162. The Seventh Victim

Directed By Mark Robson

Synopsis

Girl goes in search of her sister, who apparently has been a member of a satanic brotherhood, has snitched and now MUST DIE!

Review

Ok this film is here following the last two Tourneur films, also horror film for RKO, this is, however markedly inferior. The film feels disjointed, maybe due to cuts made to it and therefore doesn't seem to go anywhere.

The film noir qualities of the film are quite obvious, but unfortunately aren't as good as in any of the Jacques Tourneur films, there is however one scene of importance here and that is the danger in the shower scene. Many years later Hitchcock would pick it up and do Psycho, the risk here isn't as imminent but there is a definite sense of menace in the bathroom.

There is not really much to this film, if you love Tourneur but have seen his films to death, and need some more RKO horror films this is probably a good thing to get,l otherwise don't bother that much. It's good and all but pales in comparison unfortunately.

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The film has been praised for the shadowy camera work by Musuraca, which prefigured much film noir imagery, including possibly the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. However, the film was initially criticized in reviews for having too many characters and a storyline that doesn't always make sense. (According to the film's DVD commentary, scenes containing additional story lines, some that may have made the film clearer, were cut before the film's release.) Most controversially, the film resolves with the suicide of one of the main characters (contrary to the spirit if not the letter of the Production Code), and is possibly the only film score of the period to end in a minor key. The story goes that Lewton was warned not to make a film with a message, and he replied that this film did have a message: "Death is good."

The Seventh Victim may be regarded as an unofficial prequel to Lewton's 1942 film Cat People. Tom Conway's character Dr. Judd appears in both films, and Elizabeth Russell, who plays Mimi, the dying woman, in this film, reappears (in the same clothes) as the unnamed "cat woman" (she also appears as a different character in The Curse of the Cat People).

Someone made a film with the same name which looks quite a bit crappier: