Get ready for a not terribly scary movie about the least scary cult of Satanic Worshippers you'll ever see, because we're talking The Seventh Victim, paired with Bokrijks Belgian Blonde Ale, from Brouwerij Sterkens. Jayson chose this downer of a movie. It ends with a suicide, that's a downer.
This one really takes itself seriously. It starts with a quote from John Donne's Holy Sonnet I. Jayson found the number 7 running throughout the movie. Like, a lot.
I'm really impressed at the deep dive Jayson did researching this film. Poor Mary has to leave the boarding school her big sister, Jacqueline, pays for because big sis stopped paying.
Things take a dark and weird turn when Mary finds her sister was renting a room above an Italian restaurant. This film is furnished with...a chair and a noose hanging above this chair.
It's described as a horror/noir. Irving August, a detective, gives us some noir elements.
Mary ends up meeting Gregory Ward, who's really off putting with his behavior. First, he's married to Jacqueline, but Mary doesn't know this, and he doesn't bring it up. Second, he has a comment about his wife: "I don't think she knows what the truth is." Oh, and he knows about the suicide room, and seems to shrug it off.
Jayson points out some more questionable behavior by Ward.
We think Brouwerij Sterkens would have run the cult in this movie than the people running it. They know what they're doing.
Irving August meets his maker. The camera work and lighting is a high point in this movie. No surprise, considering Nicholas Musuraca is the DP. Click the link in his name, he's a legend.
We meet Dr. Louis Judd. He gives a poor first impression. Condescending, full of himself. He knows where Jacqueline is, and he needs some money. Cash only.
This movie was confusing. Very, very confusing.
Mary finally finds her sister, who pops up at her door, and promptly disappears.
We meet Hoag, the Poet, in a strange and awkward way. He inserts himself in the search for Jacqueline.
There's a shower scene predating Psycho. It doesn't end with murder, but it's really creepy.
The cult finally gets Jacqueline, and being non-violent satanists their plan is to browbeat her into drinking potion. Seriously, that's their plan. Weakest satanic cult ever.
More great film work form Nicholas Musuraca, with high contrast lighting, as Jacqueline's pursued by a knife wielding man. The cult is non-violent, but not above hiring someone to do violence for them. Strange.
Jacqueline makes for her suicide room and bumps into her sick neighbor, Mimi, who doesn't want to die.
Judd and Hoag clear up their differences and join up to finger wag the cult. They really get 'em with the Our Father. Served!
The film ends with Mimi heading out to live her life, and hearing Jacqueline hang herself. Talk about downbeat.
I was confused as hell watching this movie. And the more I watched it the more I didn't care to learn more. At and hour and ten minutes it seemed to drag on forever. I can't recommend it, unless you happen to be a Nicholas Musuraca completist. Jayson liked it more than me, and brings the number 7 back for the umpteenth time (the 7th Circle of Hell is where suicides go in Dante's Inferno). We both highly recommend Bokrijks from Brouwerij Sterkens. It's a delightful beer.
Intro music for this episode is a mix of (1) Turn on The Funk (Story Blocks Audio subscription), (2) sample 1961’s The Phantom Planet [in the public domain], and (3) sample 1968’s Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women [in the public domain]. Outro music Vintage Background Jazz Atmosphere by Volodymyr Piddubnyk (Story Blocks Audio subscription).
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