Blu-ray Review: The Fourth Victim (1971)

Ol’ rich-bitch Arthur (Michael Craig) discovers his wife tits up (or more accurately “down”) in the swimming pool, and the police get suspicious… especially since this is his third marriage featuring a murdered wife and a large life insurance policy.
Without anything to directly tie the Art-ful Dodger to the case, he walks away free as a beastly bird… seems reasonable…
His troubles are far from over however, as soon he’s hitched to a woman named Julie Spencer (Carroll Baker) who just showed up a-swimming in the same pool wife number trois met her untimely demise…. but as one would expect, Jules has more to her than meets the eye, and soon the couple are balls deep in suspicion as the tension between them grows, and the shadow of death grows longer! Will Julie become the fourth mother fuckin’ victim? Lord, I wish that was the title…
The first thing one should realize about The Fourth Victim, is that this is a story driven affair. What that roughly translates to is, if you don’t enjoy slow burn fright flicks, then this is not the putrid picture for you!
What this 1971 Italian/Spanish co-production directed by Horror Express’ Eugenio Martín (working from a screenplay courtesy of Hatchet for the Honeymoon’s Santiago as well as Sabatino Ciuffini, Vicente Coello, J.B. Gilford, and Eugenio Martín) have presented a pseudo-giallo without all that red sauce that genre usually splashes around via elaborate murder sequences.
That all being said, the mystery at hand is engaging and well-acted, and does manage to present a few twists and turns along the way that keep this from straying too far into television soap opera territory.
With all that I mentioned above, Severin have also included an interview with Eugenio Martín Biographer Carlos Aguilar, a deleted scene, and the film’s theatrical trailer on this Blu-ray release.
A bit stagey, a bit talky, and light on the murder biz, The Fourth Victim is nevertheless a stylish thriller with some delightfully devious, if a bit out of nowhere, plot twists and well worth a wicked watch!