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High Anxiety

355 statements
68 feature instances
37 referencing feature instances

High Anxiety	type	TVTItem
High Anxiety	label	High Anxiety
High Anxiety	page	HighAnxiety
High Anxiety	comment	High Anxiety is a 1977 comedy film directed by (and starring) Mel Brooks. It is an Affectionate Parody of the films of Alfred Hitchcock. While there are numerous allusions to almost every Hitchcock film, the main plot and setting are taken from Spellbound and Vertigo. There are also minor allusions to films not directed by Hitchcock, such as The Pink Panther and The Spy Who Loved Me, with characters resembling Jacques Clouseau and Jaws.Brooks plays Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke (the H. stands for "Harpo"), who is assigned as the new administrator of the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. He arrives in Los Angeles to take his position and meets the eccentric staff: Dr. Montague (Harvey Korman), Dr. Wentworth (Dick Van Patten), and Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman). Diesel is extremely domineering and is soon revealed to be in a BDSM relationship with the submissive Montague. Thorndyke also meets Arthur Brisbane, a wealthy industrialist who had a nervous breakdown the year before. He currently thinks he is a cocker spaniel.Wentworth wants to leave the institute but Diesel refuses to let him. She agrees after an argument. When Wentworth is driving home that night, his radio blasts rock music loudly and will not shut off. He is trapped in his car, and he dies from an ear hemorrhage. The following day, Thorndyke books a room in the vertigo-inducing Hyatt Regency (hotel of) San Francisco. He is suffering from a sense of vertigo but finds his room located at the top floor.Thorndyke is contacted by Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn), "the Cocker's daughter". She wants him to take a closer look at her father's case. He does so and discovers that his patient may not be the actual Brisbane. The Institute apparently could use the money from the Brisbane family, and keeps the real Arthur prisoner. Diesel decides to get rid of her boss. She hires the assassin Braces (Rudy De Luca) to frame Thorndyke for murder. Richard has to clear his name before resolving the case.
High Anxiety	fetched	2024-02-22T00:00:23Z
High Anxiety	parsed	2024-02-22T00:00:23Z
High Anxiety	processingComment	Dropped link to Blowup: Not a Feature - ITEM
High Anxiety	processingComment	Dropped link to DrStrangelove: Not a Feature - ITEM
High Anxiety	processingComment	Dropped link to NorthByNorthwest: Not a Feature - ITEM
High Anxiety	processingComment	Dropped link to OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest: Not a Feature - ITEM
High Anxiety	processingComment	Dropped link to RearWindow: Not a Feature - ITEM
High Anxiety	processingComment	Dropped link to TheBirds: Not a Feature - ITEM
High Anxiety	processingComment	Dropped link to TheSpyWhoLovedMe: Not a Feature - ITEM
High Anxiety	isPartOf	DBTropes
High Anxiety / int_1b122c5d	type	Scare Chord
High Anxiety / int_1b122c5d	comment	Scare Chord: Lampshaded when the characters react to it on two occasions.
High Anxiety / int_1b122c5d	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_1b122c5d	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_1b122c5d
High Anxiety / int_23698fa8	type	Aborted Arc
High Anxiety / int_23698fa8	comment	Aborted Arc: Nurse Diesel and Montague are both heavily implied if not outright stated to have killed Thorndyke's predecessor, Dr. Ashley, but this aspect of the movie is all but forgotten as soon as Thorndyke meets Victoria and discovers her father's been replaced by an impostor.
High Anxiety / int_23698fa8	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_23698fa8	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_23698fa8
High Anxiety / int_2d4a6d8c	type	Sophisticated as Hell
High Anxiety / int_2d4a6d8c	comment	Sophisticated as Hell: An entire discussion in a psychological conference is, due to one psychologist bringing his children, conducted using such technical terms as the peepee, balloons, cockie-doody, and woo-woo.
High Anxiety / int_2d4a6d8c	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_2d4a6d8c	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_2d4a6d8c
High Anxiety / int_32c7a2a3	type	Symbolic Blood
High Anxiety / int_32c7a2a3	comment	Symbolic Blood: In a parodic sense. Newspaper ink runs down the plughole of Thorndyke's shower after the enraged bellhop beats him up with a newspaper.
High Anxiety / int_32c7a2a3	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_32c7a2a3	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_32c7a2a3
High Anxiety / int_33029735	type	Dies Wide Open
High Anxiety / int_33029735	comment	Dies Wide Open: Both parodied and subverted; just before the climax, Thorndyke returns to the institute to find Professor Lilloman seemingly dead, albeit with eyes wide open and staring into space. However, it turns out that Lilloman just Sleeps with Both Eyes Open.
High Anxiety / int_33029735	featureApplicability	-0.3
High Anxiety / int_33029735	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_33029735
High Anxiety / int_356e26da	type	Good Hair, Evil Hair
High Anxiety / int_356e26da	comment	Good Hair, Evil Hair: The villainous Dr. Montague has a pencil mustache.
High Anxiety / int_356e26da	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_356e26da	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_356e26da
High Anxiety / int_3b4f620a	type	No Fourth Wall
High Anxiety / int_3b4f620a	comment	No Fourth Wall: On multiple occasions, Hitchcock's cinematography is parodied by making the audience very aware of the camera's physical presence in the scene— twice where the camera breaks through a building's wall or window rather than zooming in or out through it, and once where it films through the bottom of a glass table while Diesel and Montague cover it with tableware, forcing the camera to keep moving to get a view of them.
High Anxiety / int_3b4f620a	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_3b4f620a	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_3b4f620a
High Anxiety / int_3c8be88f	type	Bird-Poop Gag
High Anxiety / int_3c8be88f	comment	Bird-Poop Gag: As a parody of The Birds, every pigeon in San Francisco decides to take a dump on Thorndyke all at once.
High Anxiety / int_3c8be88f	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_3c8be88f	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_3c8be88f
High Anxiety / int_425d74f4	type	Shutting Up Now
High Anxiety / int_425d74f4	comment	Shutting Up Now: After Brophy finds out Thorndyke isn't the real killer by enlarging the newspaper picture until he can be seen in the background, the bad guys show up and plan to kill him, but Diesel points out the same picture is on the front page of every local newspaper and they can enlarge it as well. Montague comes with a ridiculous plan to buy every newspaper in the city before anyone can see it. Diesel and Norton just glare at him, and he eventually realizes how stupid he sounds and trails off.
High Anxiety / int_425d74f4	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_425d74f4	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_425d74f4
High Anxiety / int_44d2b9e3	type	Handing Over the Crap Sack
High Anxiety / int_44d2b9e3	comment	Handing Over the Crap Sack: Thorndyke politely hands a used vomit bag to the flight attendant standing by the door of the plane as passengers disembark. She is stuck holding it as the other passengers leave.
High Anxiety / int_44d2b9e3	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_44d2b9e3	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_44d2b9e3
High Anxiety / int_44f5d199	type	Pretty in Mink
High Anxiety / int_44f5d199	comment	Pretty in Mink: Victoria wears a fox wrap when on a date.
High Anxiety / int_44f5d199	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_44f5d199	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_44f5d199
High Anxiety / int_461038e6	type	Mistaken for Spies
High Anxiety / int_461038e6	comment	Mistaken for Spies: The man in a Conspicuous Trenchcoat who lures Thorndyke into the bathroom? He's actually a gay stripper.
High Anxiety / int_461038e6	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_461038e6	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_461038e6
High Anxiety / int_46e53efd	type	Screams Like a Little Girl
High Anxiety / int_46e53efd	comment	Screams Like a Little Girl: As Thorndyke badgers the bellboy about getting a newspaper, the bellboy, increasingly irritated, asks what's so important about the newspaper, in an increasingly raised, increasingly higher-pitched voice ("GET THE NEWSPAPER! GET THE NEWSPAPER! GET THE STINKIN' NEWSPAPER!"). While shoving the newspaper in Thorndyke's face while he's in the shower, the bellboy hysterically screams at him, in a ridiculously high-pitched voice, "HERE! HERE! HERE!!! HERE'S YOUR PAPER!!! HERE'S YOUR PAPER!!! HERE'S YOUR PAPER!!!! HAPPY NOW?!? HAPPY?!?! HAPPY NOW?!?!?!"
High Anxiety / int_46e53efd	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_46e53efd	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_46e53efd
High Anxiety / int_47325888	type	Latex Perfection
High Anxiety / int_47325888	comment	Latex Perfection: The killer wears a mask that makes him look exactly like Thorndyke.
High Anxiety / int_47325888	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_47325888	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_47325888
High Anxiety / int_48081842	type	The Stinger
High Anxiety / int_48081842	comment	The Stinger: A scene of Thorndyke running across the San Francisco Bay, right underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, is superimposed underneath the credits.
High Anxiety / int_48081842	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_48081842	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_48081842
High Anxiety / int_4dce8058	type	All Periods Are PMS
High Anxiety / int_4dce8058	comment	All Periods Are PMS: Victoria's so wound up at one point she states "I'm sorry I am so close to my menstrual cycle I could scream." And then she does.
High Anxiety / int_4dce8058	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_4dce8058	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_4dce8058
High Anxiety / int_5076ccdb	type	You Say Tomato
High Anxiety / int_5076ccdb	comment	You Say Tomato: When describing the hotel, Brophy pronounces modern as "modren".
High Anxiety / int_5076ccdb	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_5076ccdb	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_5076ccdb
High Anxiety / int_5bdcc85a	type	Disney Villain Death
High Anxiety / int_5bdcc85a	comment	Disney Villain Death: Nurse Diesel, who thinks she is a witch and tries to fly a broomstick out the tower window, riding it to her death on the rocks far below, cackling maniacally all the while.
High Anxiety / int_5bdcc85a	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_5bdcc85a	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_5bdcc85a
High Anxiety / int_5db59a03	type	Brown Note
High Anxiety / int_5db59a03	comment	Brown Note: Dr. Wentworth gets trapped in his car and killed from an ear hemorrhage caused by the loud rock music blaring from the car radio.
High Anxiety / int_5db59a03	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_5db59a03	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_5db59a03
High Anxiety / int_660cf7ab	type	GagBoobs
High Anxiety / int_660cf7ab	comment	Gag Boobs: A variation— Nurse Diesel's bustline isn't improbably large but rather improbably pointy.
High Anxiety / int_660cf7ab	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_660cf7ab	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_660cf7ab
High Anxiety / int_6861146e	type	Epiphany Therapy
High Anxiety / int_6861146e	comment	Epiphany Therapy: Parodied. Lilloman talks Thorndyke through the causes of his "high anxiety" while he's hanging from a broken staircase, and the epiphany cures him instantly, allowing him to pull himself up and run the rest of the way.
High Anxiety / int_6861146e	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_6861146e	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_6861146e
High Anxiety / int_697b5232	type	Those Wacky Nazis
High Anxiety / int_697b5232	comment	Those Wacky Nazis: Played with, as Nurse Diesel dresses up in an outfit that makes her look like the prison guard of a Nazi concentration camp as she tortures Dr. Montague in her bedroom.
High Anxiety / int_697b5232	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_697b5232	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_697b5232
High Anxiety / int_6b00879d	type	Disconnected by Death
High Anxiety / int_6b00879d	comment	Disconnected by Death: Subverted, along with tons of suspense film tropes, when the protagonist, Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke, calls up Victoria Brisbane and "Braces" attempts to kill him in the phone booth. She mistakes Thorndyke's agonized gasping for an obscene phone call, and when Braces gets impaled on a glass shard, his dying gasp is taken as a particularly passionate noise by Victoria.
High Anxiety / int_6b00879d	featureApplicability	-0.3
High Anxiety / int_6b00879d	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_6b00879d
High Anxiety / int_6bea999c	type	Radio Voice
High Anxiety / int_6bea999c	comment	Radio Voice: Parodied. Thorndyke asks his secretary to repeat her intercom message without holding her nose. She replies in a perfectly normal voice.
High Anxiety / int_6bea999c	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_6bea999c	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_6bea999c
High Anxiety / int_727a65e0	type	Gaslighting
High Anxiety / int_727a65e0	comment	Gaslighting: Played for Black Comedy. Thorndyke wants to see a patient who should have been released a long time ago, concerned that he is still institutionalized when he's been healthy. As the patient describes the symptoms he came in for (sharp neck pains and dreams of werewolves), Dr. Montague slings paperclips into his neck and makes faces at him with plastic fangs all without Thorndyke noticing or the patient realizing he's being tricked. Thanks to Montague's efforts, the patient is a wreck and determined unfit for release.
High Anxiety / int_727a65e0	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_727a65e0	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_727a65e0
High Anxiety / int_7484b619	type	Herr Doktor
High Anxiety / int_7484b619	comment	Herr Doktor: Professor Lilloman.
High Anxiety / int_7484b619	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_7484b619	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_7484b619
High Anxiety / int_76c42cce	type	Pronouncing My Name for You
High Anxiety / int_76c42cce	comment	Pronouncing My Name for You: The protagonist of addresses his mentor as Professor Little Old Man (accent on Man), and is corrected: Lilloman (accent on o).
High Anxiety / int_76c42cce	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_76c42cce	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_76c42cce
High Anxiety / int_7ade0c2	type	Not in Front of the Kid
High Anxiety / int_7ade0c2	comment	Not in Front of the Kid: Dr. Thorndyke is giving a conference, and is about to discuss penis envy when a man comes in with his two kids, so he forces himself to talk about "peepee envy" and how it relates to the "woowoo".
High Anxiety / int_7ade0c2	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_7ade0c2	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_7ade0c2
High Anxiety / int_820ac3c5	type	Dysfunction Junction
High Anxiety / int_820ac3c5	comment	Dysfunction Junction: Every single character is nutty as a fruitcake. Especially ironic considering most of them run an asylum.
High Anxiety / int_820ac3c5	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_820ac3c5	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_820ac3c5
High Anxiety / int_823c6e3e	type	Large Ham
High Anxiety / int_823c6e3e	comment	Large Ham: Mel Brooks and Madeline Kahn at the airport, trying to get past airport security by being loud and annoying Alter Kockers. Howie Morris as Professor Lilloman. Harvey Korman as Doctor Montague. His masochistic screaming as Nurse Diesel spanks him caps it all. Cloris Leachman as Nurse Diesel plays out her nasty grimaces and drawls as far as she can, and also puts on an outlandish performance in the spanking scene.
High Anxiety / int_823c6e3e	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_823c6e3e	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_823c6e3e
High Anxiety / int_9dd2329c	type	Camera Abuse
High Anxiety / int_9dd2329c	comment	Camera Abuse: At the start of Thorndyke's first dinner scene at the institute, the camera zooms in and breaks through the window. While the characters notice, they don't comment on it. Then it happens again at the very end.
High Anxiety / int_9dd2329c	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_9dd2329c	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_9dd2329c
High Anxiety / int_9e1b9a0e	type	Camera Fiend
High Anxiety / int_9e1b9a0e	comment	Camera Fiend: Brophy. It comes in handy later on.
High Anxiety / int_9e1b9a0e	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_9e1b9a0e	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_9e1b9a0e
High Anxiety / int_9fbed836	type	Pesky Pigeons
High Anxiety / int_9fbed836	comment	Pesky Pigeons: Thorndyke is surrounded by pigeons in the park, in a reference to The Birds, who all follow him across the park. He desperately takes shelter in a shed...only to find out the shed has an open roof, on which all the pigeons are perching, butt-inward. And then they all defecate on him.
High Anxiety / int_9fbed836	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_9fbed836	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_9fbed836
High Anxiety / int_a18042f1	type	Left the Background Music On
High Anxiety / int_a18042f1	comment	Left the Background Music On: The dramatic music that plays on the drive to the Institute, specifically when Brophy mentions that he suspects foul play in Dr. Ashley's death, is revealed to be coming from a passing Los Angeles Philarmonic tour bus.
High Anxiety / int_a18042f1	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_a18042f1	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_a18042f1
High Anxiety / int_a6c69bd	type	MacGuffin
High Anxiety / int_a6c69bd	comment	MacGuffin: Parodied. Thorndyke (who is terrified of heights) is checking into a hotel when the receptionist informs him that though the hotel had reserved him a lower-level floor, "a Mr. MacGuffin called and requested we change it to the 17th floor." Though MacGuffin is probably a reference to the villains stalking the main character, the name is never mentioned again.
High Anxiety / int_a6c69bd	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_a6c69bd	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_a6c69bd
High Anxiety / int_aa9fcfed	type	Embarrassing Middle Name
High Anxiety / int_aa9fcfed	comment	Embarrassing Middle Name: For renowned psychologist Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke, his middle name "Harpo" is embarrassing.
High Anxiety / int_aa9fcfed	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_aa9fcfed	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_aa9fcfed
High Anxiety / int_acecb17d	type	Chekhov's Skill
High Anxiety / int_acecb17d	comment	Chekhov's Skill: Brophy's photography, which proves useful in clearing Dr. Thorndyke's name.
High Anxiety / int_acecb17d	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_acecb17d	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_acecb17d
High Anxiety / int_b1f4c5bb	type	Enhance Button
High Anxiety / int_b1f4c5bb	comment	Enhance Button: Parodied. As a secondary character blows up a photograph, he pins up a series of even greater enlargements until he finally gets one roughly 20 feet across, which he examines with a magnifying glass before exclaiming, "Aha!" This would work in real life, assuming that one has photograph paper 20 feet across and the tools necessary to transfer a negative onto a paper that large.
High Anxiety / int_b1f4c5bb	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_b1f4c5bb	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_b1f4c5bb
High Anxiety / int_b41acf08	type	AxeCrazy
High Anxiety / int_b41acf08	comment	Axe-Crazy: Braces. When he makes his first report to Nurse Diesel, something like four out of every five sentences includes a request for permission to kill someone.
High Anxiety / int_b41acf08	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_b41acf08	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_b41acf08
High Anxiety / int_b913a5df	type	Accidental Innuendo
High Anxiety / int_b913a5df	comment	Accidental Innuendo: In-Universe example: At one point Thorndyke calls Victoria from a phone booth, but gets attacked by Diesel's Professional Killer before he can say a word, who starts strangling him. Victoria thinks it's an obscene phone call of some sort, and, while she's annoyed at first, eventually starts playing along. Thorndyke eventually manages to kill the guy and tells Victoria it's him, at which point she responds with "Richard! Richard! I knew it was you!"
High Anxiety / int_b913a5df	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_b913a5df	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_b913a5df
High Anxiety / int_c0d6d1a	type	Loud of War
High Anxiety / int_c0d6d1a	comment	Loud of War: As Brown Note details, one of the deaths is caused by a loud car stereo.
High Anxiety / int_c0d6d1a	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_c0d6d1a	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_c0d6d1a
High Anxiety / int_c660bc15	type	Fan Disservice
High Anxiety / int_c660bc15	comment	Fan Disservice: Mel Brooks is the last person in the world who needed a shower scene, especially compared to Janet Leigh in the scene from Psycho that is being parodied. Of course, this is a deliberate factor of the comedy.
High Anxiety / int_c660bc15	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_c660bc15	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_c660bc15
High Anxiety / int_c6c5ce4	type	Bedlam House
High Anxiety / int_c6c5ce4	comment	Bedlam House: The Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, VERY Nervous, which is less interested in curing its rich clientele than in keeping them indefinitely and thus getting more of their money.
High Anxiety / int_c6c5ce4	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_c6c5ce4	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_c6c5ce4
High Anxiety / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
High Anxiety / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: An extended one - Thorndyke pesters a bellboy with repeated requests about getting a newspaper, wanting to look in the obituary for information concerning Dr. Wentworth's demise. He then takes a shower, during which the bellboy comes and, in a frenzy, mimics stabbing Thorndyke with the paper while screaming "Here's your paper! Happy now?! Happy?" The paper's ink runs down the drain instead of blood, completing the reference to Psycho. Bonus points for the bellboy's shrieks emulating the violin shrieks from the original. There's also a scatological take on The Birds. Most of the names are borrowed from other Hitchcock films. Thorndyke, for instance, is similar to names used in both Rear Window and North By Northwest. And Thorndyke meets up with someone at the "North By Northwest corner" of Golden-Gate Park. Also borrowed from North by Northwest is the scene of the lead getting photographed at a murder scene while holding the weapon, ending up a fugitive whose photo is in the papers. Braces is a takeoff on Jaws from then-recent The Spy Who Loved Me. Rather a departure from the Hitchcock theme, but Rule of Funny is in effect. Another non-Hitchcock reference is when Brophy enlarges one of his photographs to find proof of Thorndyke's innocence, taken straight from Blow Up (which was at least influenced by Hitchcock). Nurse Diesel riding her broomstick out the window to her death while cackling is another non-Hitchcock reference, to Dr. Strangelove and The Wizard of Oz. Diesel herself is a parody of Nurse Ratched.
High Anxiety / int_c75df49a	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_c75df49a	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_c75df49a
High Anxiety / int_c93a6560	type	Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
High Anxiety / int_c93a6560	comment	Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Braces, thanks to Thornydke pulling him onto a broken shard of glass in the phone booth. Braces broke that glass himself trying to kill Thorndyke.
High Anxiety / int_c93a6560	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_c93a6560	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_c93a6560
High Anxiety / int_cddc61ac	type	Fake-Out Make-Out
High Anxiety / int_cddc61ac	comment	Fake-Out Make-Out: While Victoria is in Thorndyke's hotel room, someone else comes in. She immediately kisses Thorndyke in an absurd attempt to avoid attention. Later on, he does this to her in the park to avoid attention from some cops.
High Anxiety / int_cddc61ac	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_cddc61ac	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_cddc61ac
High Anxiety / int_d148b019	type	Mundane Made Awesome
High Anxiety / int_d148b019	comment	Mundane Made Awesome: Lampshaded. At the beginning of the film, Thorndyke walks through an airport accompanied by strident orchestral music. When he finally reaches the exit, he proclaims, "What a dramatic airport!"
High Anxiety / int_d148b019	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_d148b019	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_d148b019
High Anxiety / int_d3aad64a	type	Morally Ambiguous Doctorate
High Anxiety / int_d3aad64a	comment	Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Montague and Nurse Diesel. Dr. Wentworth wants out of the scam, and ends up getting killed for it.
High Anxiety / int_d3aad64a	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_d3aad64a	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_d3aad64a
High Anxiety / int_d45c0b86	type	Refuge in Audacity
High Anxiety / int_d45c0b86	comment	Refuge in Audacity: To get past airport security, Victoria and Richard act like a bickering couple, knowing that the louder and more obnoxious they act, the more people will ignore them. When Thorndyke gets caught in the metal detector, he starts such an outrage that the TSA agents drop the matter to pacify him.
High Anxiety / int_d45c0b86	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_d45c0b86	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_d45c0b86
High Anxiety / int_db8cb28b	type	Window Pain
High Anxiety / int_db8cb28b	comment	Window Pain: Parodied. Thorndyke, the new head of a mental asylum, receives a (very big) rock to the window with a message— a friendly welcome note from the violent ward.
High Anxiety / int_db8cb28b	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_db8cb28b	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_db8cb28b
High Anxiety / int_dd3d1f69	type	Wicked Witch
High Anxiety / int_dd3d1f69	comment	Wicked Witch: Nurse Diesel re-creates the nun startle at the end of Vertigo by instead being dressed as a witch with a broomstick. She barrels out of the tower window and falls to her death due to not, in fact, being a witch.
High Anxiety / int_dd3d1f69	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_dd3d1f69	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_dd3d1f69
High Anxiety / int_dd53c52b	type	Crushing Handshake
High Anxiety / int_dd53c52b	comment	Crushing Handshake: Dr. Charles Montague does this to the main character when they're formally introduced, and during the handshake he says "I was the one in charge before you came".
High Anxiety / int_dd53c52b	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_dd53c52b	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_dd53c52b
High Anxiety / int_de0d9b2a	type	Alter Kocker
High Anxiety / int_de0d9b2a	comment	Mel Brooks and Madeline Kahn at the airport, trying to get past airport security by being loud and annoying Alter Kockers.
High Anxiety / int_de0d9b2a	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_de0d9b2a	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_de0d9b2a
High Anxiety / int_df4d868c	type	Battleaxe Nurse
High Anxiety / int_df4d868c	comment	Battleaxe Nurse: Nurse Diesel, a stern, strict woman who is also the dominant half of a kinky relationship.
High Anxiety / int_df4d868c	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_df4d868c	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_df4d868c
High Anxiety / int_e08f3fed	type	Chair Reveal
High Anxiety / int_e08f3fed	comment	Chair Reveal: Subverted. Professor Lilloman, Thorndyke's mentor, is found like this. He is slumped over horribly with his eyes and mouth hanging open, apparently long dead. When people start screaming, Lilloman wakes up. He was only sleeping, and says he likes to sleep that way because it scares people.
High Anxiety / int_e08f3fed	featureApplicability	-0.3
High Anxiety / int_e08f3fed	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_e08f3fed
High Anxiety / int_e5b75009	type	"Psycho" Strings
High Anxiety / int_e5b75009	comment	"Psycho" Strings: The Psycho shower scene parody uses the shrill cries of an angry bellhop in place of the strings: "Here! Here's your paper! Here's your lousy, stinking paper! Happy now?" Thorndyke's reaction? "That boy gets no tip."
High Anxiety / int_e5b75009	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_e5b75009	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_e5b75009
High Anxiety / int_eadeb4d6	type	Climbing Climax
High Anxiety / int_eadeb4d6	comment	Climbing Climax: Parodying the one in Vertigo, naturally. It was even filmed in the same tower.
High Anxiety / int_eadeb4d6	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_eadeb4d6	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_eadeb4d6
High Anxiety / int_eb6ea560	type	Convenient Photograph
High Anxiety / int_eb6ea560	comment	Convenient Photograph: Dr. Thorndyke is framed for murder by an assassin disguised as him. Thorndyke insists he was in the elevator when the murder occurred, and his assistant Brophy, who took a photo of the event, examines it for proof. In a parody of Blow Up, Brophy keeps enlarging the photograph until it's as big as the wall in his studio.
High Anxiety / int_eb6ea560	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_eb6ea560	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_eb6ea560
High Anxiety / int_eb8ec7c8	type	Jerkass
High Anxiety / int_eb8ec7c8	comment	Jerkass: Dennis, the hotel bellhop, is kind of rude and cranky even before Thorndyke bugs him about the paper.
High Anxiety / int_eb8ec7c8	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_eb8ec7c8	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_eb8ec7c8
High Anxiety / int_ed503b22	type	Match Cut
High Anxiety / int_ed503b22	comment	Match Cut: When Nurse Diesel declares her intentions to dispose of Dr. Wentworth, the camera zooms in on her eyes before fading them into the headlights of Wentworth's car, which kills him through a loud, tampered-with radio.
High Anxiety / int_ed503b22	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_ed503b22	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_ed503b22
High Anxiety / int_f15193bc	type	Stairwell Chase
High Anxiety / int_f15193bc	comment	Stairwell Chase: The bell tower scene of Vertigo is both replicated and parodied. In the very same tower, no less.
High Anxiety / int_f15193bc	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_f15193bc	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_f15193bc
High Anxiety / int_f6c36157	type	Stab the Salad
High Anxiety / int_f6c36157	comment	Stab the Salad: That wild, screaming old woman who pushes through the crowd and runs towards Dr. Thorndyke? She's actually overjoyed to see her husband returning home.
High Anxiety / int_f6c36157	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_f6c36157	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_f6c36157
High Anxiety / int_f6c3d469	type	Fanservice Extra
High Anxiety / int_f6c3d469	comment	Fanservice Extra: Just before Thorndyke begins his song in the bar, a waitress, wearing a very short skirt, passes by in the background, and actually bends forward a bit while speaking with some patrons.
High Anxiety / int_f6c3d469	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_f6c3d469	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_f6c3d469
High Anxiety / int_f727b9c5	type	The Body Parts That Must Not Be Named
High Anxiety / int_f727b9c5	comment	The Body Parts That Must Not Be Named: Thorndyke is put in an awkward position when giving a speech on penis envy and other decidedly adult subjects, when one of the psychiatrists in the audience brings his kids along, and substitutes with childish euphemisms that his audience also end up using. He ultimately gets an ovation for saying that "peepee envy" should be considered no more significant than a woman's "balloons" or "where the babies come out, the woo-woo."
High Anxiety / int_f727b9c5	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_f727b9c5	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_f727b9c5
High Anxiety / int_fc151e9d	type	Department of Redundancy Department
High Anxiety / int_fc151e9d	comment	Department of Redundancy Department: Brophy tends to repeat phrases, repeat phrases.
High Anxiety / int_fc151e9d	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_fc151e9d	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_fc151e9d
High Anxiety / int_fe0330fb	type	Brick Joke
High Anxiety / int_fe0330fb	comment	Brick Joke: Brophy's trouble with heavy objects ("I got it! I got it! ... I don't got it.") comes up again during the final chase up the stairs. The Camera Abuse during Thorndyke's first dinner scene at the institute is revisited at the very end.
High Anxiety / int_fe0330fb	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_fe0330fb	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_fe0330fb
High Anxiety / int_fe7d9114	type	Sleeps with Both Eyes Open
High Anxiety / int_fe7d9114	comment	Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: Professor Lilloman turns out to sleep in this manner. According to him, it freaks people out.
High Anxiety / int_fe7d9114	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_fe7d9114	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_fe7d9114
High Anxiety / int_name	type	ItemName
High Anxiety / int_name	comment
High Anxiety / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
High Anxiety / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
High Anxiety	hasFeature	High Anxiety / int_name
High Anxiety / int_name	itemName	High Anxiety

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

High Anxiety	hasFeature	All Women Are Doms, All Men Are Subs / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Bedlam House / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Bird-Poop Gag / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Bondage Is Bad / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Boob-Based Gag / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Brown Note / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Cathartic Scream / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Chair Reveal / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Convenient Photograph / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Crushing Handshake / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Delusions of Doghood / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Disconnected by Death / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Epiphany Therapy / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	In-Universe Camera / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Jews Love to Argue / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Kinky Spanking / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Left the Background Music On / int_3aba6550
MadelineKahn	seeAlso	High Anxiety
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Medium Awareness / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Ninja Prop / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Not in Front of the Kid / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Overly Stereotypical Disguise / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Pig Latin / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Pronouncing My Name for You / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Psycho Psychologist / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Radio Voice / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Self-Disposing Villain / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Shutting Up Now / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Single-Issue Psychology / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Sleeps with Both Eyes Open / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Source Music / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Symbolic Blood / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	The Body Parts That Must Not Be Named / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	The Mel Brooks Number / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Vocal Range Exceeded / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	Weirdness Censor / int_3aba6550
High Anxiety	hasFeature	You Say Tomato / int_3aba6550

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