Anchor Bay Entertainment has picked up the North American rights to the suspense-thriller The Victim, which stars Michael Biehn, a veteran of most of the James Cameron movies worth watching (The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss). Described by Biehn as “a down and dirty film – true grindhouse,” The Victim is also Biehn’s writing and directing debut. [Deadline]
While I’m tempted to truncate the synopsis included in the original article, I have to include the whole thing because it’s so pricelessly over-the-top:
Good time girls Annie (Jennifer Blanc) and Mary (Danielle Harris) find themselves in a life and death situation. Annie’s life is put in jeopardy when she is witness to a violent act at the hands of two Sheriff’s Deputies. Fleeing from attackers (Ryan Honey, Denny Kirkwood), she stumbles across Kyle (Michael Biehn), a recluse living in the middle of the woods. The ruggedly handsome loner stays far from civilization – that is – until a single knock on his door throws his solitary life into chaos. Two worlds collide in this psychological thriller that will make you question your trust in mankind. Who is the victim?
Indeed, who? While most actors-turned-director choose painfully self-aware projects (edging up to and sometimes skating well beyond the edge of Pretentious Crap), it’s delightful and refreshing to see Biehn making his directing debut with such unapologetic shlock. It doesn’t mean the film will be any good, but at least he’s having fun. Quoth Biehn:
“From the first day of shooting, I had hoped that Anchor Bay would be interested in The Victim. I’m very happy they will be working with us to distribute it.”
There are no hard plans on when (or if) the movie will see a theatrical release, but plans for a college tour run by Hogan Entertainment and Pegasus Productions were mentioned. Let’s hope it sees the light of day.
Would you see this “grindhouse” flick? Are you fond of B-movie stars making their directing debuts with slaphappy shlock?