The Victim Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Victim Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 19, 2021

Herschel Daugherty's "The Victim" a.k.a. "Out of Contention" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus feature on the release is an exclusive new audio commentary recorded by author and critic Amanda Reyes. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

I can't get in touch with my sister.

If you were a teenager back in the early ‘70s and managed to see Herschel Daugherty's The Victim late at night on one of those charming but ancient TV sets, you most likely thought that it was a nice little thriller. What made it more exciting was the fact that you were warned by your parents that it isn’t for you. Right. When your parents took the time to issue such warnings usually the exact opposite was true, so on the night when you finally figured out how to see The Victim without them knowing, you had pretty much made up your mind that you are about to have a great experience with it.

I don’t have a similar story about a made-for-TV film to share. However, I have a couple of stories about formerly great theatrical experiences with ‘fantastic’ films that years later I could not believe I had held in such high regard. One such film I saw numerous times at my local theater was Christian-Jacque’s The Black Tulip (La Tulipe Noire), starring Alain Delon and Virna Lisi. In those days, I was convinced that it had some of the most incredibly attractive period action footage, the kind that only cinema’s greatest masterpieces can produce, and I was its biggest promoter. I still enjoy the film and actually revisit it at least once a year -- usually in a double bill with Zorro -- but nowadays I find its humor quite a bit more effective than its period action footage.

The Victim is a different period film that builds up a very different type of atmosphere to impress, but it is as transparent as the The Black Tulip. (This article will be the first and last to ever draw a parallel between The Victim and The Black Tulip, so you are witnessing history here). Indeed, right from the get-go it is crystal-clear where it is heading and how it plans to arrive there, so you are just waiting for the fireworks to begin and take your breath away. Alright, so you don’t get any fireworks in The Victim, but there is a huge thunderstorm that produces some rather similar effects. This thunderstorm begins shortly after Kate Wainwright (Elizabeth Montgomery) leaves her posh apartment in San Francisco and heads to the equally posh but secluded villa of her soon to be divorced sister, Susan (Jess Walton), who has told her over the phone that she plans to spend the night alone. Hold on. If her sister wants to be alone, why does Kate ignore her wish? Because she becomes concerned when she repeatedly tries to call Susan again and change her mind but the line stays busy and a woman from the phone company confirms to her that there isn’t a conversation in progress. But why doesn’t Kate contact the police right away and request that they check on Susan? Because the film needs these types of irrational developments to tell its story. At the villa, Kate bumps into Mrs. Hawkes (Eileen Heckart), who has supposedly been fired by Susan but is still performing her duties because she always took orders from her husband, Ben (George Maharis). After the two women exchange some harsh words, Mrs. Hawkes decides to put her work on hold and leaves Kate alone in the house as she begins looking for her sister.

Before the very predictable resolution the film does produce some pretty atmospheric material, but the element of surprise that could have made Kate’s troubles exciting is missing. For example, shortly after Kate enters the villa and heads to the basement the camera reveals Susan’s cold body, but the former keeps missing it because there is always some sort of a distraction. The killer’s presence in the villa is pretty underwhelming too, especially considering how there are so many random noises from the thunderstorm that could have been used to produce some interesting misdirection plays.

The best compliment I can give The Victim is to say that it is a good nostalgia fix, rather than a great thriller. Indeed, even though it is very transparent, it has a period charm that is undeniable. Montgomery looks very beautiful without actually trying as well.

The Victim Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Victim arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an exclusive new 2K master. This is a very healthy master, but in an ideal world the technical presentation should have been quite a bit better. For example, the grain not only does not appear nicely resolved, but in select areas becomes quite mushy. I don't think there are any troubling digital corrections that are responsible for this limitation, rather it is the encode that wasn't optimized as well as possible. (The release uses a single-layer disc, so clearly a double-layer disc with more room for optimizations would have been preferable). In various darker areas the blacks begin to crush as well, so delineation and depth frequently suffer. Predictably, some darker nuances are lost as well (see screencapture #5). This being said, I still think that the presentation is rather pleasing, but teh bigger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to conclude that the presentation should have been more convincing. (For reference, see Kino Lorber's wonderful presentation Killdozer, which is another made-for-TV project from the '70s that was restored in 2K. It is also placed on a single-layer disc, but looks vastly superior). Excluding the crushed blacks, color balance is very nice. There are no stability issues to report. Also, the entire film looks very healthy. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Victim Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Some of the native limitations of the original audio mix are quite easy to recognize. For example, virtually all of the random noises that the thunderstorm produces lack the oomph they would have had if they were recreated in a contemporary production. Also, a few of the outdoor exchanges sound a bit thin. But you can't blame the audio track for not performing as it should. The Victim is a TV production, so these appear to be limitations that were retained when the original audio was finalized. There are no encoding anomalies to report.

The Victim Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - in this exclusive new audio commentary, author and critic Amanda Reyes discusses the genesis of The Victim, its strength as a genre film, a few of the discrepancies between the original story by McNight Malmar and the film, the careers of the people that made the film, etc.

The Victim Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Victim has an undeniable period charm because some of the things it does with sound are now essentially a lost art. But I don't share the enthusiasm a lot of folks apparently have for it. I found it so transparent that its suspense just did not work for me. This recent release from Kino Lorber will likely be a nice nostalgia fix for folks that have fond memories of The Victim, but if you are not one of them, I would suggest that you find a way to rent it first and then decide whether you want it in your library. RENT IT.