As no one has heard from her sister in some time and tuition money has stopped flowing, Mary Gibson (Kim Hunter, in her film debut) leaves her private school and heads to New York City. Sister’s landlords open the door to her Greenwich Village apartment.
They see a chair, still upright, with a noose hanging above it.
The Seventh Victim (1943) fared poorly at first, though it made some money in England. Pity, because it now holds a curious place in the history of the horror film. Beautifully shot in shadows and light, it links Film Noir with the horror genre. It presages later occult thrillers, and likely inspired one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous scenes1. It also shares a cinematic universe with the well-remembered (and remade) 1940s horror movie, Cat People.
Our October Countdown of Halloween Horrors past and present continues with the definitive 40s cult horror movie.