1236 I Walked with a Zombie / The Seventh Victim: Produced by Val Lewton

[cdnchris]

The Anatomy of a Fall disc had a video about the dog (who is awesome, btw), but it was licensed from some online French news outlet (double-checking it's Madmoizelle) and it was an awful TikTok style void of nothing. There was about a minute of footage featuring the dog and the rest was pretty useless. At least this is a step up.

[dwk]

To be fair, at least as far as previous releases of Lewton films is concerned, Scream loaded their Lewtons with new extras and they still were poor sellers.

[Lowry_Sam]

I Dont think their low sales had anything to do wwith the extra. Most people can't be bothered to follow directors let alone producers enought to track down multiple titles across different labels, which is why all the titles lose when the box set was broken up. That being said, I don't think we would be getting these in 4k now, had they all stayed together.

[dwk]

Keeping them together and releasing them as a box set would probably have been the correct way to release them Lewton films, but my point is they just don't seem to sell, even of they are loaded with new extras, so I can understand the decision, in this case, to not spend the money to create anything new. Especially with the added cost of releasing them on UHD.

[TechnicolorAcid]

To be fair, at least as far as previous releases of Lewton films is concerned, Scream loaded their Lewtons with new extras and they still were poor sellers.

Though the films not released by Criterion are generally less popular Lewtons (not to say they aren’t good because they are but more that they’re less remembered). I’m sure if they had gotten ahold of these two I’m sure they would’ve been big sellers.

[dwk]

I'm not sure I'd say they were all less popular, they did release The Curse of the Cat People and I think the speculation around them was they had them all except Cat People and traded/gave the unreleased ones back.

[Jonathan S]

If even The Body Snatcher was a poor seller, there's not much hope for Lewton or Karloff! If a UK boutique could license it, I think a LE of that (and maybe the two others) would sell out very quickly. In the UK only the heavily BBFC-censored version circulated for about 50 years, certainly on TV, which would make a fascinating extra in itself.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I'm not sure I'd say they were all less popular, they did release The Curse of the Cat People and I think the speculation around them was they had them all except Cat People and traded/gave the unreleased ones back.

I remember hearing that Curse of the Cat People was the only financial failure for Lewton’s horror films largely based on the posters and title not being even close to what the film was actually about. And while the Scream Blu-ray did give a more accurate description of the film, it still paints the film as more horror than it is which I’m sure might’ve led some to feel deceived a bit & affecting the sales of it.

[therewillbeblus]

I think people generally leap at "Criterion doing horror" too. While Scream Factory incorporates gems in with trash, making releases like these stand out less, Criterion's brand name coupled with being more selective with its horror licenses makes stuff like this more pronounced to buyers' eyes. Plus we're in the era of "Oh it's 4K? Pre-ordered" which certainly helps

[therewillbeblus]

Now, to talk about the films themselves, I'm not the biggest fan of I Walk with a Zombie - it's a fine, leisurely, atmospheric yet seemingly hastily-put together flick. However, The Seventh Victim is amongst my favorite films, a horror-noir that's so horrific in its implicit objective nihilism, that the Christian prayer ostensibly usurping the power of the cult is but a folly and no match for the existential disorientation that prevails. Thoughts from years ago (spoilers included):

The 7th Victim: I’ll concede that this doesn’t work as a horror film, a film noir, a romance, or a thriller on its own. It works as an eclectic mix of all of these genres and more, to create a subtly piercing mood piece on existential isolation, the supreme type of horror, the noir-like fatalistic presentation of inescapable division from others, the impossibility of true romance because of individualistic selfish priorities. Navigating through spaces and with people that separate themselves and push others away signifies the principles of exclusion inherent in this society and the futility of attempting authentic connection.

I agree with many that the satanic cult is not scary in the traditional sense, and quite lame in many respects on the surface. However, their apathetic attitude toward Jacqueline and by extension their fellow man, is more frightening than any monster or otherworldly cult could be in its implications of an absence of worth in another human being in this individualistic culture, urging another person to kill themselves with no emotion. Even the sisterly relationship highlights how vulnerable people are and how easily we can become unknown to even those who know us best, if it’s even briefly possible to achieve that much connection, or to discover objective truth in knowledge or meaning.

A lot of utility has been placed on the final shot (and sound) and how dark this ending is, especially for the time of the production code era. The ending is dark but the significance is that this is where and how it ends. Rather than on the characters who we’ve been following as surrogates during the story (the ‘innocent,’ ‘heroic,’ ‘moral,’ and ‘incorruptible’) we get to see Jacqueline. But alas we don’t even get to see her in the final frame! We hear her from behind the door to her apartment, as distanced from our characters as we possibly could be, the primary narrative abandoned and we not even allowed a final glimpse into our secondary character arc with which we have investment. This tactic separates us from our own connection to anyone and anything we’ve placed subjective value on to, this disconnect as a central theme of the film exhibited here in a meta level. By literally blocking any path into Jacqueline’s life, physical space has crowded in on us, the audience, as well and shattered our mastery and exposed the objectivity of isolation via creating a spatial and narrative barrier between us and the image. How much more do you need to signify the meaninglessness of her, or anyone’s, life and the dissonance with environment or god (for we are the omnipotent eye of god as voyeur after all).

This is a horror film but not the kind one expects, more in line with demonlover and those existential horrors that point to a hidden truth none of us want to face or contemplate, even in the safety of the movies.

[colinr0380]

I would really recommend Argento's 1980 film Inferno to you therewillbeblus, because that feels really influenced by The Seventh Victim, down to the sinister figure of Varelli at the centre of the mystery being played by the same actor who, uncredited, played one of the suddenly terrifyingly sober 'drunks' on the train in perhaps the creepiest sequence of The Seventh Victim.

[therewillbeblus]

I've seen it, and it's a great movie. I never thought about the connections but I agree!

[dwk]

I Walked with a Beaver / The Seventh Beaver

[Orlac]

If even The Body Snatcher was a poor seller, there's not much hope for Lewton or Karloff! If a UK boutique could license it, I think a LE of that (and maybe the two others) would sell out very quickly. In the UK only the heavily BBFC-censored version circulated for about 50 years, certainly on TV, which would make a fascinating extra in itself.

The BBFC has a real bee-in-the-bonnet about Burke and Hare. They insisted Tod Slaughter's version renamed them, hence the resultant THE GREED OF WILLIAM HART, and rejected Dylan Thomas' THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS at the script stage.

[Orlac]

BE WARNED: On the commentary for I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, Stephen Jones gives away the ending to THE LEOPARD MAN!

[colinr0380]

BE WARNED: On the commentary for I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, Stephen Jones gives away the ending to THE LEOPARD MAN!

Oh yeah, I forgot he did that. It was frustrating even back when the commentary first appeared in the 2005 Val Lewton Collection DVD set where if you were going through the films in order you would have gone through I Walked With A Zombie and its features, and had the reveal spoiled, before getting to The Leopard Man!

Although that reminds me that The Leopard Man only adds fuel to the thesis that Argento took a lot of cues from Lewton as that film is structured very similarly to:

Spoiler

Tenebrae in the way that both films are doing a swap-out of killers, and their motivations, part-way through!

[Orlac]

BE WARNED: On the commentary for I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, Stephen Jones gives away the ending to THE LEOPARD MAN!

Oh yeah, I forgot he did that. It was frustrating even back when the commentary first appeared in the 2005 Val Lewton Collection DVD set where if you were going through the films in order you would have gone through I Walked With A Zombie and its features, and had the reveal spoiled, before getting to The Leopard Man!

A more recent example - different labels released 1946 potboilers THE CATMAN OF PARIS and THE CAT CREEPS on blu-ray last year about a month apart, and on whichever one came out first, Jonathan Rigby blew the ending of the latter -

Spoiler

both films have killers played by the same actor.

[DRW.mov]

BE WARNED: On the commentary for I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, Stephen Jones gives away the ending to THE LEOPARD MAN!

Oh yeah, I forgot he did that. It was frustrating even back when the commentary first appeared in the 2005 Val Lewton Collection DVD set where if you were going through the films in order you would have gone through I Walked With A Zombie and its features, and had the reveal spoiled, before getting to The Leopard Man!

Although that reminds me that The Leopard Man only adds fuel to the thesis that Argento took a lot of cues from Lewton as that film is structured very similarly to:

Spoiler

Tenebrae in the way that both films are doing a swap-out of killers, and their motivations, part-way through!

Argento also fully lifts an entire set piece in a walled park from Leopard Man in Four Flies on Grey Velvet

[sabbath]

Kudos to Criterion for translating the Haitian Creole songs in I Walked With a Zombie for the English SDH!

[TechnicolorAcid]

A lot of utility has been placed on the final shot (and sound) and how dark this ending is, especially for the time of the production code era. The ending is dark but the significance is that this is where and how it ends. Rather than on the characters who we’ve been following as surrogates during the story (the ‘innocent,’ ‘heroic,’ ‘moral,’ and ‘incorruptible’) we get to see Jacqueline. But alas we don’t even get to see her in the final frame! We hear her from behind the door to her apartment, as distanced from our characters as we possibly could be, the primary narrative abandoned and we not even allowed a final glimpse into our secondary character arc with which we have investment. This tactic separates us from our own connection to anyone and anything we’ve placed subjective value on to, this disconnect as a central theme of the film exhibited here in a meta level. By literally blocking any path into Jacqueline’s life, physical space has crowded in on us, the audience, as well and shattered our mastery and exposed the objectivity of isolation via creating a spatial and narrative barrier between us and the image. How much more do you need to signify the meaninglessness of her, or anyone’s, life and the dissonance with environment or god (for we are the omnipotent eye of god as voyeur after all).

I just finished The Seventh Victim up and I agree with everything you’ve said but I want to highlight something that I believe you alluded to with the ending but didn’t specifically state which is that the true darkness of the scene comes from the fact that the film, through the conclusions it gives its more ‘innocent’ and ‘heroic’ characters alongside Jacqueline’s interaction with the dying woman who talks about the value of living as she’s nearing her end, seems to comfort the audience with the expectation that the film will reach a conclusion suggesting that good in life will always triumph over the evil or badness in it and that life, despite its troubles, should still be lived in its fullest like a standard ending for a movie like this should go. So when the fate of Jacqueline is suggested behind closed doors, it serves as a genuine shock because of how out of left field it is with the rest of the final couple of minutes because it suggests 1.) that evil, specifically the Satanists, have won by forcing Jacqueline into a position where the only way out is through ending it all and 2.) that for some people, they feel like simply can’t go on living out of fear of being found out and punished for their misdeeds and ultimately feel like there is no value to be had in life anymore (side note: I do have to wonder whether there is queer subtext to the fate of Jacqueline given the realities of many queer people in society at this time paired with Jacqueline’s very obvious sub-textually queer romances). Anyways, beyond the ending, this is a fantastic movie that manages to be both terrifying and also consistently engaging as it balances a slew of genres together into a tight hour and eleven minutes (although I personally preferred how The Leopard Man mashed genres a bit better), anchored by a magnetic performance by Jean Brooks as Jacqueline.

[bottlesofsmoke]

So when the fate of Jacqueline is suggested behind closed doors, it serves as a genuine shock because of how out of left field it is with the rest of the final couple of minutes because it suggests 1.) that evil, specifically the Satanists, have won by forcing Jacqueline into a position where the only way out is through ending it all and 2.) that for some people, they feel like simply can’t go on living out of fear of being found out and punished for their misdeeds and ultimately feel like there is no value to be had in life anymore

I don't think that Jacqueline commits suicide because of the satanists or because she can't live with what she did. More because she thinks there is no value in life anymore. Beginning with the line from John Donne, the movie is about the alluring appeal of death. She says keeps a room with a noose and chair for just this reason and even says "I've always wanted to die." Dr. Judd says that she was always “Trying to seize onto something, anything to bring her happiness,” of which the satanists are just the latest attempt. Before that there was marriage to Gregory, her relationship with Frances, and who knows what else. The room with the chair and the noose is yet another example of this: by being able to end her life whenever she wants, she hopes that will bring it meaning. Exhausted from trying and failing to find happiness and meaning and, unlike Mimi, no longer able to just go out and set thoughts of death aside any longer, she runs to death.

To me, the central metaphor of the film is that impenetrably dark hallway. Life is the hallway, and we have to stare into the darkness and step out into the unknowability and terror of it, hoping to find happiness or at least some sort of meaning or rationality. Thus, science, religion, and philosophy all trying to find meaning in the terrible darkness and seemingly random chaos of life. On the other side of this is all the little acts of goodness and kindness of the other characters: Jason and Dr. Judd's renewed friendship, Jason helping Mary, Mary upturning her life to find her sister, Mary and Gregory remaining faithful to Jacqueline despite their love for one another, Irving August's simple offer of help despite the warnings and danger, Judd's protectiveness of Jacquline and Frances' love for her. I think Lewton is going for a sort of variation on Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, presenting the choice between either surrendering to the fact that life is ultimately meaningless and terrible (as Jacquline sees it) or trying to transform life into something beautiful and worth living through kindness, self-sacrifice, and love. Or like Lewton and co. through art. The "good" side doesn't always win, as Jacqueline suicide attests, but trying to bring a little bit of light into the darkness and chaos is still valuable in and of itself.

[therewillbeblus]

Great post, bottleofsmoke, I love that reading

[FrauBlucher]

I second that

[TechnicolorAcid]

I will also second that

[hearthesilence]

Me as well, that was great!