Shock Corridor (1963)

An ambitious journalist (Peter Breck) has himself committed to a mental asylum under false pretenses in order to solve a murder that occurred there. But it isn't long before he starts unraveling under the strain. Written and directed by Samuel Fuller, this over the top piece of pulp is completely bonkers (no pun intended). It's greatly admired by Fuller's admirers (which I count myself as one) but it's too crude and inconsistent for me to fully embrace. The mental patients are painted with the broadest brush imaginable, they're all frothing at the mouth batshit crazy but suddenly become incredibly lucid when it serves the script's intentions. There's even a "nympho ward" where sex crazed women are kept and woe to the poor guy who wanders in. I'll give Fuller the benefit of the doubt and that all this non stop hysteria is intentional but this mixture of social comment and exploitation are often at odds with each other. With Constance Towers, Gene Evans, James Best, Hari Rhodes and Philip Ahn.