Committed - Der einzige Weg nach Draussen ist der Tod

Jennifer O'Neill, once considered a goddess when introduced to the world in "Summer of '42", went downhill with a string of B-Grade films such as the Chuck Norris film "A FORCE OF ONE" and Lucio Fulci's "THE PSYCHIC".

She ultimately hits bottom-of-the-barrel with this straight-to-video trash, "COMMITTED". In this movie, our lovely lady plays Susan Manning, a down-on-her-luck woman who applies for a job as a nurse at a sanitarium. The place is run by none other than Seth from "MURDER SHE WROTE" (William Windom) and houses a vast collection of crazies that includes a tweaky Ron Palillo.

Poor naive Susan believes that she is actually seriously applying for the position of a nurse and signs her life away without reading the Contract first! When she realizes that the place is a little too kooky even for her liking, she tries to leave but is electrocuted at the front gate. When she wakes up, she realizes that she is now a patient at the sanitarium.

Forced to wear the only outfit in her closet, a nurse's uniform (!), she becomes subject to the needs of the patients who reside in the sanitarium. The place is filled with a bevy of laughable camp characters, including a loony secretary who claims that William Windom "gets her so wet" (LOL) and an aspiring poet named Isandra who only wants to read her finished piece of poetry in front of a dedicated audience.

Susan befriends Isandra and Ron Palillo who eventually directs her to a telephone, with hilarious results. She also discovers the mystery to Windom's character and why things are the way they are. The film also tries to introduce a 'mystery murder plot' that has fewer twists and surprises than a regular episode of "SCOOBY DOO", except with more laughs.

Everything about this movie screams "straight-to-video", "low budget trash" and "bad acting". I used to wonder if the scene at the beginning of the film where Jennifer O'Neill makes a mad dash for the gates after realizing what a mess she had gotten herself into was actually her REAL actions after spending one day shooting this garbage. I'll bet she regretted signing that contract too, and you all know WHICH ONE I mean!

I recommend that you watch "COMMITTED" only for the reason of seeing Jennifer O'Neill making a fool out of herself in this laugh riot.

My Rating - 2 out of 10

Just how does a nurse 'accidently' commit himself to a mental asylum? Well, the answer is provided early on in this interesting little movie, and from then on it begins to twist it's way to its perfunctory conclusion.

By no means a superb movie, it does however have several moments of good suspense. Based on the preface given at the start of the movie, this is a game of 'spot the real loony' amongst the assembled cast.

William Windom plays his part well, as the always ever so suspect Dr Quilly, whilst Robert Forester and Jennifer O'Neill both turn in nicely edgy performances the film requires.

The main disappointment was the fact that the film came to an end rather than a crescendo, but having said that it was nice to see the film did come to a fit and proper conclusion, leaving no-one in any doubt as to the final outcome.

It many ways, this movie reminds me of some of horror/suspense movies from the 60's and 70's, albeit sans blood. There are no big scenes here, no chases or 'heart in your mouth' suspense. Instead William A. Levey deals us with a pretty well told tale. True, it is not perfect but having said that, it is nonetheless more than acceptable.

If you've an hour and a half to spare and you see this appear on Cable, then I would defiantly recommended you sit down and give it a watch. Would I rent it on video? Possibly not. For me it's not that sort of material, nor would I imagine it would go down too well at the theater. But as a Saturday afternoon stocking filler, it fit's the bill quite nicely.

Final rating: 7/10