I first saw Shock Corridor as a young'un when it was released (IMDb says September 1963), because by then I was obsessed with anything that promised to be a thriller or horror film. I was no doubt thrilled with the thrilling aspects, but I probably didn't understand everything else going on in the movie.
I didn't see it again or really even hear of it for years, like, till the late 1990s or early 2000s when I was having fun buying up laserdiscs that people were beginning to let go in favor of DVDs. On eBay I won a bid for the Criterion LDs of that and The Naked Kiss and I always fondly remembered the adventure of driving to downtown Stamford and meeting the seller for those pristine copies in the Stamford Library Starbucks or whatever it was. I devoured them over the next couple of nights. It was my first time to see Naked Kiss, and I, too, will never forget the impact of the opening scene.
Years later I bought the Criterion Blu-rays as soon as they were released, but for whatever reason I never got around to taking them out and enjoying them -- until literally just a couple of months ago. I don't know if I posted about it. I had just watched a documentary or two about Fuller so I started with those two movies again, then branched out to Pickup on South Street, The Crimson Kimono, and White Dog. I have others that still need watching, but those are five amazing and stunning films.
