A stunning precursor to A Streetcar Named Desire, Interior: Panic gives audiences "the eyes of a person in a state of panic," with specifically exaggerated design elements and semi-hallucinated dialogue, within the mind of the vividly dark Blanche Shannon (later renamed DuBois).

Blanche has been staying with her sister, Grace, and brother-in-law, Jack, for several weeks, but has recently fallen into a state of paranoia and anxiety. George, a man Blanche is seeing, has been out of contact for two weeks, and Blanche has begun obsessing over her appearance, hearing faint voices from her past, and fearing each advance of Jack or even Grace. Only when Grace confronts Blanche directly about the possibility of mental illness, does Blanche finally confess her immediate sordid past brought on by the collapse of the family estate, Belle Reve, and questions whether hope and perhaps truly run out.