The 10th Victim
This is a public service announcement. Fans of classic SF cinema need to know that today sees the release of the dual-format DVD & Blu-Ray version of The 10th Victim, Elio Petri‘s 1965 film, starring Ursula Andress and based on Robert Sheckley‘s story ‘The Seventh Victim’. Here’s the catalogue copy:
Set in the near future, the film opens with Andress killing her penultimate victim in “The Big Hunt”, a reality-TV style game show which selects both Hunter and Victim from participants; the two then chase one another around the globe: kill your 10th victim and you win millions! Andress’ final victim is the cool, sun-loving Italian Marcello (Mastroianni) who also needs to notch up another kill!
Oscar® Winning director Elio Petri’s groundbreaking film heralded generations of films, like Rollerball or Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man, about gladiatorial-death shows and announced our age of increasingly outrageous reality-TV and the latest fascination with Hunger Games dystopia.
Its exquisite Pop-Art visuals, and humorous visual observations have influenced countless films, none more than the Austin Powers sets and costumes. Sourced from HD master restored in the original widescreen film format. This truly seminal cult film is released for the 1st time in UK.
‘The Seventh Victim’ was published in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1953, and in 1965 Sheckley wrote a novel-length version, this time titled The 10th Victim, based in turn on Petri’s film (Arthur C. Clarke would do more or less the same thing four years later with 2001: A Space Odyssey).
The 10th Victim is one of over two dozen Robert Sheckley titles that will soon be available from SF Gateway, under licence from the excellent US eBook publisher, E-Reads. We’re very excited to be bringing the work of such a master satirist to a UK audience – keep an eye on the blog for our publication dates. Meanwhile, you can read what E-Reads publisher (and noted literary agent) Richard Curtis has to say about The 10th Victim over at his blog, Publishing in the 21st Century.
