Venus

I had not heard about this 2022 Spanish horror movie titled "Venus" before I had the opportunity to sit down and watch it. And seeing that the movie was based on the short story "Dreams in the Witch House" by H. P. Lovecraft, of course I was rather interesting in watching it. Especially so since Lovecraft happens to be my favorite author.

Writer Fernando Navarro delivered a fair enough script for the movie. However, it wasn't particularly reminiscent of the H. P. Lovecraft atmosphere. Yeah, there was a bit of cosmic dread in the storyline, but saying that "Venus" was based on the "Dreams in the Witch House" short story might be stretching that fact quite a bit. Loosely based, in anything at all.

"Venus" certainly was a watchable enough movie, though it didn't make for a particularly outstanding or memorable movie experience. Nay, director Jaume Balagueró delivered a movie that you will watch once, then shelf it and never return to watch it a second time.

The narrative in the movie was somewhat monotonous. While there certainly was a drive forward in the narrative, the story was just lacking that particular spice to make it outstanding and memorable. It wasn't there, and that made "Venus" a somewhat bland horror experience. I was harboring a bit more expectations to the movie than what director Jaume Balagueró delivered, I have to admit that much.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but then again I am not overly familiar with Spanish cinema. But I will say that the actresses and actors on the cast list did good jobs.

Visually then "Venus" was okay. It wasn't a movie that was depending on a massive amount of special effects, and whatever effects were in the movie certainly worked well enough in favor of the atmosphere of the movie.

All in all, "Venus" is a watchable movie, albeit a somewhat forgettable and bland one.

My rating of "Venus" lands on a five out of ten stars.