Paul Elliott’s review published on Letterboxd:
Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor is a powerfully dramatic psychological thriller directed in his typical manner where everything becomes heightened with a rumbling cynical style. He also produced and wrote the script and assures the material comes transported with a coarse and explosive impact, bringing about an understanding on why François Truffaut admired him as well as a rationale for being championed by French New Wave directors more broadly.
The story follows Johnny Barrett, portrayed by Peter Breck, a journalist who has become fixated with an eagerness to achieve the Pulitzer Prize. When he learns of an unresolved murder within the confines of a mental institution, he sets about getting himself committed into the mental health facility to unmask the murderer and make the most of the acclaim accompanying the achievement. However, once inside the sanitarium walls, he discovers a microcosm of America in the company of the often motionless and unresponsive patients.
Fuller capably materialises commentary on numerous American social and political ideologies as well as expressing opinions on the hypocrisies of sexual attraction and activity. As the film proceeds, the imaginative cinematography by Stanley Cortez assists in refocusing the narrative so that the mystery of the murderer recedes into the distance and a more disturbing emphasis becomes a priority, that of Barrett's idiosyncratic struggle with sanity. Shock Corridor is a beautiful balance of expressionism and sensationalistic superfluity.