Shock is a 1946 American Film Noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring Vincent Price, Lynn Bari and Frank Latimore.
Janet Stewart arrives at a hotel to reunite with her husband, Paul, who's coming back from World War II. However, Paul's return is unexpectedly delayed, and during her wait, Janet becomes a witness to a shocking murder. This traumatic experience leaves Janet emotionally fragile, and the hotel's doctor seeks the expertise of renowned psychiatrist Dr. Cross. Little does Janet know that Dr. Cross is the very person responsible for the murder she witnessed, his own wife's murder. To prevent Janet from exposing his dark secret, Dr. Cross persuades Paul to allow him to care for her at his sanitarium. Inside the facility, Nurse Jordan, Dr. Cross's lover, aids in keeping Janet sedated and disoriented. Can Janet manage to convince anyone of her sanity before it's too late?
Shock contains examples of:
- Angst Coma: Janet Stewart witnesses a murder being committed in a hotel suite from her balcony. The next morning, her husband Paul arrives and attempts to surprise Janet. Instead, he discovers her sitting on the couch, staring into space. She has gone into a state of shock as a result of seeing the murder.
- A Deadly Affair: Dr. Cross asks his wife Margaret for a divorce so he can marry his mistress Elaine. she agrees to the divorce, but promises to drag his name through the mud in the process and destroy his reputation. Cross snaps and grabbs a candlestick and bludgeons her to death with it.
- Dead Man's Chest: After murdering his wife, Dr. Cross packs her body into a trunk and has it shipped to his lodge, so he can dispose of it later and Make It Look Like an Accident.
- Gaslighting: Dr. Cross and Elaine first decide to make Janet forget the incident, but then they decide to discredit her proclaiming Janet insane.
- Lady Macbeth: Dr. Cross' nurse/lover Elaine Jordan first urges him to keep wife's murder secret and then to take Janet Stewart, the only witness to the murder, into his sanitarium. Once there, Elaine first persuades Cross to make Janet forget the incident, and then to discredit her by proclaiming Janet insane. Finally, she persuades him to murder Janet under the guise of giving her insulin shock therapy.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: After murdering his wife, Dr. Cross throws her body down a canyon near their country lodge; intending for her head injuries to be written off as the result of a fall. This is initially successful, but an unrelated attack in the same area causes the local authorities to exhume the body.
- Medication Tampering: Dr. Cross administers insulin shock therapy to Janet and intends to use the last dose as a cover to murdering her by insulin overdose.
- One-Word Title
- Psycho Psychologist: After murdering his wife, psychiatrist Dr. Richard Cross has Janet Stewart, the only witness to the crime, committed to his private sanitarium under the pretext of treating her nervous collapse. Once under his care, he first attempts to drive her permanently insane and then, when that fails, tries to murder her.
- "Rear Window" Witness: Janet goes to the balcony in the middle of the night after a nightmare. She witnesses the renowned psychiatrist Dr. Richard Cross asking for the divorce to his wife and having an argument with her. Out of the blue, Dr. Cross kills her with a candlestick and Janet has a nervous collapse and stays catatonic in shock in her room.
- Spanner in the Works: Two things threaten to expose Dr. Cross' impulsive murder of his wife. One is Janet Stewart; a "Rear Window" Witness to the crime. The other is an unconnected assault and robbery in the area where he disposed of his wife's body, which causes the local authorities to exhume her body to see if the cases are connected.
