''The Victim'' is a 2011 American horror film directed, written and starring

Michael Biehn Michael Connell Biehn ( ; born July 31, 1956) is an American actor, primarily known for his roles in science fiction films directed by James Cameron; as Sgt. Kyle Reese in ''The Terminator'' (1984), Cpl. Dwayne Hicks in '' Aliens'' (1986), and ...

, produced by and co-starring

Jennifer Blanc Jennifer Blanc (born Jennifer Tara) is an American actress. She was born in New York City. She is married to actor Michael Biehn. Personal life Blanc, who goes by Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, is married to Michael Biehn Michael Connell Biehn ( ; ...

. Thought to be a financial success due to Biehn's effort selling out theaters across the nation, neither he or producer Jennifer Blanc know final sales figures, due to open litigation with the film's investors. The film was produced and shot in less than two weeks in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 2010. Most of the principal photography took place in the

Topanga Canyon Topanga () ( Tongva: ''Topaa'nga'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow ...

, close to

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

Cast

as Kyle Limato *

as Annie * Ryan Honey as Harrison *

Danielle Harris Danielle Andrea Harris (born June 1, 1977) is an American actress and film director. She is known as a " scream queen" for her roles in multiple horror films, including four entries in the ''Halloween'' franchise ('' Halloween 4'' and '' 5''; 19 ...

as Mary * Denny Kirkwood as Coogan

Reception

Alan Cerny of

Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proj ...

characterized ''The Victim'' as "a fun sleazy grindhouse film", in which Biehn was lauded for both giving a good performance and getting good performances out of his actors. Though Cerny stated that Biehn's directing effort exhibited imperfections such as a driving montage scene that he felt was too long, he appreciated that Biehn understood the genre in which he was working, commenting, "Biehn has a clear path to what he's shooting for, and for much of the film's running time, he gets it", and "It's a specific genre with a specific style, and working from that, Biehn gets way more right than he does wrong." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "Directing his own screenplay, Mr. Biehn (working from a story by Reed Lackey) pays more attention to genitals than spatial coherence, unaware that labeling a film grind house doesn’t excuse soap-opera emoting and laughable dialogue. Wait, what am I saying? Of course it does." The film has a 35% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 17 reviews.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Victim 2011 films 2011 horror films 2011 horror thriller films 2010s psychological horror films 2011 psychological thriller films American horror thriller films American psychological horror films American psychological thriller films Films directed by Michael Biehn Films shot in California 2010s English-language films 2010s American films