a London bedsit, the landlady is more than enthusiastic for their patronage, even inviting them to set their own rent. A nice upstairs spacious apartment in a friendly boarding house, what could possibly go wrong? Well, there was that strange writing on the door, and that almost ancient sheet of newspaper in the drawer.

It doesn't take long for one of the new tenants to realise there is something terribly wrong here; does a kitten really fall to its death from not such a great height just because someone left a window open? And that's just for starters. Her friend played by Judy Carne thinks it is all in her head, but judging by what follows at the party, she isn't too bright.

Judy Carne is better known for comedy and light entertainment, but here she plays it straight in a drama wherein all the characters are a little too nice, if not like Stepford wives then cult members.

I've been working my way through the Thriller series for the first time, they're all good, enjoyable, but this one had that extra something. This is such an original piece of drama, it's eerie, creepy, sinister, so wonderfully well written. As a viewer, you like Chrissie and Gillian are lured by the cosy surroundings of the house, everything feels safe and secure, until you become aware that something is very wrong in that house. Someone at the top of the stairs feels like a combination of Psycho, The Landlady (Tales of the Unexpected) and The Stepford Wives. This is the first episode of Thriller I've seen that had an other worldy tone to it, it certainly benefited from it. I thought this was superb. 9/10

I just finished watching this and I couldn't be more pleased, I'd never heard of the series before so I wasn't expecting too much, but boy did I get it! This is just the kind of program I love. You can have a creepy good time and a fashion extravaganza all in one. I would chop off my toenails for Donna Mills' wardrobe, and her friend's was top notch too. Very well acted and the house was just to die! I couldn't takes my eyes off the screen. The 1970's did most things better as far as I can tell. I'm not up on my camera lingo, so I don't know what type of film they use for this but I love it. I call it 3's-company-style, or live audience style. It makes everything feel so much more scary when it's shot with the live film.

I still remember watching this movie on TV in the mid nineteen seventies in new york. it really scared me as it was usually shown at 1130pm on some weeknight and id view it in bed as it was a schoolnight. i haven't seen this show in over thirty years but still have clear memories of having really been engrossed in it. I wonder why its not available anywhere on DVD, hopefully it will evantually surface some time soon i know it hasn't been shown on TV in years. I thought donna mills and judy carne were both really good in their roles,especially carne who up till then i was only familiar with from love on a rooftop and rowen and martins laugh in.

I loved this movie. I also remember watching it on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the 70's. About 10 years later I was lucky enough to tape it. It was on early in the morning. Since then I have watched it many times. You'd be surprised the little things you pick up when you watch it several time again. No matter how many times I watch it, it still does not lose it's creepiness. The tape is now almost twenty years old and I still have it and still enjoy watching it. The acting really wasn't that good and the sets were really cheap (did you see the walls shake when somebody opened the door), but it just seems to add to the eerie atmosphere this movie creates. Too bad they never show it anymore.

Very suspenseful,and my favourite episode of this great series.

The Thriller series was aired on late night television when I was a young child, and twenty years later I am still impressed. I would very much like to own the whole series, but am unlikely to find it in its entirety available to purchase and ship to the US. For anyone that is looking for an old fashion good scare without the gore of modern films this is an excellent choice.

I must be a snob. I certainly admired the work Brian Clemens did on 'The Avengers', and I was impressed with the intelligence of this episode's script, but I found the use of video tape to be cheesy...not to mention jarring when inter-cut with actual filmed sequences.

I must confess, I have recently viewed much of the old black and white 'Thriller' anthology series hosted by Boris Karloff, and I was truly impressed with the fine black and white photography used on this television series. Clemens' own series, 'The Avengers', used film throughout, and the black and white episodes are fine. Although I'm certainly glad that eventually they switched to color film to photograph the exquisite Diana Rigg.

But film has a language all of its own, and black and white film can almost be poetry. Lighting and moods are beautifully accomplished on film, but what can you possibly infer with video tape?

As far as the episode itself, I found both Donna Mills and Judy Carne not only in their prime, but capable actresses. The story vaguely hints at the wonderful 'The Innocents', the psychological sixties' horror film starring Deborah Kerr. That movie is brilliant, and so much of it has to do with the language of black and white film.

I know that video tape became the medium of many television shows during the seventies. But in a thriller, such as this story, it only detracts from the suspense. You would think video tape would make everything seem more 'real', and perhaps that is part of the problem.

Black and white film looks 'real', which is a contradiction in itself, since we do not see things in black and white. But video tape almost negates any 'mood' a director is trying to create.

And I often think of another contradiction. Sir Alfred Hitchcock, a superb painter of black and white, often nudges his audiences in the shoulder and reminds them that they are watching a movie. His films are full of obvious toy miniatures, his shots at times look surreal. Detective Arbogast (Martin Balsam in 'Psycho') floats down the stairs in what looks to me a very contrived fall, at least to my eyes. But it is a perfect instance of Hitchcock reminding you that you are watching a movie.

With video tape, I'm always aware someone is making a 'film'. Maybe I've spent too much time behind a video camera, but I still maintain the medium has no 'language'.

I suspect it is an awful lot cheaper to opt for video tape over film. And video tape has its uses. Many people have mixed opinions about 'The Blair Witch Project'. I suspect many viewers were anticipating a blood and gore fest.

But for me, 'The Blair Witch Project' worked BECAUSE it looked like what it pretended to be...a slipshod video tape recording of teenagers exploring a mysterious wooded area. Granted, this was a one gimmick movie, but it was a gimmick wonderfully realized.

I'm sure there are many viewers and fans of Clemen's 'Thriller' series that do not even give the video taped aspect a thought. They are no doubt younger than me. They might be people who have never sat through a black and white film! Sorry if I bored that audience....