Directed by: Michael Biehn
Written by: Michael Biehn (screenplay) & Reed Lackey (story)
A man living in a cottage in the woods is surprised to find a distressed woman outside his door. She claims two policemen killed her friend and are now after her.
The Victim was the second movie in my Night Visions Psycho Killers box. I didn't really have any expectations apart from the really short summary on the back of the box. The summary said this film "oozes" sex, that's kind of the only description tat I remembered when watching The Victim. Well that was correct. This film practically shoved sex down your throat with few scenes where it felt completely forced. I like the writing of this film, but there were few embarrassing parts because of this. Some of the sex scenes, some make you wonder if the writer(s) actually thought how stupid and sudden something was?
I said I like the writing, and that's true. The structure of the story is very good. The narrative is non-chronological, and it's easy to see when there flashbacks occur. The filmmakers probably made it too clear considering the transitions from present to flashback and the other way around are emphasized by actual flashes. The audience will get it, considering the setting changes drastically and Jennifer Blanc's character spaces out briefly. The story itself is extremely interesting and the dialogue is smooth, apart from what I said before. I especially like any scene with just Blanc's character Annie and her friend Mary. Their chemistry is unbelievably good and the dialogue is very genuine. It reminds me of Death Proof.
But what seems bad about this movie is the execution. The story is excellent, but the writing alone can't hold a movie. The cinematography and editing are sloppy, and there are several scenes that are way too long while nothing's actually happening. If you want an example, in the beginning there's a weirdly long and boring scene with Kyle (I hope I'm remembering that correctly) driving a car. They could've put the opening credits on that scene so it wouldn't be so annoying to watch. And I get that long scenes might be an artistic choice by the director, but in this case they didn't make the movie any more thrilling or frustrating in the good way, it is just really annoying to watch and wait the action to start. Yet luckily this movie is still short, so the scenes aren't stretched too much, just a few in the beginning, after that it's easier to watch.
The Victim is a decent film. It's worth watching because of the story, but there are a lot of annoying details. I like this movie, yet I don't think it could ever become one of my favourites, and I don't see myself watching it again for a while. The story deserved a better execution.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
7 / 10
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