Rent The Seventh Victim (1943)

Lewton Horror. - The Seventh Victim review by Steve

There had been Hollywood films about satanism going back to The Black Cat in 1934, but The Seventh Victim 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.

The film's principal theme is Mary Gibson's (Kim Hunter in her film debut) apprehensive journey into sexual maturity. The film subtly suggests that what lies in the darkness and behind doors is her unease over her sexual awakening. Her quest is to find her sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks) who had joined a group of satanists, but broken their code of silence. And so must die, like six others before.

 There are some brilliantly innovative moments of Hitchcockian suspense in the Seventh Victim, most potently a scene on the subway where Mary witnesses the man she has just seen murdered held up between two heavies in the carriage as if they were all drunk, but en route to disposing of the body. There is also a very interesting shower scene suggesting perhaps the influence worked both ways.

This is a film of dense emotional dread, of despair. Jacqueline is portrayed as a figure of extreme moral emptyness. She lacks will. Her last scene with the dying Mimi (Elizabeth Russell) is astonishing. It is a powerfully pessimistic film which offers little hope. It is unique in forties Hollywood, and an intelligent, audacious film which scared the hell out of RKO.