- Aspect Ratio: 1:78:1
- Video Codec: AVC MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Run Time: 83 Mins
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: Anchor Bay Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: September 18th, 2012
- List Price: $24.99
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Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:3/5]
The Victim tells the story of Annie (Jennifer Blanc), a woman whose life is threatened after witnessing the rape and murder of her best friend Mary (Danielle Harris) by two crooked cops. Known for bending the law by any means necessary, Harrison (Ryan Honey) and Coogan (Denny Kirkwood) feel untouchable. That is until they realize Annie has escaped, fleeing into the forest. Ending up at the doorsteps of secluded loner Kyle (Michael Biehn), she explains the whole story of her friends horrific murder. Normally, Kyle wouldn’t involve himself in anything like this, but this IS a movie after all. Taking her in, he vows to protect her at all costs (cue another of Kyle’s lines from The Terminator via ‘come with me if you want to live’)
Channeling the great Grindhouse in nearly every way possible, The Victim is best viewed as the kind of movie that you watch, enjoy somewhat, shut off and then completely forget about. It’s not that the film isn’t entertaining as Biehn is more than capable of creating characters we wish to see succeed, and do care about. It’s not that his direction isn’t solid as he does create solid action. Nor is his script bland, as the dialogue flows well with said action. Ultimately, it’s more that we’ve seen far better examples of these kinds of films before. The kinds that actually stick with us after we power down our home theater. Sadly, The Victim just isn’t one of those examples.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The Victim arrives with a 1:78:1 framed, AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer. Shot using the go-to camera of the modern age, aka the Red One Camera, The Victim has an image that consistently impresses throughout. Regardless of the numerous darker moments (and there are quite a few), detail never falters. Colors are accurate whether your sky blues, forest greens or bright red. Flesh tones are also fine with no instance of contrast being overly pumped up. There’s also no notice noise or any real noticeable compression issues. Faring better than the below audio, this transfer will certainly please fans of the film.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Featuring a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix, The Victim has a somewhat heavy feel and tone to it from the outset. Dialogue is well reproduced via the center channel with no real instance of drop out. LFE is deep at times, mostly thanks in part to the different musical effects used in the movie. Surrounds, somewhat surprisingly I might add, are rather reserved only really opening up during a few heightened ‘terror’ moments. Outside of this, this audio track works well with the film, it just isn’t anything overly impressive.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
The included supplements are featured in High Definition:
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Actor Michael Biehn and Producer/Actor Jennifer Blanc
- The Victim: Behind The Scenes – This runs 24:54 and offers up a lot of information on the production of the film via cast and crew interviews, as well as visits to some of the sets.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Victim isn’t a bad film in any sense, it’s more that we’ve seen this all before….only in better films. Anchor Bay’s Blu-ray is a mixed bag as the video is solid, but I found the audio to be rather underwhelming. I do suppose if you’re a fan of the film, I’d give this one a rent to see if you find the Blu-ray worth owning. Otherwise, skip this one.
Additional Screen Captures
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Purchase The Victim on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
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[amazon-product]B008DL4LSU[/amazon-product]
Purchase The Victim on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
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