Venicephrenia

Veneciafrenia works better when it leans into the slasher with the beautiful Venice and its costumes as backdrop, but falls hard when it tries to focus on the main conspiranoic plot of the film, becoming something completely different and far less interesting.

Álex de la Iglesia's Veneciafrenia, on paper, is a film right up my alley. It is one of those vacation-gone-awry films that works when it's being a pure slasher, and fails when it tries to be a lot more. As someone who lives on the other side of the world, the initial scenes centered around protests in Venice towards ocean liners (and the thousands of Instagram-happy tourists they bring) was news to me, which I had to Google more about. The concept is intriguing, and works fine for a slasher. The protagonists are your typical not-so-likeable tourists who'd do anything just to have a good time, and it was difficult to get behind any of their antics. At times, they're plain stupid. In a film like this, it's mostly the antagonists that you're eyeing. The creepy jester is a scary addition to that universe, and so are the rest of them in masks.

But I wish we didn't have to know so much about them. Retaining some level of mystery around these angry locals would have made it more enjoyable. There's a bigger conspiracy at play, and except for some of the jester's carelessly-yet-magnificently executed savagery, the thrills are lacking. Pablo Rosso's cinematography work captures Venice in darker tones, which is apt given the plot. The ending is also rather tame - you expect a BANG, but turns out, it's just a whimper!

But not so bad as some reviews points. Too many loose ends asking to be developed. Yet thinking if this is some critic to Italian police. Lots of murders but they´re always one step behind. An interesting movie about globalization.

The worst? It´s almost impossible an italian policeman speaks spannish. And so passive.

The best. The concept. Scary. Indeed. Make us think twice if we should visit Venice.

That's a big point in favour of this movie.

I was fan of Alex De La iglesia since I was a kid, my favorites movies so far are "Perdita Durango" "El Día de la Bestia" and "Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi" all of them was fresh, and fun. Today: is a big letdown. The reason I watched the entire movie is because the locations and the costumes. I was intrigue about a slasher movie in Venice (sounds very exotic).

The characters are CHILDLISH and ANNOYING. The script is so poor that I was getting dizzy. Skip it at all cost.

This is such a good film.

I'm not understanding why there's no many really bad reviews.

It feels like they're watching a completely different film from what I've seen.

The acting was great, sound quality was excellent, costumes were brilliant, the story was superb, the directing was faultless. It looks like a fair few quid was spent on this, yet even it's Gross has been low & I can't fathom why?

Ignore the bad reviews. If you want a really good original horror movie, this will be your bag.

I'll be recommending this movie to all my friends who love a good horror/slasher.

I will happily watch this film again & again.