The Fifth Floor

The Fifth Floor is an engaging piece of work that was much better than I expected. Using a tag line like "From the disco floor to the insane asylum" is asking for trouble but the film deserves better than that. Dianne Hull plays Kelly, a friendly girl who works at a disco club (not sure what as!), who has a sudden seizure one night while dancing and is rushed to hospital. When it is found that she has strychnine poisoning, Kelly claims that she has been poisoned, but alas for her, no-one believes her and she is sent to a psychiatrist as a possible suicide, which, due to a few more misunderstandings, leads her to being incarcerated on the "Fifth Floor", which is a special secure ward for the insane. Can she establish her sanity and get out of the place and back to normality? What I liked about the film is that it plays the scenario of Kelly's plight out quite seriously. The more she complains, accuses the staff of lying and refuses to take treatment ( a very good performance here by Dianne Hull), the more deeply she gets herself trapped. While watching you find yourself thinking: "Yes I guess that's exactly what a mad person would do and say as well", and her plight struck me as all too believable. The biggest spanner in the works for poor Kelly is a corrupt and lascivious orderly called Carl (effectlively played by Bo Hopkins) who likes to sexually assault the younger female inmates and then blame their later accusations on hysteria. He takes a shine to Kelly and the two scenes in which he abuses her are quite unpleasant. Thrown into this are some good minor performances by the other inmates that Kelly befriends, including a pregnant girl called Cathy and a seriously unhappy and troubled woman named Melanie, played with genuine feeling and impressive intensity by Sharon Farrell. So, although the plot is nothing new (sane person committed to an asylum by mistake), the film does a good job of handling it. Although the situation is kept small scale, you can certainly feel for the central character, and with great performances all round and a couple of rather surprisingly brutal scenes, it all goes towards making "The Fifth Floor" a place you really should visit.

Its obvious that some big wigs, or maybe small wigs, decided that because One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest was popular and that Disco was still flapping its huge collars and flares on the dancefloor, combining the two would be a hit. Well it wasn't. I saw that because this only ended up on my radar after watching old Siskel and Ebert reviews, watching old trailers and somehow this entered my consciousness. The next day it pops up on Talking Pictures TV, so it would have been rude not to... The story is about a disco dancing student who ends up ingesting some drug which ends up with her being sectioned. The rest of the movie is her trying to prove her sanity, while being abused by various members of staff. This is many peoples idea of hell. And what I can tell you is that this is based on fact. A bunch of psychologists decided to do an experiment by pretending to be crazy in order to get sectioned. They were and nobody believed their stories about being psychologists. You can look this up. So with a solid premise and with psychiatric input to the film, its strange that "the crazies" act pretty normal. I suppose real looking mental health patients aren't for show. What is surprising is the quality of the cast. There are so many faces that went on to be so well known in the following decade its a wonder this isn't more widely known. The film does work in terms of engagement however and the story is well paced and executed. It obviously has some similarities to women in prison movies, but it doesn't really have the same sleaze or nudity. It is basically a disco-melodrama version of Cuckoos nest, without the same emotional punch. Although it does have a satisfying conclusion.

Yes. Dianne Hull played Archie's niece in one All in the Family episode. In this movie, she plays Kelly, who is mistakenly sent to an insane asylum. Dianne's performance here is kind of bland, but she still drove me crazy! No pun intended. Dianne's casting was curious. She was at least 30 years old at the time. Yet, her character was supposed to be a college student? Well, whatever. Why did Dianne drive me "crazy"? Her * scenes were the best parts of this movie. Also, she looked like she was wearing little or no makeup. Natural is very, very sexy. Perhaps, I shouldn't have criticized Dianne's performance. Actually, the acting, in general, is sub-par. There was the potential for a good thriller here, but the movie is mediocre. In contrast to other reviewers, I don't think Bo Hopkins is the reason to watch this movie. He plays a sadistic hospital employee, but his character is more unlikeable than effective. Sharon Farrell is good as a genuinely disturbed inmate, but she doesn't look good. I can really recommend the movie because of Dianne Hull! Her acting left something to be desired, but her * scenes made up for everything!

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 *****

Let me set the record straight, on this one. This is in no way, a bit movie, where I don't want illicit substances, other reviewers on, but this none other a fine solid, absorbing drama, based supposedly on a real incident, where a woman supposedly picked up the wrong drink, where a jilted boyfriend, had spiked it with Strickinine (and don't go off at me, for spelling it wrong) so our pretty lass Hull, ends up in a psyche ward, on the fifth floor, or as one crazy puts, Psycho city, where her introduction, is pure gold. The movie is a lot of fun, I found, with some real cooks, played by good supports, one being Robert Englund, before he put on that decapitating monster mask, and those ripping claws. We really see the depressing realities of daily life, inside this place, and we really sympathize with Hull's helplessness, her ordeal, only heightened, by a male orderly, and sexual deviate, Hopkins, who takes advantage of our pretty philies, even chance he gets, really creating a nasty piece of work, with a love to hate performance, the bath scene implanted in my memory, from my first watch of 1985. Julie Adams, was good too, as a matron, as was Mel Ferrer, strong as the chief doc, and as a memorable performance crazy, suicide victim, D'Arbanville left a lasting impression, while another actor you'll recognize, where there's a great irony involved here, where this time as a patient, he's on the other side of the door. This is a very involving and I'll say it again, absorbing, little nifty film, another of these well made seventies movie's that warrants viewing, with stars we don't see now. Forget the bad hype. Please.

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.

THE FIFTH FLOOR opens at the Demons Disco Club, where Kelly McIntyre (Dianne Hull) arrives to join in on whatever disco dance craze is taking place at the moment. One must say that she certainly has the moves! Uh oh! Something goes horribly awry, causing Kelly to convulse violently on the floor, as if she's being tortured with cattle prods! Is this just her attempt at some daring new dance routine? The next thing she knows, Kelly's trapped in the nuthouse, being examined by Dr. Freddy Krueger! The rest is a nightmare for poor Kelly, who only wants to be free to boogie once more. Nothing can prepare you for the zany "group therapy" session! If you've been searching for a movie that captures the rigors of disco, combined with the obligatory torment of the Women In Prison sub-genre, that is set in a mental hospital, then search no more! Ms. Hull's lethargic, near-dead performance is perfectly realized, and her fretting is unparalleled. SPECIAL MENTION: For Bo Hopkins, who plays the sleazy orderly known as Carl with all the Carl-ness that anyone could possibly muster. No one chews gum or smokes cigarettes like Bo! No one!...

Long live Film Ventures! Once again, all movie and no substance really pays off big time! THE FIFTH FLOOR is best classified as light exploitation that adds Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund in his early embarrassment of a movie role. Yes, the 50s and 60s were ridiculous, but the late 70s makes things even worse by cashing in on the disco fad. That's all the fun this one has to offer. Where, by golly, did the REAL ending go??? Try checking out this film, plus FVI's all-time schlocker DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE for nostalgia's sake. And remember, don't forget to put on those dusty polyester jackets and play those scratchy records of the Bee Gees! Now that's weird!

This 1978 thriller stars Dianne Hull, Bo Hopkins, Sharon Farrell and Robert Englund based on true events. This tells about a disco dancer, Kelly (Hull) who decides to drink one night to get over a failed relationship, but is drugged. Soon, she's committed to a psychiatric hospital because she's thought to be suicidal and is confined to the fifth floor where she befriends a group of seemingly, unbalanced patients. Kelly finds herself in a nightmare trying to prove that she's sane, but it becomes impossible and she endures the floor's negative aspects like Carl (Hopkins), a sexual predator, orderly. Farrell plays Melanie, a very depressed, patient Kelly befriends and Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) plays character acting, patient, Benny. This isn't a bad thriller featuring a decent cast, especially the attractive, Hull and tense moments. Give this one a view if you're into psychological thrillers.

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 * 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.