Venus in Furs

Legendary cult director Jess Franco has made a staggering amount of films in his career, and regardless of how non-existent the budget or incoherent the narrative is, nearly all of his pre-1980 work is at the very least interesting, and in many cases, fascinating. Jess Franco always provides us with sensuous eye candy and a great soundtrack, but in the case of "Venus in Furs", he goes far beyond that and creates a film that is more than just a great exploitation film - it's a great film period. Along with his two other masterworks, "Vampyros Lesbos", and "She Killed in Ecstacy", this is one of the few Franco films that has not only a strong story idea to start with, but a solid and well paced narrative to carry it along. The film benefits enormously by a great cast, anchored by leading man James Darren, who turns in a low-keyed, solid performance that is reminiscent of something you might see in a Hitchcock or early Brian Depalma film. Maria Rohm is as sensuous and captivating as ever, and both the lucious Barbara Lee and the sultry Barbara McNair round out what might be one of the best trio of "Franco women" ever cast together in one of his films. Also on hand is Franco/Euro-horror regular Klaus Kinski. He is solid as usual. It goes without saying that the movie looks great (given the age of the film, the transfer is superb), and is loaded with erotic imagery, but Franco outdoes himself here. The score by Manford Mann and Mike Hugg is outstanding and goes a long way toward creating the film's hypnotic atmosphere. This is a movie that Franco buffs and fans of Euro exploitation will simply love. Even non-Franco film buffs who enjoyed the likes of "Jacobs Ladder", and Mary Lambert's "Siesta", also might want to check it out.

This is exactly the kind of B-Movie erotica I love. Wide-Screen and in color it straddles the line between Main Steam and Alternative brilliantly. Its stars James Darrin (Time Tunnel) for goodness sakes. But you'll never see this on NBC. I think I paid $10 for this and got more than my monies worth.

Thought it would be better. This is a movie that was built up to be a very good movie but proved that it was not.

I think this movie is rubbish, i do not understand the story, it's all so boring. I wish i never had bought it.

prime franco while a blu ray version would maybe add some needed color and depth this version is more than adequate but this is one cool crazy flick

Plot and transfer of this movie are all bad. I cannot finish this half. So, I disqualify myself to keep on talking.

ok this movie may not be for everyone but if you are in the mood for a trully strange film (by the also srange jess franco) that is both sexy and stylish, has a brooding jazz score, and is about a down on luck trumpet player who finds a corpse on the beach in instanbul only to see the dead woman again apearing to him in a fur coat and stockings, in rio then give this a go, but be warned this is more a mood driven film not naration driven. that is not to say that the film has no plot but rather the plot takes a backseat to mood, i thought this was one of the most brooding films i have ever seen and enjoyed it for that. if the above doese not sound like your thing then i would be the first to say give thiss one a miss. if on the other hand you still feel like giving this one a go then you too may just fall into its spell. as for the disk its by blue undergound so you know your getting the best nuff said go see the movie

I'm not a huge fan of director Jess Franco, but I really dig his earlier black & white films, "The Awful Dr. Orloff", "Dr. Orloff's Monster", "The Sadistic Baron von Klaus" and "The Diabolical Dr. Z". Because word-of-mouth works and I was curious to see where Jess Franco went commercial; I bought "Venus In Furs" (Blue Underground DVD) strictly on the films reputation alone and wasn't disappointed. Not b&w, not horror; just a bizarre, trippy, late 60s era Jess Franco freak-out! For the price, why not expand your dull, mainstream film library, your mundane existence and come away less culturally bankrupt than you were before. Take the plunge - it worked for me, now I own "Vampyros Lesbos" as well!