Shock Corridor poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Peter Breck, Constance Towers, Gene Evans, James Best, Hari ... see more see more... , Larry Tucker , William Zuckert , Philip Ahn , Neyle Morrow , Frank Gerstle , Paul Dubov , Rachel Romen , Wally Campo , Karen Conrad , John Craig , Lucille Curtis , Marie Devereaux , Chuck Hicks , John Mathews , Barbara Perry , Chuck Roberson , Allyson Daniell , Harry Fleer , Johnny Barrett

Shock Corridor represents filmmaker Samuel Fuller at his most excessive, but few would have it otherwise. Peter Breck plays a ruthless journalist who believes that the quickest way to a Pulitzer Prize... read more read more... is to uncover the facts behind a murder at a mental hospital. To glean first-hand information, Breck pretends to go insane and is locked up in the institution. While pursuing his investigation, Breck is sidetracked by the loopy behavior of his fellow inmates. During a hospital riot, Breck is straightjacketed and subjected to shock treatment. By now almost as crazy as he's previously pretended to be, Breck begins imagining that his exotic-dancer girlfriend Constance Towers (a Samuel Fuller "regular") is actually his sister! Typical of the Fuller ouevre, the characters in Shock Corridor are either saved or destroyed by their individual obsessions. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flixster Users

82% liked it

3,716 ratings

Critics

93% liked it

15 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Samuel Fuller

Release Date: January 1, 1963

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: August 25, 1998

Stats: 243 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

Poster Breck and Towers Shock Corridor
Upload a Photo | View All Shock Corridor Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (243)

  • FilmFanatik
    March 9, 2012
    FilmFanatik
    I've been a stranger to the work of Samuel Fuller, but I'm planning to change all of that as soon as I can get my hands on some of his other films. Shock Corridor tells the story of a reporter trying to get the big scoop by going undercover as a patient at a mental hospital where... read more the truth about a murder rests within the residents, all in an effort to get the coveted Pulitzer Prize award. I was absolutely floored by how good this film is. It gets right in your face with issues that would have been nothing more than subtleties in other films by other filmmakers at the time, yet there's a cleverness to it and the film has more to say than just addressing the issues themselves. Peter Breck gives a great performance, as does Constance Towers. We spend the entire film getting to know all of the patients and the staff at the hospital, and it never gets boring - not ever for a minute. You're constantly engaged in what's going on as Peter Breck's character slowly descends into madness, but you're barely aware of it as the film goes on. I'd love to see Samuel Fuller top this film, and judging by his reputation and the film's merit alone, I believe he can do just that.
  • flixsterman
    March 17, 2011
    flixsterman
    Welcome to the bizarre world of Samuel Fuller - where a black man is the Imperial Wizard of the KKK and being locked in a room full of hot nymphomaniacs is a 'bad' thing.
  • 366weirdmovies
    February 22, 2011
    366weirdmovies
    A journalist has himself committed to a mental institution to try to solve a murder. This mix of lurid melodrama, heavy-handed symbolism (America in 1963 is an insane asylum!), and nympho assaults shouldn't work at all, but Sam Fuller's passionate direction turns it into somethi... read moreng maddeningly entertaining.
  • kenstachnik
    January 28, 2011
    kenstachnik
    I have one word for you "Nymphos"
  • mjgildea
    January 26, 2011
    mjgildea
    A fantastic movie that gets nearly none of the recognition it deserves. The musical number, the color flashbacks worked into black and white monologues and the dreams were all fantastically done. The acting almost rivals the direction even with some really heavy-handed dialogue. ... read moreAn amazing premise with plenty of random and uneasy moments that never allows you to lower your guard (despite his easy-going nature, I waited for Pagliacci to go batshit on Johnny) and the scene with the nymphos scared the living shit out of me. Every moment you wait to see Shock Corridor is a complete and total waste of time.
  • webalina
    November 13, 2010
    webalina
    Saw this a long time ago, but can't remember if I liked it. Better see it again before I rate it.

    UPDATE: Finally got a chance to seee this again, and I was NOT disapponted. It's my first Samuel Fuller film, and if the others are of this quality I can't wait for the rest.
    P... read moreeter Breck plays a journalist on the big story that will win him a Pulitzer. He has himself committed to a mental hospital to get a story about a patient murder, and finds that he is slowly coming just as unhinged as the people he is observing.

    While some of the film is dated, in particular the scene with the "nymphos", and some is just offensive -- Dr. Cristo's implication that Cathy is bringing on John's "Illness" by encouraging John's incestuous behavior, for example (reminds me of all those years of women being blamed for bringing on rapes by being too seductive) -- for the most part, the film is extremely well-done. The scenes of Stuart and Trent's revelations about the origins of their respective mental illnesses were moving at times, and special props have to go to Larry Tucker as wife-killer "Pagliacci." I've never seen this guy before, and he was great. He had this weird half-happy fat guy/half-nutso serial killer laugh that really got me. I would have liked him to have more screen time. In bragging on the supporting players, I don't want to take away from Breck himself. He did a good job in general, and a great job in a couple of scenes where he has started cracking.

    I get the impression that Sam Fuller had a real problem -- as everyone should -- with the Southern racial attitudes of the 1950s and 60s. Both Stuart and Trent's illnesses stemmed from experiences they had in the South -- Stuart being raised by bigoted Southern parents, Trent being the only black student in an all-white Southern university. Someone more versed in Fuller can probably fill me in on this.

    A couple of things -- besides the stuff I already mentioned -- that I wasn't fond of were 1) the ending, which seemed a little Twilight-Zoney and tacked-on, and 2) I've never been a fan of Constance Towers (she reminds me of a second-rate Joan Crawford for some reason). I've always found her performances kinda flat, and she fits that bill here with one of the lamest-ass stripteases I've ever seen.

    One thing that gave me pause -- Even though the film was made in B&W, the mental patients dreams were in color. I dream in color. Coincidence?
  • thirdway821
    June 20, 2011
    thirdway821
    Very powerful stuff. The storytelling, the acting, the mood, the visuals. Again, very powerful controversial stuff. Samuel Fuller is a filmmaker (like Martin Scorsese, Quientin Tarantino) isn't afraid to take risks and in this case it's all in "Shock Corridor" the story of a man ... read morewho goes to mental hospital who pretends to go mentally insane to get information from the patients he conversates with in order to get a Pulitzer Prize.

    What I admire is Fuller's bold messages, an inmate who uses racial slurs to show America's insane obsession with racism, a prostitute who has a heart of gold, and finally the corrupt system of the beast (corruption in society, greed, media, politics) it's all there and it's all evident, inside of an insane asylum. Great stuff by the master director Samuel Fuller.
  • anastasia57001
    October 21, 2009
    anastasia57001
    What can you write on Samuel Fuller's work without looking like a moron? I don't want to resort to academic criticisms which sound empty to people who haven't studied film, but can FEEL when a film is good or bad.

    Samuel Fuller's films ARE "bad". But his art is THE RE-DEFINITIO... read moreN of bad. His films work their way into your mind like a worm. If I had to compare him to someone, I would compare him to Trier and Bergman. His work reminds me of both, in terms of emotional impact, of the way he paces his films, of the cruel insight he has on reality's worst aspects.

    Fuller's films are a life-time experience. I don't think anyone should let critics and academia lead them on this and tell them how and what they should think of a film, what's more this one. Just get there yourself and (unlike his characters) remember the way to get back...
  • Hellshocked
    March 13, 2009
    Hellshocked
    From "The Manchurian Candidate" to "Night of the Living Dead", so many films from the turbulent 60s reflect the conflicts, confusion, instability and turmoil of the era in which they were made. Few, however, managed to do it as literally "Shock Corridor".

    When a reporter decides... read more to infiltrate a mental hospital in order to solve a murder and win a Pulitzer, he finds himself in a condensed microcosm of the United States: a madhouse where bigotry, a failed civil rights movement, war and the threat of nuclear annihilation have come to define its patients/citizens. As our lead gets closer to the murderer, he begins to lose his mind.

    The film makes no apologies for its crude, B-movieness (on the contrary, it is proud of its roots) or lack of subtlety. There is no doubt this was a labor of love for Sam Fuller, its writer-director, who had something unequivocal to say and made no bones about it. The film is well acted, well written and works quite well both as a fun genre picture and as something more.
  • HuskersNC949597
    June 16, 2010
    HuskersNC949597
    Wildly overrated, the acting wanders from good to overdone to the point of being annoying. We are then subjected to a series of rants on race relations for some reason, I guess this is "bold" for the 1960s, or the middle of the whole civil rights movement. Oh, and there's a mur... read moreder mystery that is solved almost the minute Barratt walks into the ward, or at least the minute Trent mentions the white pants. This leads to some long, boring searching by Barratt as he predictably loses his mind. The plotholes are gaping, unless they're dealing with the least competent, laziest mental hospital in the country, but I guess one that doesn't notice an attendant murdering a patient COULD qualify for that honor.

View All Shock Corridor Reviews

Critic Reviews

Christopher Long
February 26, 2011
Christopher Long, Movie Metropolis

And of course there are the nymphos! Full Review

Chris Barsanti
February 1, 2011
Chris Barsanti, PopMatters

[an] electroshocker of a jeremiad which aims to jangle as many nerves as possible in the shortest time available - subtlety be damned. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
January 21, 2011
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Borrowing an idea from a little-seen Budd Boetticher thriller, Behind Locked Doors (1948), Shock Corridor runs with it, going into crazy, angry places and finishing up as one of Samuel Fuller's greate... Full Review

Sean Axmaker
January 18, 2011
Sean Axmaker, Parallax View

It's psychodrama at its most lurid and confrontational... Full Review

Rob Gonsalves
September 17, 2010
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com

A towering pulp achievement. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
February 18, 2007
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

As amoral as a room full of nymphs. Full Review

Douglas Pratt
October 14, 2004
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser

Filmed in Fuller's cigar-in-your-face style, it is a sober but deeply satirical depiction of a modern asylum, in which the patients are clearly intended to remind one of various American political and...

Nick Davis
March 28, 2004
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks

Shock Corridor undercuts its own authority by ham-fisting its protests into a banal plot structure and a totally undisciplined tonal register. Full Review

Ken Hanke
August 21, 2002
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Fascinating Sam Fuller film

John A. Nesbit
June 19, 2001
John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews

Fuller's low-budgeted masterpiece screams for more recognition. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Shutter Island
    Shutter Island (43%)
  • Brainstorm
    Brainstorm (100%)
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (38%)
  • Ace in the Hole (The Big Carnival)
    Ace in the Hole (The Big Carnival) (67%)

More Movies like Shock Corridor

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Shock Corridor : Watch Free on TV

Shock Corridor Trivia

  • Which Sam Fuller film sees a journalist get himself admitted to a mental asylum in order to solve the murder of an inmate?  Answer »
More Shock Corridor Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Shock Corridor. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Shock Corridor to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?