This is a grisly and creepy film, calculated to make anyone extremely uncomfortable. It is true that it is an effective noir film, but a very nasty one. It is one of those 'locked in an asylum and can't get out' movies, but is very unpleasant. The omnipotent corrupt psychiatrist has rarely been better portrayed than by Vincent Price here, unctuous earnest charm and all. He is teamed by a veritable murdering harpy, Lynn Bari, who is his assistant who WANTS HIM. You can see her gradually taking bites out of him, his blood wetting her cheeks, and she licks her chops. And she will kill anyone who gets in her way as easily as swatting a fly. Under pressure from Bari as his demanding mistress, Price, who has something of a temper problem, impulsively kills his wife. However, he happens to be overseen by Anabel Shaw, playing the wife of a returning GI lieutenant, who is expected within hours after two years' absence. Shaw goes into a catatonic trance, very well portrayed, and cannot speak with shock. This state of shock is the 'shock' of the title. Price realizes she is the only witness to the murder he has committed, so he whips her into his asylum where he drugs her and holds her prisoner. Her very feeble husband lets Price get away with everything, and even agrees to insulin shock treatment therapy! Shaw is meanwhile a very weak, hysterical, neurotically sensitive young woman who is one of those feeble gals who faints at the sight of blood, or falls limply into the hands of any gorilla who comes along and pounds his chest, so she is so annoying one almost wants her to stay drugged, as she has no character to speak of. We would feel more sympathy for her if she were not such a piece of wet spaghetti. Things get tenser and tenser, and the baddies get closer and closer to their goal of eliminating the annoying witness, and living in eternal carnal bliss. Will they succeed? How can they be stopped? But really, this is absolutely not a fun picture.
Review of Shock
