Excellent slice of sleaze from Jess Franco!

The_Void

Jess Franco made a hell of a lot of films over his vast career, and it's not surprising that most of them are trash. When speaking of his best films, it's usually The Diabolical Dr Z and this film; Venus in Furs that get mentioned, and there's a good reason for that! I can't say that this film is better than the fantastic Diabolical Dr Z myself, but it's certainly a great slice of Eurocult and I won't hesitate to say that Franco has outdone himself with this film! Venus in Furs is a sort of mixture of sleazy exploitation and, bizarrely, film noir. This does give the film a very odd tone, though it's made good use of. The film starts off in Istanbul and focuses on a trumpeter who finds himself in the middle of a mystery. While strolling on the beach one day, he comes across the washed up body of a woman. After studying her face, he realise that not only does he recognise her - he was there at the party where a group of people mutilated her! The trumpeter then decides to go to Rio, where he meets a singer named Rita; and bumps into the girl he found washed up on the beach...

There are a few films called Venus in Furs - this being the only one that I've seen, though it would seem that this one is unrelated to the rest as it is not based on a novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Like a lot of Eurocult films, this one gets rather confusing at several points and occasionally you just have to go along with it - even if what you're seeing doesn't make a lot of sense. While this might be a huge flaw in some films, in this one it actually isn't, as even when the story isn't up to much; Franco ensures that the visuals are. Venus in Furs is a hugely trippy affair, and Franco pays a lot of attention to detail in most scenes and the fact that the film features a whole host of beautiful women certainly doesn't do it any harm either. The film boasts a very decent cast, with James Darren doing well in the lead role and getting support from beauties such as Barbara McNair, Maria Rohm and Margeret Lee; as well as from cult stars Dennis Price and the great Klaus Kinski. It all boils down to a decent conclusion, which works well within the context of the film. Overall, Venus in Furs is an excellent slice of sleaze and certainly comes recommended to fans of this kind of cinema!

score 8/10

The_Void 13 October 2007

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1745550/