Director Herschel Daugherty's directorial efforts run the gamut of TV's classics, from Star Trek to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller and The Six Million Dollar Man. He was even the dialogue director for Mildred Pierce!
Kate Wainwright (Elizabeth Montogomery, who you may know from Bewitched, but around here we celebrate her for her role in The Legend of Lizzie Borden) is coming to visit her sister, but unbeknownst to her, her sister is already dead. She has to deal with the increasingly crazy attention of her sister's maid, Mrs. Hawkes (Heckart) as well as power outages and an increasingly more frightening storm. We soon learn that her sister already fired the maid and is planning on divorcing her husband, Ben.
While we see the sister get murdered at the beginning of the film, we never see the killer. What we do see is Kate go increasingly more and more afraid and Montgomery turns in an awesome performance.
The McKnight Malmar story this was based on was first filmed for a 1962 episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller entitled The Storm, which was also directed by Herschel Daugherty. The Victim was rewritten by Merwin Gerard and doesn't stick as close to the original story.
The ending of this movie might frustrate you. Or maybe you might enjoy it, as it never really lets up on the creep factor.
The Victim
1972
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
The Victim
1972
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
A wealthy woman is trapped during a storm in a house with no electricity or phone. A killer has murdered her sister, stuffed the body in the basement, and is now after her.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
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Top cast
Tech specs
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A dark little movie
Creepy Made for T.V. Movie
I remember watching this movie when it came out as a t.v. movie of the week in the early 1970's.
Although I haven't seen this movie in over 30 years I remember how creepy it was...the sister's dead body in the basement, the storm raging outside, the creepy house with no electricity and a killer still on the premises.
They just don't make t.v. movies like this one anymore. Elizabeth Montgomery was a very underrated actress and I liked her in not only "Betwitched", but several of her post-Bewitched roles, such as this one and 1975's "The Legend of Lizzie Borden".
I really wish that someone would come out with a DVD that has several of the 1970's t.v. movie of the week on one DVD. Wouldn't it be awesome to watch "When Michael Calls", "Bad Ronald", "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark", "Crowhaven Farm", etc., all on one DVD? I know there is a market for a DVD like this for all of us baby boomers who grew up in the 1960's and 1970's. Maybe, if we are lucky, someday someone will offer us a DVD with a great selection of t.v. movies like this.
Movies of the Week Really Rock - The Victim is GREAT
I saw The Victim starting Elizabeth Montgomery when I was 12 years old. I just watched it again on You Tube and really enjoyed it, 44 years later.
It's an old-fashioned woman in jeopardy suspense thriller and I wish there were more movies like this today.
Elizabeth Montgomery plays Kate, a well to do woman who is concerned about her sister Susan. Susan lives in an isolated house, sounds troubled when she talks to her sister on the phone and a terrible storm is coming. Kate calls her sister back, but the line is dead, which worries Kate. Kate decides to drive to her sister's home in the storm and arrives to find her missing. The storm is in full force, the phone's not working, the power goes out....as a 12 year old, this scared me to death. As a 56 year old, I still enjoyed it. Eileen Heckhart gives a terrific performance as the sister's creepy housekeeper and George Maharis is excellent as the missing sister's husband.
For baby boomers like myself who loved Elizabeth Montgomery on Bewitched and who adored watching The Movie of the Week (a precursor to Lifetime Movies),this one's for you. I truly wish all the old Movies of the Week would be released on DVD or at least as Amazon Prime videos. There's a real market out there among the baby boomers and most of the movies, like The Victim, are really good.