I spent a great 3 hours last night with the Criterion blu of Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor. The movie has an edgy, in your face rawness about it, you literally don't know whats coming your way from scene to scene. The depiction of mental illness might irk some but not me, I couldn't wait to meet the next 'loony'. My favourite was the intense performance by Hari Rhodes as the black guy who thinks he's a Klu Klux Klan wizard - scathing social comment here behind the weirdness. Fuller has a great eye for the memorable image as well, so there's visuals to go with the polemic - all in all, a winner. Even better though, is the one hour doc that is in the extras, which covers Fullers life and career. There's Tarantino gushing away as he rifles through Fullers memorabilia, the touching sight of the frail (but still feisty as hell) director clutching Tim Robbins hand during the interviews, war footage that Fuller shot, including the liberation of a concentration camp. Amazing life he had and this doc (and the interview with Constance Towers, who's uber sexy in this film and still looking good 50 years on) makes this release a must have.
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