So... Venus in Furs isn't exactly a horror movie. I feel I can be forgiven as I was going by the Netflix description:
Jesus Franco's erotic, mood-driven piece stars James Darren as jazz trumpeter Jimmy, who discovers the body of a mutilated woman (Maria Rohm) on the beach ... and the victim seems strangely familiar to him. When he sees her again -- very much alive -- he becomes sexually obsessed with her. Not a good idea, as the mysterious beauty's returned from the grave on a deadly mission.
Also, they list is as "horror." But there is only one scene that feels like it's a horror movie and it's the best scene. Remarkably, I was onboard with Venus in Furs all the way up to this scene (I'd link to it, but I couldn't find it, but it's the first revenge murder). Then the movie falls apart.
I say "remarkably," because my feelings on Jesus Franco are no secret. There's terrible narration throughout, but the movie looks nice, the titular Venus in Furs is stunning, and it's got Klaus Kinski. Then, after the murder scene, a bizarre and melodramatic love triangle is introduced that has nothing to do with anything except driving the movie to a halt. Not even the remaining murders are interesting. It caps off with a twist that somehow makes even less sense than the twist at the ending of Haute Tension.
Even though I've hated almost ever Jesus Franco movie I've seen, I can't help but admire the man. Just look at his IMDB page. He was never not working. While I think that has a lot to do with the quality of his output, I can't hate on a guy too much for wanting to make movies (no matter how sleazy they got).
Oh, and Manfred Mann contributed music to Venus in Furs, so I'll let them play us out.
No comments:
Post a Comment