This started very strong with excellent cinematography and action that hooks you in (don't all Franco films?) and while the wheels never fall off, it turns into more half-baked Franco funny business. Lots of pointlessly long takes, dry characterization, illogical and dimwitted plot construction and an ending that made no sense (in a charming way). I could say the same for the exhilarating and fun Faceless, but the better Franco films play against the shabbiness of the production by experimenting or injecting Franco's psyched out humor. "Venus" is very competently made and even lavish at times, but the whole thing is retarded from rising above mediocrity by its boring and predictable script. Actually, it has everything else going for it; from the cast to the soundtrack to the costumes to the locations to Jess Franco's directing. But let me vent on the frustrating script. This is the story of a man who watches a beautiful woman's murder by some evil bourgeoisie types only to find her returning for revenge and sex, sometimes at once. Its a fantastic setup even if it was common during the years of Barbara Steele curios and Corman's Poe movies. But any of those films would have believable storytelling and characters you invest in. Franco handled this script, so the fault lies in his lap.
There's no question Franco is an underrated and important director and a true auteur, but he was not a good screenwriter. He wrote because he needed work, not because he had much to say. But he could visualize his thin plots beautifully. All of the characters are insanely stupid and the twist ending, even though it makes zero sense and still able to illicit a "WTF!?", is still telegraphed too much. "Venus" is the type of cliche B-movie that you watch just to see will they actually commit to the obvious and played climax or surprise you with something better. While half of the movie is just Eurotrash that doesn't help Jess' reputation, the other half is quite effective. Its not as boring or dumb as other Franco films and it has Franco engaging in his excesses: jazz, young women, love-ins, melodramatic lovers, gorgeous exterior shots and extreme close ups of fantastically flawed faces. You just wish Franco found more producers who reigned him in from the overly long takes and robotic performances and commissioned better rewrites and editing. Perhaps he knew the story was weak so he glossed it with so much dream logic that he could write it off as surrealism. And it does work as a bizarre sensual dream. But its out of necessity and not out of any artistic merit. So this film is a great example of Franco as a craftsman.
I sound like I hated it, but I just saw more potential in this film as its a favorite for Francophiles. Its a cousin to movies like Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls and The Monkees' vehicle Head, but lacking the trippiness and genuine passion that those films have and Franco would unleash gloriously in the 1970s. Imagine how great this movie would've been with many, many minor tweaks. I guess "Venus" is best viewed as a transitional film or a campy crossover work, but nothing too major in his arsenal.* My opinion has softened since I reviewed this. It has stuck with me: the soundtrack, the strong casting and the mix of horror with sunny exotic locales and jazzy interiors. I've come to expect that Franco's characters don't behave realistically and the plots are cliche. And this films allows the viewer to chalk it up to a literal dream logic and not shallow storytelling.
While "Venus" is weaker in these departments than other Franco films, it is special. It remains a unique experience but sets up the exotic jazzy horror of Vampyros Lesbos, Virgin Among the Living Dead, Other Side of the Mirror and the like. It could've benefited from some sex and explicit violence, but it was 1969. I'm really smitten with it because Maria Rohm is such a perfect Franco female and makes it all work.
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