The Victim (2011)

Today, Kevin Costner's Criminal releases in my country. I was supposed to attend a night show, but it can wait because today is also Ms Jennifer Blanc's Birthday (April 21) and I have to show honor. I got myself a couple of hamburgers and a chilled carbonated drink, sat back and relaxed, and watched one of her films, which she produced and starred in as the main character. It's also directed by her husband, the legendary Michael Biehn who also wrote the screenplay and starred in it as well, he was in the leading role. The film also stars Danielle Harris, Ryan Honey, Denny Kirkwood and others. Almost Human Inc was also part of the crew. Excellent performance and work by the entire cast and crew, they did an outstanding job. It's a low-budget film but it doesn't look low to me, it was really well done. It was one entertaining ride with suspense and it was intense. You have violence, gore, hot romance, twists, incredible dirty and dark dialogues and it all adds up to one perfect grindhouse thriller. There's more to it as well, like a dark disturbing psychological feeling at the end and I would really love to see a sequel. Robert Rodriguez inspired Michael to do this movie and, Oh Boy, he really brought it in 11 days. Respect!!! Michael and Jennifer are one of the greatest duos in film making next to Rob Zombie, Sheri Moon and Eli Roth, Lorenza Izzo. I don't know why there are bad reviews for this one and I don't care. I only keep good movies in my collection and this is one of those. Really can't freakin wait for Hidden In The Woods!!!

Ultra-low budget private effort at a throwback to what was known as Grindhouse Movies. A deliberate attempt to be lurid with lazy film making and exploitation sub-genre subject matter. The more gore (H.G. Lewis), nudity (Roger Corman/Russ Meyer), the better and with great colorful posters and titles (Bloody Mama, The Gore Gore Girls) they would attract audiences and the public with taboo breaking bad flicks.Most of them were pretty awful, with an occasional sleeper hit and a later discovered cult classic (The Texas Chainsaw, Massacre, Ms.45. Basket Case). But unless you are willing to go way over the top (Tarantino & Rodriguez) or somehow find a great script or story, the results are predictably, almost always BAD.The trouble with setting out to make a bad movie (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes) is that it usually results in nothing sensational. LIke this Movie. The charm of an Ed wood movie is that he was not winking at the audience, he was trying really hard and the result was a primitive style that endures. There may be kudos for an attempt, but eight hundred thousand dollars is hardly chump change, even in the independent film world, and this comes off more like someone saying lets make a gritty movie while we're on vacation, rather than an auteur deciding, well we only have a few bucks and a lot of willing folks so we can do this thing.This movie is lacking sensationalism with unattractive nudity, has mundane violence, no surprises and is ultimately uninteresting, not entertaining, or worth the effort.

I have to say that after seeing that Michael Biehn was in this I was kind of looking forward to seeing this movie. And I noticed that Danielle Harris was in the film too, so you would think it would be half decent right? Then I saw that he wrote and directed it also. After saying that I wish he had not written and directed it as it was horrible. His wife Jennifer Blanc also stars in the film and I'm pretty sure that Biehn made this film just so he could have sex with her on camera and so people could see her boobs, because she couldn't act in this film, and Biehn himself was also bad in it. The story was not that good either, and the rest of the cast wasn't much better in the acting stakes. The movie felt like it was two hours long as it seemed to take forever to finish, but it's actually only 80 minutes long. I couldn't wait until it was over. I recommend that you give this film a miss, save your time and money. I give it a 2 out of 10, only reason it gets that much is the good head bashing at the end.

OK I must review The Victim. I must admit I wasn't instantly hooked in the first 15 minutes. Once everything started to unwrap it was one of his best. I loved the Directing in a sense that it was authentic and real. As were all the performances. I must say too, my favorite ending credits ever. I also loved credits that showed all the cast with names but to do that with the crew-pure genius! Shows totally appreciation for this great crew as does the excellent behind the scenes bonus feature. If this is any indication what we have in store from Blanc Biehn Productions then I say Bring it On Jennifer Blanc-biehn and Michael Biehn! A match made in film heaven.