I’m the first to admit that horror movies pre-1960 lack something compared to the modern era. You want teenage virgins being slowly bisected by a power saw? (Of course you do!) Or gore-dripping skeletons climbing out of their flesh prisons? Or a sword wielding ghost decapitating six people at a time?  Well, you’re not going to find any of that in mid century horror. Sometimes, the tensest scene is some fellow in a top hat who puffs on a cigarette and says, “Why that’s dastardly!”

This lack of terror is found in 1943’s “The Seventh Victim.”

The plot in brief: A young woman travels to New York City to find her sister, who disappeared months ago. She meets a variety of characters, including her sister’s husband and a charming Italian family. Eventually she discovers that a satanic cult is operating in the shadows and that her sister may have dealings with them.

(I have to say, this Satanic cult was the least threatening bunch of effete bourgeois pseudo-intellectuals I’ve ever seen on film. They actually had a code of no violence. LOSERS!)

The narrative flow was disjointed. At one point, we switch from our main POV character to someone else for an extended period.

One scene is likely an influence on Hitchcock’s famous “Psycho” shower scene (though not quite as fatal.)

While the film’s scares are minimal. It did have some moments of interesting reflection on the moral problem posed by Nietzsche: If God is dead, who/what determines morality?

A bit of research revealed to me that this film was a prequel to the more successful “Cat People,” which I’ve always meant to see.

If you watch this for historical reasons, you might get a kick out of it. I don’t regret viewing it. But I don’t regret much.

Best Line: “What proof can you give me that good is superior to evil?”