The Victim

A man lives alone in a remote cabin and is surprised by desperate visitors…it’s a basic idea that serves as the framework for at least half the horror movies out there today. Sometimes it’s told from the point of view of the visitors – teens lost in the woods usually – and sometimes it’s from the perspective of the homeowner who either terrorizes or is terrorized by the visitors. From the outset, it looks like writer/director Michael Biehn, who we all know as John Connors’ future dad in the Terminator movies, doesn’t have much new to bring to the plate. And having the person who knocks on the cabin door a stripper doesn’t count. But stick with it. Biehn is a talented director and while there are a few missteps along the way – like the way his character and the stripper hop into the sack despite the fact that evil is hunting them down and could be right outside the bedroom door – he knows how to build tension and is pretty good at navigating the film’s overwritten plot twists.