Rent The Seventh Victim (1943)
3.5 of 5 from 85 ratings
1h 11min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Mary (Kim Hunter) travels to New York to discover the reason for her sister Jacqueline's sudden disappearance. The cosmetics shop that Jacqueline (Jean Brooks) owned has been sold and her rented room is empty, save for a solitary chair and a noose. Suspecting that her sister is under the influence of Satanists, Mary hires a private detective to stakeout the shop at night, but she then discovers that he has been murdered. Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway) contacts Mary to explain that he is a psychiatrist and that Jacqueline is under his care because she is mentally ill. But when Jacqueline vanishes again, it becomes clear to Mary that she in the clutches of a satanic cult whose penalty for revealing anything about themselves is death. Six people have already been murdered... will Jacqueline become the seventh victim? - Actors:
- Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, Evelyn Brent, Erford Gage, Ben Bard, Hugh Beaumont, Chef Milani, Marguerita Sylva, Joan Barclay, Patti Brill, Wally Brown, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Wheaton Chambers, Edith Conrad, Kernan Cripps, Richard Davies, Lorna Dunn, Edythe Elliott
- Directors:
- Mark Robson
- Producers:
- Val Lewton
- Writers:
- Charles O'Neal, DeWitt Bodeen
- Studio:
- Odeon Entertainment
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Horror
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Reviews (2) of The Seventh Victim
Lewton Horror. - The Seventh Victim review by Steve
There had been Hollywood films about satanism going back to the silents, but this was new in depicting a devil cult in contemporary New York among ordinary people doing unremarkable jobs. Cuts imposed by RKO left problems with plot continuity, but it hardly matters. This is mainly a work of atmosphere and psychological anxiety.
It shows the apprehensive journey of a young woman (Kim Hunter) into sexual maturity. The film subtly suggests that what lies in the darkness and behind doors is her unease over her erotic awakening. Her quest is to find her sister (Jean Brooks) who joined the satanists, but broke their code of silence. And so must die, like six others before.
There are some brilliantly innovative moments of suspense, most potently a scene on the subway where the girl witnesses a man she has just seen murdered held up between two heavies, as if they were all drunk. There is also a very interesting shower scene which may have influenced Psycho.
This is a film of dense emotional dread, of despair. The lost sister is portrayed as a figure of extreme moral emptiness, without will. Her last scene with a dying neighbour (Elizabeth Russell) is astonishing. It is an intensely pessimistic film which offers little hope. It is unique in '40s Hollywood, and an intelligent, audacious horror landmark.
6 out of 6 members found this review helpful.
Disappointment - The Seventh Victim review by CH
Reviews, such as the first one here, had led me to have high hopes of this. In the event, as others have found, it turned out to be a series of often-enjoyable scenes which did not cohere. Perhaps the studio made cuts at the time. This said, it is worth watching at little more than an hour.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.