Halloween season invariably means treats for collectors of horror on hard media, and this year’s proving no different as The Criterion Collection has readied an expectedly extras-laden double feature from the storied 1940s RKO shock output of producer Val Lewton, I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and The Seventh Victim (1943), to be enjoyed on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD.
In 1942, RKO engaged the pulp novelist and former David O. Selznick staffer Lewton to head up a production unit that could gather a share of the popular horror market—and, mindful of the red ink that followed the carte blanche the studio gave Orson Welles, do so on time and on budget. In conjunction with many gifted collaborators, such as a stable of directors comprised of the stylish second-generation French filmmaker Jacques Tourneur, and the eager-for-a-break Welles assistant editors Robert Wise and Mark Robson, Lewton delivered nine memorable fright films into the postwar years.
Working from the lurid marquee-bait titles his bosses saddled him with, Lewton strove for and achieved champagne results on a beer budget, mindfully using standing sets from the RKO lot, and famously, passing on the use of on-screen boogeymen and instead relying upon edits and the power of suggestion to build up palpable dread for the viewer.
The new Criterion set kicks off with the Tourneur-directed I Walked with a Zombie, which interwove a then-contemporary public fascination with voodoo into a repurposing of Jane Eyre. Canadian nurse Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) welcomed a private care job in the warmer climes of the Caribbean, courtesy of plantation owner Paul Holland (Tom Conway)—until she met her mute and semi-catatonic charge, Paul’s wife Jessica (Christine Gordon). She comes to understand the tense triangle involving the Hollands and Paul’s resentful half-brother Wesley (James Ellison)—but Jessica’s connection to the mystic rites performed by the island’s populace might be beyond mortal comprehension.
The Seventh Victim marked the big-screen feature bow not just for director Robson, but its leading lady—a 21-year-old Kim Hunter. Hunter portrayed Mary Gibson, boarding school student and little sister of successful cosmetics doyenne Jacqueline (Jean Brooks). With her elder sibling having gone missing for months, Mary packed off for Manhattan to try and track her down—with the perilous and oddball-populated trail revealing Jaqueline’s involvement with a cult of wealthy Satanists. Lewton’s penchant for working with what was at hand is evident in the opening scenes at Mary’s school, which reutilize the imposing staircase built for Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons (1942).
If you’re a fan of Val Lewton’s horror films, which is your favorite? Feel free to vote below, and to share your reasons why in the comments!