SummaryMel Brooks' spoof of the most famous Hitchcockian classics-"Vertigo," "The Birds," "Psycho" and "Spellbound." After a Harvard psychiatrist (Brooks) takes over the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, he realizes his predecessor died under suspicious circumstances. When events take a murderous turn, he is accused of the crime and ... Read More
Directed By:Mel Brooks
Written By:Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy De Luca, Barry Levinson
High Anxiety
Metascore
Mixed or Average
55
User score
Generally Favorable
7.1
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
55
60% Positive
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
20% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
20% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
83
Anxiety is nearly as obsessive in recreating Alfred Hitchcock's visual style as Gus Van Sant's Psycho was, but to much greater effect.
80
As witty and as disciplined as "Young Frankenstein," though it has one built-in problem: Hitchcock himself is a very funny man. His films, even at their most terrifying and most suspenseful, are full of jokes shared with the audience. Being so self-aware, Hitchcock's films deny an easy purchase to the parodist, especially one who admires his subject the way Mr. Brooks does.
63
One of the problems with Mel Brooks's High Anxiety is that it picks a tricky target: It's a spoof of the work of Alfred Hitchcock, but Hitchcock's films are often funny themselves. And satire works best when its target is self-important.
40
As with all great spoofers, you can feel the love the director has for Hitchcock, the thoroughness of his jokes vouches for that and the entire plot is loosely based on Spellbound. Perhaps, he was too devoted, the film lacks daring, it’s soft, Hitch would have sneered at such weakness.
30
This is a child's idea of satire - imitations, with a funny hat and a leer...There isn't a whisper of suspense, and there are few earned laughs; all Brooks does is let us know he has seen some of the same movies we have.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.1
75% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
13% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
13% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Aug 30, 2024
3
A transparent send-up of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous suspense pictures, this probably sounded better on paper than it looks on the screen. It's expected that a Mel Brooks movie would be filled to the brim with cheap puns, obvious punchlines and loads of sight gags - that's part of his allure, actually - but High Anxiety seems thin even by those standards. A basement-level plot might have something to do with that; beneath the dense surface of Brooks's best pictures lies a surprisingly rich, inherently funny basic storyline. That's missing in this dim, forced tale of good, evil and jealousy in the hallways a California psychiatric ward. If Blazing Saddles is a novella, High Anxiety is a two-page pamphlet. It's got some value, but not enough to justify a very long sitting.
Production Company:
- Crossbow Productions
Release Date:Dec 25, 1977
Duration:1 h 34 m
Rating:PG
Tagline:The Master of Comedy takes on The Master of Suspense!
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Nominations
