Horror invades the concrete corridors of a cursed apartment complex on the outskirts of Madrid.
Jaume Balagueró, of “REC” fame, is back with a new horror flick as part of the Horror Collection coming out of Spain. His latest film, “Venus,” comes inspired by the Lovecraft tale ‘The Dreams in the Witch House’ so you know cosmic horror is bound to drive people insane. Balaguero’s adept at flashy effects and knows how to use his budget well, but the film’s music broadcasts its emotionality to us, so thoroughly it drags the whole movie down. While the film delivers on plenty of vicious action and sweet character moments, it can’t help but feel a little trite as overscored scenes drag it into an early aughts cheap action finale.
Ester Expósito (of the infamous Netflix show “Elite”) plays Lucía, a dancer at a nightclub who steals all the ecstasy from the club. On her way out the door, she’s confronted by a bouncer who injures her. She escapes, licking her wounds at her estranged sister’s apartment on the outskirts of Madrid. While Mobsters hunt her down, strange hauntings alert Lucía to something more sinister happening on the floor above her – a floor abandoned for years. All of this coincides with a mysterious eclipse taking place mid-day, forboding some new horror for this world.
This film has a lot on its mind, and different elements work better than others. The mobster hunt unfolds cleanly with one truly inspired witch scene. The most robust plot centers around the relationship between the two sisters, Lucía and Rocío (Ángela Cremonte). Their strained relationship comes together in the first forty minutes, and their interactions with each other deliver the impetus for our protagonist’s shifting goals once she puts the drug dealing fantasy behind her. It’s a plot woven quickly and then dumped early on to focus on Lucía’s relationship with her tiny nine-year-old niece Alba (Inés Férnandez). When that feels cemented in the plot, the story continues by shifting to cosmic horror. It’s an ever-expanding delicate act of plate-spinning, except each plate gives way to a new plate with few plates left standing.
Ester Expósito performs incredibly, given that by the end of this movie, she’s covered in blood and grunting with every gesture. She goes from Rave dancer to wounded sister to terrified aunt to action hero throughout this movie’s runtime. It’s a physical performance, whether it’s her dancing or fighting. Thankfully she gets to sink her teeth into juicier moments. Her costars, Ángela Cremonte as her sister and Inés Férnandez as her niece Alba, give her plenty to work with. Inés especially buoys Ester’s performances. The two comprise the majority of the film as they’re rarely without each other, so, incredibly, it works so well.
The film broadcasts its emotions to audiences through over-the-top scoring, which feels more stock than the composition. The music swells at emotional beats, papering over the audio of the entire film. Its action sequence music sounds like stock music from any website advertising ‘tense thriller score.’ While they’re not offenses in and of themselves, they cover scenes of such obvious emotional catharsis it feels ridiculous. A hat on a hat. That instinct to add music feels directly plotted from an early 2000’s action film where we’re told how to feel just off of cheap violin swelling.
Balaguero knows not to pull his punches in a film like this. The opening delivers some strong action throughlines. The story can feel a little rote, given that we anticipate certain scenes to happen in the middle, but the final third delivers on all sorts of violent scenes. The culmination of cosmic horror (a monster gets unleashed) and mafia violence intertwine directly in a fever pitch. They’re blood-soaked scenes with one gruesome creature, and you feel every blow. Still, they come in a little underbaked. Our heroine’s heroic last stand gets framed as a revival by some force antagonistic to the cosmic being summoned to the apartment complex. Still, it’s never fully explained and, as such, makes her final battle feel like it happens because the script says so. Similarly, the ending doesn’t neatly wrap up, and a confusing ending like that left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied. It plays like a final action sequence where our heroine finally fights back, but it ends feeling like a cheap early 2000’s action movie driven by no more than screenwriting instincts and a sense of “what looks cool.”
“Venus” has a lot on its plate, and at any one time might succeed at some of it, but it doesn’t quite pull off all of it. Its early half feels exciting, and we land in the middle of some excellent cross combination of mob drama and character study, but the threads never tie neatly together. A forced conclusion with murky lore behind it weakens the otherwise intriguing premise, and an overabundance of cheesy music softens the emotional blows. Still, it’s full of blood and viscera. It’s got intense, haunting sequences. There’s a hint of cosmic horror throughout. I would recommend it for Balaguero fans but average viewers? If you stumble across this on Netflix or Hulu for some series, you can probably skip it.
“Venus” recently had its US Premiere at 2022 Fantastic Fest
