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Dianne Hull plays a woman who is committed to a psychiatric ward after getting poisoned at a disco. A lot of overlap with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and it plays like a TV Movie of the Week - aside from nudity from method actress Hull.
Kelly McIntyre (Dianne Hull) arrives at the discoteque where she works.
Kelly tells her friend that she's just gone through a bad breakup.
She's clearly going through some shit and intends on getting drunk and dancing the night away. What she doesn't realize is that her drinks have been drugged. The bartender tries to warn her, but she's not thinking straight.
Kelly gets on the dance floor and goes nuts. He dress is flying open and she's dancing like a maniac.
She ends up going into a seizure. Her friend tries to help and they call for an ambulance.
The doctors determine it's strychnine poisoning.
Kelly is disturbed to wake up in the psychiatric ward. It seems she's been committed.
Robert Englund plays one of the mental patients - currently pretending to be her doctor.
Kelly tries to explain to the doctor in charge (Mel Ferrer) that she shouldn't be in here. But he isn't particularly supportive.
But the worst is yet to come as Kelly is introduced to the orderly, Carl - played to disturbing perfection by Bo Hopkins.
He takes her to the showers.
Kelly is extremely uneasy with Carl watching her shower.
Kelly is on high alert as Carl ogles her.
Carl closes in and explains that things are different here on the Fifth Floor.
Kelly makes a run for it - and we get a brief full frontal from Dianne Hull.
The mental ward is taken on a trip to the zoo. Kelly uses the opportunity to escape. She flags down a car and makes her way home.
Unfortunately, her shitty boyfriend Ronnie (John David Carson) turns her in. So, she's right back where she started, getting drugged up in the psychiatric ward.
To calm her nerves, Kelly takes a therapeutic bath.
Unfortunately, Carl is on this shift.
Kelly tries to escape, but Carl pulls her back and starts dunking her violently in the water.
He shoves pills down her throat until Kelly is barely conscious.
Carl pulls Kelly from the tub - and we can only imagine what happens next.
Kelly makes yet another escape but is again apprehended.
Carl is ultimately killed by a mental patient and Kelly is finally released. THE END
Actress Dianne Hull is actually quite good (and clearly okay with nudity). She studied method acting under Lee Strasberg, where she was discovered by Elia Kazan, who cast her in his 1969 film The Arrangement. After that it was TV appearances on shows like Hawaii 5-0 and less and less respectable movies like Christmas Evil. In 2009, she began teaching method acting herself.
The movie itself would have made a damn fine Movie of the Week, but as a theatrical release this is just barely passing. If Lifetime showed bush, this would be a perfect fit. As mentioned, it just has that look and feel of a TV movie, and it bore too much of a resemblance to Cuckoos Nest. Still, it was a nice slice of the seventies - featuring disco, Freddy Krueger, pubic hair, and Bo Hopkins at his perviest.
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 6/10
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ 6/10