Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) Venus in Furs, by Jesus (Jess) Franco, is pretty good. It's about a jazz trumpeter, played by James Darren, who finds a naked, dead woman washed up on the beach, and then things get weird.It seems that Jimmy Logan recognizes the dead girl as Wanda Reed (Maria Rohm). In fact, he dimly recalls her murder - or did he dream it? Or is he dead himself? Welcome to 1969, where apparently this kind of hazy reality was, like, a reality.Sometime after finding Wanda's body, Jimmy runs into...Wanda. Wait, isn't she dead? Who knows, man, but next thing anyone knows, the gang she was hanging with is joining her in the thereafter. Guys like art dealer Kapp (Dennis Price) and fashion photog Olga (Margaret Lee) and Klaus Kinski. Well, someone played by Klaus Kinski, but either way, weird.Meanwhile, Jimmy's falling hard for Wanda, who - again - is probably dead. He likely isn't, because he has a girl named Rita (Barbara McNair), a singer in the combo wherein he jazz trumpets. And Rita can see Wanda, so it's not like Wanda appears only to Jimmy. So maybe Rita's dead too. It's not really important.Visually speaking, this isn't a bad effort. And the score, particularly the jazz, is really cooking. James Darren isn't a bad actor. Also helping? The multiple naked women. I mean, they're in almost every scene.

matheusmarchetti Having been previously disappointed by both "Succubus" and "The Virgin Among the Living Dead", "Venus in Furs" came as a pleasant surprise, and establishes the director, at least in my book, as a truly visionary auteur. As seen in "Succubs", Franco relies mostly on imagery, symbolism and music to it's seemingly plot less story. These elements are, however, essential for a film such as this, where "style" becomes "substance", which consists basically on creating a visual representation of a musician's nightmarish fantasies, much like in Dario Argento's "Deep Red". That being said, the film's style doesn't really owe a lot to Argento, but rather to another important Italian director - Federico Fellini. Franco's attempt to enter an artist's subconscious during a personal crisis, is hardly any different to that of Marcello Mastroianni in "8 1/2", only with a considerable amount of horrific elements and sleaze added into the mix. As I've said before, music is one of the key element to "Venus in Furs", as it enhances it symbolizes the world the protagonist has submerged into. Accompained by a unique visual style which recalls both the works of German expressionism and 60's psychedelia, music replaces it's few but surprisingly poorly written dialog (which is almost entirely a voice-over monologue by lead actor James Darren), in symbolizing character's emotions and situations they find themselves in. Though the 'written words' are secondary in Franco's world, and this one in particular, the characters are very well written and surprisingly likable. James Darren is as confused as the audience in his Chet Baker-inspired role, and perfectly conveys the feeling of being a strange in his own universe. Klaus Kinski is a memorable villain as always, and almost reminiscent to his performance as Count Dracula in Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu, the Vampyr". Maria Rohm is a fine replacement to Soledad Miranda, and her performance of a speechless, gorgeous but vengeful 'evil spirit' is as unforgettable as her Spanish counterpart. Yet it is Margaret Lee who really outdoes Rohm as the other important female figure in the picture, as a very pitiable, lonely and equally beautiful antagonist. Last but not least, Barbara McNair is lovingly charismatic as the a-little-too-friendly Rita, whose small role might be important than it seems. Nevertheless, the performances have been criticized for being a bit dull, but I think it makes the film's bizarre, trippy universe even weirder, as well as giving some interesting hints as to understanding it's purposely ambiguous finale. For all it's cons, that are easily forgiven by it's pros, the film is a 8/10 near-masterpiece.

preppy-3 Jimmy Logan (James Darren) finds a dead girl named Wanda on the beach. He also realizes she was killed by Percival (Dennis Price), Ahmed (Klaus Kinski) and Olga (Margaret Lee). Don't ask me HOW he knows--this movie doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Later on he has a girlfriend named Rita (Barbara McNair) and is happy--but then he sees a girl that looks just like Wanda...and becomes obsessed.I should have known better. Director Jesus Franco's movies are little more that soft core porno full of beautiful naked women. This is no exception. The plot makes little to no sense and its moves at a snails pace. With the sole exceptions of Darren and McNair the acting is just terrible (and badly dubbed). The "script" is thoroughly predictable and full of dialogue that makes little or no sense. Franco just seems interested in getting as much female nudity on the screen as possible--it doesn't seem to matter if it fits the plot! Also why he didn't he show any nudity on Darren? He's an attractive young guy and he IS the main character! This gets a 2 solely for Darren and McNair but this basically a boring soft core porno movie.

Witchfinder General 666 Super-prolific Spanish exploitation director Jess Franco is often bashed as being merely a creator of cheap trash - which is a preconception that only people who are not familiar with all of his work can take. Sure, the man's impressive repertoire of more than 180 films includes more than a few stinkers, but Franco also made several films that are downright brilliant, especially in his earlier years. "The Awful Dr. Orloff" (1962) and "The Diabolical Dr. Z" (1966) are two of these films, and "Paroxismus" aka. "Venus In Furs" of 1969 definitely also belongs in this category. "Venus In Furs" is a bizarre, sleazy and amazingly artistic Exploitation gem that mixes Horror, Mystery, sexual perversion and great music in an obscure and highly memorable manner. The casting of Klaus Kinski in a typically demented role and sexy Maria Rohm as the eponymous Venus are by far not the only aspects that make "Venus In Furs" a must for cult-cinema lovers.When walking along the beach in Isanbul, a Jazz trumpeter (James Darren) stumbles across the body of a young woman. He recognizes her as a girl who was assaulted by a rich playboy (Klaus Kinski) and two others. He travels to Rio, where he meets Rita (Barbara McNair) a foxy black bar singer who becomes his girlfriend. In Rio, he also runs into a young woman (beautiful Maria Rohm) who is the spitting image of the dead girl from the Istanbul beach.... I do not want to give away too much of the, sometimes confusing, plot, but I can assure that it is highly obscure and very interesting throughout. The English title, "Venus In Furs", is also the title of a novel by Leopold Sacher-Masoch. The film has nothing to do with the novel, however, the title refers to the character played by Maria Rohm. Rohm is incredibly sexy and mysterious at the same time. Barbara McNair, who is also responsible for the best parts of the great score, makes another great female character. The female cast members are all beautiful, and, as in is the case with most of Franco's later films, the film provides sleaze, female nudity, lesbianism and perversions, though not as explicitly as many of his later films. It also provides ingenious surrealism, obscure mystery, psychedelic imagery and delightful weirdness of all sorts. The great Klaus Kinski (one of my all-time favorite actors) is once again brilliantly demented in his role, and James Darren fits well in the lead. One of the greatest aspects of the film is the great score, especially memorable is the 'Venus in Furs' sung by Barbara McNair herself. "Venus In Furs" is an obscure and bizarre gem that is ingenious in many aspects and should disabuse all the Jess Franco-haters out there. To some people, this is Franco's best film. I would still give that title to either "The Awful Dr. Orloff" or "The Diabolical Dr. Z", but this film is doubtlessly also a must-see for everyone interested in cult cinema, and an absolute proof for what a great filmmaker Franco is. 8.5/10