Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

meddlecore The Seventh Victim is a nicely shot horror-mystery from RKO. While it's construction is simple, there is a somewhat-complex love pyramid going on, and it has a stylish cult atmosphere.We start off with Mary, as she leaves her girl school existence, in search of her sister- Jacqueline- who has apparently disappeared.She heads into the big city, where she follows a number of leads, with hopes of tracking her sister down. During her search she meets a young poet, a psychiatrist, an old Italian couple, and a few private investigators- one of which has been hired by the husband of Jacqueline, who is secretly in love with Mary.Eventually, with help from one of the PI's (who dies) and the Poet, they manage to track Jacqueline down, as she had been hidden away by the psychiatrist (it is subtly implied they were sleeping together).Jacqueline is, hilariously, goth-as-f*ck. Obsessed with suicide, goth haircut (circa 1940's...impressive!), wears dark furs, shoes and nail polish. Anyways... because she could never find a place to fit in, she inevitably ends up rolling with this secret satanic society that requires a blood oath to join.And they feel that she has broken said oath and must be killed, because she revealed their existence to the shrink (she was probably banging).The poet is secretly in love with Jacqueline, and as such, is working alongside her sister, in order to save her life. But now she's facing accusations of being a murderess, on top of the threats to her life. Though, luckily for her, there are a number of close calls,but she does manage to escape... no thanks to her sister and the poet.Everything with the film goes smoothly, until the final confrontation...during which the whole thing turns into Christian propaganda! I wouldn't be surprised if it originally had a different ending that was considered unacceptable by censors. Basically, the film ends with the notion that the teachings delineated through the Lord's Prayer trump the entire Satanic philosophy and worldview. But this is all summed up in about 3 sentences, so it really comes off as quite humorous...and almost out of place. Totally didn't see that coming.6 out of 10.

mark.waltz Living a secret life on the lower East Side, a group of devil worshipers seem to be an analogy for fifth columnists playing the spying game in New York in this combination of psychological horror and film noir. Broadway actress Kim Hunter made her film debut as the sweet younger sister of a missing woman. She drops out of college to head to New York to find her missing sister and stumbles upon something far more sinister than she could ever imagine.The dark shadows of the New York streets take front and center in this intriguing thriller that makes the night a villain and its characters simply players in a game of chess where both the winner and loser's grand prize is the same: death, where the fate is certainly worse. These streets are filled with odd noises, scary images and even today, when you venture down certain avenues in Manhattan, you may feel the same chills that the heroines here certainly felt, 70 years ago.The odd hairstyle of the missing sister (Phyllis Brooks) is pure Val Lewton with its severity even though the character is not meant to be evil, just mysterious. She appears almost death-like, a combination of "Dracula's Daughter" and "She Who Must Be Obeyed" as she first appears to put her finger up to her lips to "shhh" her sister in their first scene together as her presence is definitely meant as a metaphor. Death definitely does not take a holiday here, and the most evil that the devil worshipers get is to prod their intended victims onto suicide, making their meeting place feel like a room of "Rebecca's" Mrs. Danvers.The direction is appropriately grim and slow moving, giving it almost a feeling of floatation, with a scene in a shower that obviously influenced Hitchcock decades later. As imperfect as this film is, it is one that won't leave your mind, and one you will re-visit to try and find the many hidden metaphors and themes which its creators intended.

Pamela De Graff The Seventh Victim is eerie without being violent or explicit. The film creates a tensely pernicious, balefully enshrouding atmosphere of dread. Relying on the power of allusion, insinuation, and the visual presentation of rich, black mattes, The Seventh Victim's singular story and guileless treatment of verboten subject matter sets it apart from modern movies when compared to current methods of creating horror.When Mary Gibson (Hunter) ventures to Manhattan in search of her missing sister Jacquelin (Brooks), she enters a foreboding world of corruption, poison, mental illness, knife-wielding assassins, murder and suicide. It seems that dear ol' sis stopped paying Mary's tuition, and so Mary, bright and full of hope sets out to determine her whereabouts. But none of Jacquelin's friends have seen her.We see her though. Jacqueline is striking and somber under her jet black hair and sharply planed bangs. Quiet, watchful, morose, her captivating visage thrusts onto the screen like a stiletto with her grave countenance and almost funereal presence.Mary locates and enters her sister's apartment. She finds it unfurnished except for a hangman's noose suspended over a chair. It's not an encouraging development. Worse, Mary discovers that without asking for payment, Jacqueline signed over her successful salon and cosmetic business to a -well, shall we say to an assertive, independent woman with whom she had an evidently rather chummy association. Being made in the 1940's the film declines to further explore the exact nature of that relationship. But is seems there is a locked room at the cosmetics facility and Mary wants to know what's in it.In trying to find out, Mary runs into a couple of private detectives who are looking for Jacqueline too, one of whom issues a warning and one of whom winds up dead. Before you can say, 'speak of the devil,' a shady doctor (Conway) shows up who knows all about Jacquelin, but isn't saying much. He's scared of something. Something unspeakable. And he knows that "sinister" means "left," but he sure isn't keeping to the right.In addition to the doctor, there are some mysterious professional types in the area of Jacqueline's last known whereabouts. They all know each other, knew Jacqueline and are aware of something else. But what? They sure are tight lipped. Just what is everyone so afraid to talk about? And why do they all dress to the nines, some of them in black, to meet in a dimly lit apartment late at night? The Seventh Victim is a spooky film noir made with wonderful use of black and white film's deep range of subdued tones. The cinematography creates a veritable study in angular shadows, gritty textures and plush charcoal, chocolate tints. Basement cafes grace the screen with low angle lighting. Street lamps' luminescent oases punctuate a sheet-like viscous velvet of gloom.Distinctive about the The Seventh Victim are it's dark atmosphere, even for a noir, and its refusal to conform to Hays Commission requirements in its frank, unconventional treatment of a variety of morbidly taboo material. An eerie shower scene precedes Robert Bloch's 1959 novel Psycho, and there are some hints at subversive feminism. Even the film score ends on a minor key. All of this is pretty racy for 1943, making The Seventh Victim a unique, precursor to the noir genre.Notes: The character of Dr. Judd appears again in Val Lewton's Cat People. Actress Jean Brooks was thought to be quietly married at one point to Erich von Stroheim. Despite a couple of principle roles, stardom eluded her. Brooks's unique presence was never adequately exploited by Hollywood. The thespian's later years are as enigmatic as some of her characters. Fading into the billowing silver mists of off-screen obscurity, Jean Brooks's after-cinema life is shrouded in mystery and alcoholism. Her premature 1963 death in Costa Rica was overshadowed by the Kennedy assassination, and went unrecorded in Hollywood.

AaronCapenBanner Mark Robson directed this bleak yet fascinating horror film that stars Kim Hunter as Mary Gibson, who leaves her private school to search for her older sister Jacqueline(played by Jean Brooks) in New York City, where she meets her husband(played by Hugh Beaumont) who is also concerned about her. Dr. Louis Judd(played by Tom Conway) knows the whereabouts of Jacqueline, who is in hiding from a satanic cult angry with her for breaking the code of silence about their group, and is now hopelessly depressed. Can she be saved from the cult and herself? Eerie and effective film creates a palpable sense of melancholy, with Elizabeth Russell quite good as Mimi, a neighbor of Jacqueline's that is also struggling with depression, but takes a different road... and Dr. Louis Judd returns(?) from "Cat People" - though this is not a sequel, more of a one-time further use of the character(who must have survived Irina's attack!)