This little known and scantily screened Val Lewton masterpiece is a must see. The eerie atmosphere established at the boarding school where Kim Hunter learns of her sister's disappearance continues throughout. Scenes including her nightmarish experience in a darkened cosmetic company hallway illustrate how far afield recent film has gotten from true suspense as sustained in the imagination of the viewer. The chilling normalcy of the lives of the Satanists she comes to be pursuing in an effort to understand what has happened to her sister, and their quiet menace as they later gather forces to will the suicide of one of their ranks is gripping. The scenes depicting her sister's frantic run through the streets to escape a pursuer will remind others of the opening of Lewton's other little shown film The Leopard Man. Viewing this film further reinforces my belief that an intelligent film patron does not need to be clubbed over the head by excessive gore and violence to be truly scared by a film if the story is intriguing and the execution is as good as in The Seventh Victim.
Review of The Seventh Victim
