Taken in the context of the 1970's, "Shanks" reflects the distorted perceptions of the time. Castle mixes beauty with the macabre, innocence with violence, and poetry with symmetry. While the film accomplishes much , it does so for only limited amounts of time, but what the film fails to accomplish through the script, does more to reflect the time period in which it was made. The craziness and drug infested 60's, had now become the distorted 70's, and the vision of America had become perverted. Kinda like today with a freakish Federal Government, and the control freaks trying to run their own asylum.<br /><br />Castle succeeds on some levels, in his comparisons, but the film really moves slowly, especially without the use of much dialog.<br /><br />I really enjoy a Castle film, and have viewed this one , only once, and final time. I think Castle knew this would be his swan song, and tried to create something artful and deep, to silence his critics. It appears to have mixed results. The film is a work of art, but like most works, should be seen in a museum. If you can get past the premise of reanimating dead bodies with a few well placed electrodes, and enjoy a slow moving film, then this would be your cup of tea. I think William Castle was at his best when he simply made film to entertain, and thrill the audience. This film gets a 3 out of 10, simply for the fact that you cannot bore the audience, and there is too much wasted space between the action. The actors do a fine job, but , not enough to carry the film.