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High Anxiety

High Anxiety

Comedy · Mystery · Thriller · 1977

A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep.

Movie details

High Anxiety

“Danger, intrigue, romance...and a touch of kinkiness!”

1977 Comedy · Mystery · Thriller 1h 34m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

A psychiatrist with intense acrophobia (fear of heights) goes to work for a mental institution run by doctors who appear to be crazier than their patients, and have secrets that they are willing to commit murder to keep.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over High Anxiety?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct

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The Substitute 2: School's Out

The Substitute 2: School's Out

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Brake

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Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker

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Cruising

Cruising

Crime · 1980

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Novocaine

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Comedy · 2001

A dentist finds himself a murder suspect after a sexy patient seduces him into prescribing her drugs.

D.O.A.

D.O.A.

Mystery · 1949

Frank Bigelow is about to die, and he knows it. The accountant has been poisoned and has only 24 hours before the lethal concoction kills him. Determined to find out who his murderer is, Frank, with the help of his assistant and girlfriend, Paula, begins to trace back over his last steps. As he frantically tries to unravel the mystery behind his own impending demise, his sleuthing leads him to a group of crooked businessmen and another murder.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Mel Brooks

Written by

Mel Brooks · Ron Clark · Rudy De Luca · Barry Levinson

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke

Madeline Kahn

Madeline Kahn

Victoria Brisbane

Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman

Nurse Charlotte Diesel

Harvey Korman

Harvey Korman

Dr. Charles Montague

Ron Carey

Ron Carey

Brophy

Howard Morris

Howard Morris

Professor Lilloman

Dick Van Patten

Dick Van Patten

Dr. Philip Wentworth

Court is in session

Put High Anxiety on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.