THE VICTIM: IS THE VIEWER

I used to think Michael Biehn was a pretty good actor. But then that was way back when he made THE TERMINATOR and a few other good flicks. Then for some reason he seemed to be around less and less in major motion pictures. In some cases this is a good thing. In his case it led to this film, THE VICTIM.

Biehn wrote, co-produced, directed and stars in this film. From the looks of things he should choose just one of those objectives and work harder at it. The result of his wearing so many hats turns out to be a film that doesn't deliver much of anything.

Two young strippers are off in the woods with two policemen, one of whom Mary (Danielle Harris) is dating. While having rough sex, the policeman accidentally snaps here neck. Calling his friend over they decide the best thing to do is bury the body and make sure the other girl Annie (Biehn's wife Jennifer Blanc-Biehn) is killed and buried too. Having overheard this she takes off through the woods.

Annie gets as far as a lone cabin in the woods where Kyle (Biehn) lives. Somewhat of a hermit, he's there for solitude and to get his life back together. When she tells him her story he tried to convince her to call the other police. A little digging shows that this cop is high in the force and destined to be the next chief. The chance of her story being accepted as truth with no body to show isn't likely.

Things go from bad to worse when the two policemen show at Kyle's door. He denies having seen anyone but they don't believe him. They leave, Annie thanks Kyle and of course they head to the bedroom. Why? Because in movies if you appreciate someone's help you immediately have sex with them.

Eventually the police and Kyle with Annie along will have a confrontation to settle the matter at hand. The movie is more about getting to that stage of the game in act three and seeing what happens then and who comes out on top. There is one nice twist at the end but by that time you no longer care.

The film takes forever to move from one point to the next. A 5 minute sequence of Kyle's driving is used to establish that he lives out in the boonies with no one around. Nice way to run the clock out. Getting from one point to the next involves dialogue that's both lame and pointless. At one point I thought I was watching an episode of WHO'S LINE IS IT where they play the game answer with a question. Back and forth it goes until someone can't come up with another question.

Not only is the dialogue boring but the shoot itself lacks quite a bit. Using day for night, a technique where you shoot in daylight and use a blue filter to simulate night time, it's done so poorly that everything is blue, including the headlights of every car. Countless scenes of driving from one spot to another fill the time out in this film that feels like an utter waste of time watching.

Not that Hollywood is known for being the center of morality in the world today, but the question that kept popping into my mind was why someone would feel comfortable directing their wife in nude scenes and simulating oral sex on another actor. If you wanted to do this in a personal sex tape (the thing to do these days it seems) fine. But why make a movie that centers around a slutty character and having your spouse fill that role? Only in Hollywood.

There is nothing I can think of to recommend this film. What is supposed to be a thriller or suspense film offers little of either. It doesn't even offer a good revenge flick. In the extras Biehn tries to say the film is another grindhouse film. That phrase has gotten far too much usage of late and rather than paying tribute to films of that original genre is used instead for low budget low quality films. THE VICTIM is both of those things, low budget and low quality. Worse yet it's boring. Save the rental fee.

Click here to order.