Venus In Furs
Blue Underground
Cast: Maria Rohm, Klaus Kinski, James Darren
Extras: Interviews, Gallery, Trailer, Biography
Rating:
I’ve never been a fan of Jess Franco’s work at all. To me he has always been a hack with a camera and an utterly adolescent sex drive. Most of his films make no sense and serve only to string up a series of nude scenes – some shocking for their time, some not so shocking – and sell the concept off as ’art.’
’Venus In Furs’ matches many of these elements and contains a lot of excessive and superfluous material and nudity. It is nonetheless by many hailed as Franco’s best work – whatever that means – and watching it on this beautiful DVD from Blue Underground I can see a few interesting moments. Not enough to make it a great film, but enough to classify it as an experimental film that succeeds on some levels. Don’t expect it to make a lot of sense or to have a cohesive narrative, however. Just take it as a collage of trippy scenes that somehow mesh together.
Blue Underground created a clean transfer of the movie for this DVD and only occasionally will you notice some speckles in the print. Colors are vibrant, helping to bring the somewhat psychedelic atmosphere of the film to life. Black levels are solid, rendering deep shadows that root the image, while highlights are always balanced. Once again it’s one of those great transfers of an underdog film from Blue Underground that defies its own actual limitations. Great work!
The audio on the release comes as the original mono track that serves its purpose well.
As extras you will find an interview with Jess Franco on the DVD as well as an audio interview with the movie’s main star Maria Rohm. A trailer, and gallery, as well as Franco’s biography round out the release.
For fans, this is once again a revelation. The transfer quality of this DVD is unmatched for this film, making at a great addition to any Jess Franco fans’ library.
