04-06-2015, 12:42 AM
After the abominably listless and depressing Synecdoche New York, I felt a desperate need to see a cheerful and uplifting bit of drama--or even a comedy.
Shock Corridor sounded like the ticket.
Well, titles can be deceptive. This is actually a pretty dark and intense drama. A journalist schemes to get himself committed to an insane asylum so he can track down the killer of a patient. He is certain the story will win him the Pulitzer.
But first he needs to be committed. So he asks his exotic-dancer girlfriend to pretend to be his sister and accuse him of incest. She balks at first. In fact, she tells him, “Scratch me from this race, Johnny,” which resonates with Karate Kid’s “Sweep the leg, Johnny” in a way that convinced me I was watching the prequel. Finally the shock treatments and straightjackets brought me to my senses, and no, this has nothing to do with Karate Kid.
Though there are some great and chaotic fight sequences, making me wince at the falls taken by the actors (perhaps there were stuntmen, but some rough sequences were quite long and had to be the actors). DM really should have tried to work a screener for this.
The film is a bit behind the times in its depiction of mental illness, but not as far removed as one might expect. There’s a mad intensity that keeps building throughout, and the film works surprisingly well on an emotional level despite its many implausibilities.
Yes, this was on the 366weirdmovies list. While I’m not certain I’d place it so high in weirdness, it’s a very good movie and would make for a nice family outing.
Shock Corridor sounded like the ticket.
Well, titles can be deceptive. This is actually a pretty dark and intense drama. A journalist schemes to get himself committed to an insane asylum so he can track down the killer of a patient. He is certain the story will win him the Pulitzer.
But first he needs to be committed. So he asks his exotic-dancer girlfriend to pretend to be his sister and accuse him of incest. She balks at first. In fact, she tells him, “Scratch me from this race, Johnny,” which resonates with Karate Kid’s “Sweep the leg, Johnny” in a way that convinced me I was watching the prequel. Finally the shock treatments and straightjackets brought me to my senses, and no, this has nothing to do with Karate Kid.
Though there are some great and chaotic fight sequences, making me wince at the falls taken by the actors (perhaps there were stuntmen, but some rough sequences were quite long and had to be the actors). DM really should have tried to work a screener for this.
The film is a bit behind the times in its depiction of mental illness, but not as far removed as one might expect. There’s a mad intensity that keeps building throughout, and the film works surprisingly well on an emotional level despite its many implausibilities.
Yes, this was on the 366weirdmovies list. While I’m not certain I’d place it so high in weirdness, it’s a very good movie and would make for a nice family outing.
I'm nobody's pony.
