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Reviews
The Victim (1972)
Just as good as I remembered it at age five, over thirty years ago.
I first saw this at age five in 1987. It was gripping and suspenseful. I didn't see it again until thirty years later and it was just as good as I remembered it. My memories flattered nothing. I remembered it as a very good and highly entertaining movie, then and now. Where people got the idea that "mere memories flattered a 'bad movie'" is beyond me. It turns out it was very good and highly effective.
I didn't remember the title so I googled the film with keywords and clues like "Susan," "murder," "rainy night," "sister," and "house." Up popped the film. I was highly surprised to find that it was Elizabeth Montgomery in the lead role, after having watched her in "Bewtiched" reruns for nearly twenty years. I hadn't recognized her from this one when I started watching "Bewitched" ten years after this; understandable. She was fantastic and believable in a refreshingly serious role. Though we the audience knew that Susan was already dead, we could still feel the suspense of the unknown along with Katherine as she searches for Susan. (I walked in on the film in 1987 about 28 minutes in, not having seen the murder or Susan's dead face in the basement, only having been told that she was dead and that Katherine would discover it soon. That enhanced the suspense for me and made it even better.) I enjoyed the initial guessing game of who the murderer was; Mrs. Hawkes or Ben? By the time Ben makes his eventual appearance, you know it's him. He's a poor liar. And even if it wasn't Mrs. Hawkes, you know early on, when she first appears, that she is in on it.
As I said, my memory didn't flatter. It was just as good as I remembered it. And it is a very good and highly effective movie, one that I have continued to enjoy as an adult and will again and again.