Victim (2010)

Simply Perfect

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I had to make myself a drink after watching this film. I'd like to start by admitting that I'm a male. Also that I believe women should have rights over their lives and bodies without question. The film will leave you a little shaky as was intended. The storyline is well thought out with many unexpected twists and turns. Hultquist and Matinez did a damn good job. Direction was fine, given an obvious limited budget the film seemed a tad scaled back. But no complaints. The less Eskandari showed the more freaked out I became. Harrowing to watch. Especially if you see everyones point of view, motive and that of any victim of crime. Actors Weigand and Bancroft turned in above-average performances. Weigand's character arc is particularly well done by the young actor. Think I'll make myself another drink.

Definitely an A+ for the twist in this one. In the middle of the film it was easy to see what was taking place, but the finale really sneaks up on you, ending with you empathizing with the doctor despite having shared the victims plight through the entire movie. So why the bad rating? The main actor was terrible. Cheesy and awkward in his movements, speaking, and facial expressions. There were some horrendously bad "only in a horror movie" qualities as well; i.e. ridiculously ineffective police officers. Very disturbing to watch, you definitely need to stick with it to the ending to have the knot in your stomach untie. That being said, I couldn't take anything seriously with the protagonist's poor acting.

I find it very hard to rate this movie. It's in many ways a hard movie to watch. A man (Stephen Weigand) is kidnapped, imprisoned and subjected to a rather gruesome fate (which I'll not give away) at the hands of his kidnappers - a surgeon (Bob Bancroft) and the surgeon's sidekick (Brendan Kelly.) It's a sort of mad scientist movie, except that Dr. Volk isn't really "mad." He's definitely in control and has clear-cut reasoning behind what he's doing, the reasoning becoming apparent as the movie progresses. It isn't a particularly bloody or gory movie; it's more an unsettling movie; something of a psychological study as the prisoner is increasingly pressured to give in to his captors, with torture porn, rape and snuff movies serving as the background to the whole story. From about the halfway point it's somewhat clear what Volk is up to, although the last few scenes (as he seems to be getting his revenge) took me completely by surpriseGenerally speaking the performances from the three leads were passable. I wouldn't say anyone was outstanding in this, but they were passable. This isn't an outstanding film by any means, and it's not a movie I'd want to watch over again. If you're into mind game movies, though, it might be worth taking a look at. (6/10)

I wasn't sure what this would be truly "about" going into it (though I had read the other reviews and so I knew some of it). My advice if you happen to see this review first is this: If you like tense, sadistic psychological puzzles in which you get to see someone so thoroughly played with that their sense of self is utterly obliterated and replaced and you are open to seeing normally taboo subjects displayed on screen, then you might be well advised to stop reading reviews here and now before any of them give too much of it away, and just go watch the thing. What there is to give away is revealed in the first 30-40 minutes or so, but it would be so much more effective if you weren't quite expecting it. :-)That said, I really enjoyed this movie. There were a few scenes where the quality of the acting degraded a bit, but I could more than excuse them for the tension and intrigue the film manages to string you along with the whole time. The truth about what's going on and why it's going on becomes easy to figure out about 20 minutes or so from the end, and I'm not going to reveal a thing about it to you.It is a bit slow-paced in some ways, not a lot of blood and gore, but certainly tense and filled with mind-games. Also a few nicely-laced red herrings here and there to make you think one thing when you find out another is true, and the ending manages to satisfy by not being quite what you'd want or expect it to be. :-)I'll definitely be watching this one again at some point. Two thumbs up. :-)