1001 Movie Club - Shock Corridor (1963)

#407. Shock Corridor (1963)

Why It's In The Book: "Working in the world of exploitation films and B movies, with shoestring budgets and no studio expectations beyond profitability, Samuel Fuller ironically found a great deal more freedom to explore controversial ideas and new cinematic techniques than many of his higher-profile peers. Shock Corridor hinges on what has become a hoary cliché: A hotshot reporter has himself committed to an insane asylum to investigate a murder. He finds more than he bargained for, of course, and just the same Fuller offers more than a simple exploitation film.
Shock Corridor's camerawork, by Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons, The Night of The Hunter), is every bit as nuts as the colourful cast of characters populating the asylum, lurching, looming, and leaping from black and white into color. the acting is likewise all over the place, with the cast obviously encouraged to give voice to their inner psychotic. A fat man claims to be a famous opera singer, a pack of nymphomaniacs roam the ward like wild animals, and a black man preaches racism. Fuller doesn't always arrange the film like he knows exactly where it's going, and its inherent trashiness never belies its B-movie origins - but he does imbue Shock Corridor with a crazed energy more than befitting its striking name." -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Member Ratings

Siochembio - 8/10
"It makes total sense that Fuller made a movie set in a mental hospital. I can almost feel his giddiness, rubbing his sweaty palms together and giggling at the insanity (pun intended) he’s about to unleash."
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Adolytsi - 7/10
"This is a B movie, all right, and it falls into many of the traps that befall B movies... still, this manages to be entertaining even through the technical foibles."
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Klaus Ming - 7/10
"an outlandish low-budget exploitation film"
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Movie Guy Steve - 7/10
"It's not an easy watch, but it's a worthy one, and this is a film I will definitely revisit once I've completed the entire list."
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Squish - 7/10
"Trent, the black white supremacist... [is] the highlight of Fuller's script... how his brain was broken under the crushing weight of being a vanguard of civic responsibility and freedom. To find such emotionally uplifting social commentary in any film is impressive. "
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Nicolas Krizan - 6/10
"Some credit for sheer energy and partly experimental approach, but not enough for my book."
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Overall Rating: 7/10