The Fifth Floor (1978)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

disgusting, overrated, pointless

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

A woman (Dianne Hull) is poisoned with strychnine while disco dancing (now THAT might have been an effective way to stop disco). Everyone (including her clueless boyfriend) takes her poisoning to be a suicide attempt and she ends up involuntarily committed to a co-ed mental institution where there is a lot of melodrama, but really little that goes beyond a typical 70's TV movie of the week. Her main antagonist is a corrupt male orderly (Bo Hopkins) who pressures her for sex. Her fellow inmates, meanwhile, include a young Robert England and an (apparently genuinely) pregnant Patti D'Arbanville.A lot of stuff in this movie seems rather preposterous today, but back in the 70's perhaps not so much. This movie kind of reminded me of the the contemporary theatrical film "Human Experiments" and the TV movie "Nightmare in Badham County". Dianne Hull was one of those very cute 70's actresses who appeared in a few things and then pretty much vanished into oblivion. This is perhaps her most memorable role aside from "Girls on the Road" (where she'd played a hitch-hiking teenager who almost has sex with "Papa Walton"). Her full-frontal nude scenes are about the only thing that separate this from a tame TV movie, but she does give a pretty good performance. And it's always fun to watch Bo Hopkins play a redneck villain even if he's not quite as memorable as he is in "White Lightning" and .This is probably not a movie that's going to make a deep impression on anybody, but it's entertaining enough I guess.

Although this was made in 1978, I recall seeing this with Don't Go In The House in 1980 at the drive-in theatre. Oddly enough I was attending psychiatric technician training at the time. Bo Hopkins after introducing himself to the unfortunate disco heroine as 'your friendly psychiatric technician' goes on to deliver a good performance with convincing menace beneath a superficial cheery 'therapeutic' demeanor. Sharon Farrell is convincing as a patient. The always creepy Anthony James gives one of his best performances and, horror fans, Robert 'Freddie' Englund is also on hand as a patient. Toss in some disco and you got some kind of late 70's semi-classic drive-in entertainment.If nothing else, watching Bo Hopkins puffing on a cigarette as he worked reminded me of 1980, when it was commonplace to see staff and patients smoking on a unit. Note too, that Bo appears to be working AM, PM (Swing) and Noc shift in this movie. No doubt racking up some good OT money but perhaps driving himself to some of the behaviors he displays. (For me) nostalgic fun ** out of *****

I saw this film as a kid and I remember the advertisments for it on tv made it look like it would be as scary as The Shining. It really isn't scary at all. The actors do a fine job, Dianne Hull (whatever happened to her?) makes a nice damsel in distress. Its funny seeing Robert Englund before he played Freddy Kruger. A young disco dancer is mistakingly committed to an asylum after someone drugs her. It makes you think because there really have been a lot of cases like this. I don't remember what happened in the end, but I don't think it had a happy ending.

'Strong supporting cast. Dianne Hull is underrated in this movie. The storyline gets a little weak towards the end when the director has to tie up all the lose ends. The ending scene pretty much wipes away most of the good acting in this film. The shock treatment scene wasn't as brutal, or dramatic as it could have been. The scenery and locations for the time were an execellent choice. If you find yourself looking to pick up an extra movie for the weekend and want something not so light or heavy, rent this. Worth the two bucks.