The Fifth Floor (1978)

I love this movie so much

Load of rubbish!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

When Dianne Hull's otherwise energetic and sexy college student/disco queen Kelly wakes up in a mental ward (like Dorothy back in Kansas), surrounded by onlooking patients with endearingly unique personality traits, you'll think this was a heartfelt made-for-TV movie. That's until the full frontal nudity occurs within that fifth floor, a mental ward that isn't such a bad place after all.Except for Bo Hopkins as Carl, who seems like a nice enough attendant but he's dead-set after Kelly's body. He's already raped another inmate, that being scene-stealer and poster girl Shannon Farrell as Melanie. With shaggy dirty-blond hair and an eclectic range of emotions, she's the person most effected by what our main character Kelly should be more effected by: being stuck in a blue-walled purgatory that offers random electroshock therapy like peanuts at a ball game.Kelly, falsely accused of attempting suicide, had been intentionally poisoned. There doesn't seem to be any way out of the ward except one successful escape that doesn't last very long since Kelly's boyfriend (John David Carson) is in cahoots with the friendly head doctor (Mel Ferrer). Meanwhile strict nurse Julie Adams has real Nurse Ratched potential but turns out sweet and friendly, making Bo the sole antagonist.With frightfully promising taglines like "Once the door closes here, it never opens" or "The Nightmare is knowing You're Sane," it's much too cozy a cuckoo's nest for our sexy and vulnerable ingénue, who winds up teaching the patients how to disco dance and assert themselves... That is, except for Sharon Farrell's emotionally-scarred Melanie, stubbornly remaining the only worthy example of (what could have/should have been a much edgier version of a) character-driven 1970's exploitation that, despite the flaws and missed opportunities, is still somewhat intriguing. Other inmates including Patti D'Arbanville (BIG Wednesday), Robert Englund (the original Freddie Kruger), Anthony James (who starred in THE TEACHER also directed by Howard Avedis), and Earl Boen (the doubting Thomas of the TERMINATOR franchise) add little to the overall melodrama but it's a nice bouquet of character-actors nonetheless.

I caught this in 1980 as part of a double bill at a theatre. The other film was the sick "Don't Go In The House". This was only a little better but that's very faint praise.Supposedly based on a true story (I have my doubts) this is about a college girl who is wrongly sent to an insane asylum by a vengeful boyfriend. OK--just the basic premise is silly. Really--a BOYFRIEND has his girlfriend committed???? Where's her family? On what charges? So--right off the bat--it doesn't make sense. In the asylum we meet the yawningly familiar type of lovable psychos. We also meet the nasty orderly--he's played by Bo Hopkins so you KNOW he's evil. The film is filled with the regular pointless female nudity, a dull plot and pretty terrible acting. Only Hopkins (who is obviously having fun) even tries to give a good performance. For his acting alone I give this a 2. Otherwise it's pretty run of the mill and dreary.

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 *****

If this really happened, heaven help us all! If you're looking for a really entertaining bad movie, this is the one! A disco waitress is mistakingly admitted to "the fifth floor", a psychiatric ward in a hospital after being drugged by an evil co-worker. While there, she battles unscrupulous and apathetic doctors and staff, and still manages to teach her fellow inmates the latest disco dance moves.