{"id":94859,"date":"2022-10-07T00:34:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T19:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/venus-2022-jaume-balaguero-opens-the-festival-with-a-discreet-cosmic-horror-criminal-thriller-that-turns-ester-exposito-into-scream-queen\/"},"modified":"2022-10-07T00:34:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T19:04:47","slug":"venus-2022-jaume-balaguero-opens-the-festival-with-a-discreet-cosmic-horror-criminal-thriller-that-turns-ester-exposito-into-scream-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/venus-2022-jaume-balaguero-opens-the-festival-with-a-discreet-cosmic-horror-criminal-thriller-that-turns-ester-exposito-into-scream-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"Venus (2022): Jaume Balaguer\u00f3 opens the festival with a discreet cosmic horror criminal thriller that turns Ester Exp\u00f3sito into Scream Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Everything a film needs to rock an opening in Sitges is hidden somewhere in &#8216;Venus&#8217;, which after passing through Toronto has premiered for the first time in Europe at the 55th edition of the fantastic film festival of Catalonia.  Nevertheless, <strong>the return of Jaume Balaguer\u00f3 to horror cinema<\/strong> leaves a bittersweet feeling, since on paper, locating a story of rituals and cosmic elements in a flat on the outskirts of Madrid is a brilliant idea.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 1 --><\/p>\n<p>The film is the new installment of the &#8216;The Fear Collection&#8217; label specialized in the horror film genre created by Sony Pictures and Pokeepsie Films, the production company of <strong>Carolina Bang and Alex De la Iglesia<\/strong>, in partnership with Amazon.  Although it will arrive exclusively in theaters throughout Spain on December 2, after passing through theaters it will be available on Prime Video.  It was a good opportunity to improve the stumble of &#8216;Veneciafrenia&#8217;, and although it takes a step forward in terms of the style of the label, it is not the strong impulse that it needed.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 2 --> <\/p>\n<div class=\"article-asset-image article-asset-normal article-asset-center\">\n<div class=\"asset-content\">\n<div class=\"base-wrapper-image\" style=\"padding-top:65.403225806452%;\">\n                 <br \/>\n  <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Venus\" class=\"centro_sinmarco\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/e9a9f7\/venusbalaportada\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It is also convenient to establish the appropriate expectations regarding the label and its possibilities.  Amazon has already established this dynamic with Blumhouse and their collections are so poor that &#8216;Venus&#8217; turns out to be a party at their side, but after &#8216;Way Down&#8217;, <strong>more was expected from a Balaguer\u00f3 who returns to his &#8216;Musa&#8217; mode<\/strong> without getting it to seem that it has come out of that same state.  From the appearance and themes to the mix of genres, even in the casting, where Manuela Vell\u00e9s was in the previous one <strong>here we have Ester Exp\u00f3sito<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 3 --><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-asset article-asset-normal article-asset-center\">\n<div class=\"desvio-container\">\n<div class=\"desvio\">\n<div class=\"desvio-figure js-desvio-figure\">\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The 22 best witch movies of all time\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/222fcd\/brujascabecera\/375_142.jpg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The actress plays the go-go dancer Luc\u00eda who wants to leave behind her job in her nightclub, run by mobsters and gang members.  One day, Luc\u00eda steals a bag full of designer drugs from her bosses but it is not easy for her to get away with it, if she returns home they will find her quickly, so she seeks refuge with her older sister, Roc\u00edo (\u00c1ngela Cremonte), and her niece, Alba (In\u00e9s Fern\u00e1ndez), from whom she is estranged.  They live in the Edificio Venus, located on the outskirts of Madrid, but she soon senses that something is wrong in the apartment.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 4 --><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-asset-image article-asset-normal article-asset-center\">\n<div class=\"asset-content\">\n<div class=\"base-wrapper-image\" style=\"padding-top:52.5%;\">\n                 <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sf-lazy centro_sinmarco\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/62b0ab\/venusw\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/62b0ab\/venusw\/650_1200.jpeg 681w,https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/62b0ab\/venusw\/1024_2000.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/62b0ab\/venusw\/1366_2000.jpeg 1366w,\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/62b0ab\/venusw\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"venusw\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><br \/>\n  <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"venusw\" class=\"centro_sinmarco\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/62b0ab\/venusw\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>His sister and the building she lives in have secrets of their own and strange things start to happen the closer an unexpected solar eclipse approaches.  Luc\u00eda must step up and protect her niece against supernatural forces and cruel mobsters.  The idea is excellent, and follows the tradition of mixing genres that, even before &#8216;Abierto hasta el dawn&#8217; (1996), was no stranger to Spanish fanterror, with examples such as <strong>&#8216;Beyond the terror<\/strong>&#8216; (1980) and the most related &#8216;<strong>Cthulhu&#8217;s mansion<\/strong> (1992) by Juan Piquer Simon.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 5 --><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-boost-container article-asset-normal\">\n<p> <span class=\"video-boost-title\">ARMY OF THE DEAD is PURE ZACK SNYDER |  Review WITHOUT SPOILERS (Army of the Dead)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<h2>lovecraft midway<\/h2>\n<p>However, visually and conceptually, it is closer to the version of that idea that we can find in the most recent &#8216;La horde&#8217; (2009) or, above all, &#8216;Baskin&#8217; (2015), although &#8216;Venus&#8217; came with the idea of \u200b\u200bbeing <strong>inspired by HP Lovecraft&#8217;s short story, &#8216;Dreams of the Witch&#8217;s House&#8217;<\/strong>, which will also be adapted in &#8216;The Cabinet of Curiosities&#8217; by Guillermo del Toro and already had an excellent version in 2005 by Stuart Gordon.  Balaguer\u00f3, who has co-written the script with Fernando Navarro, does not pay much attention to the text and adheres to more recent cinematographic references.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 6 --><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-asset article-asset-normal article-asset-center\">\n<div class=\"desvio-container\">\n<div class=\"desvio\">\n<div class=\"desvio-figure js-desvio-figure\">\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"HP Lovecraft: The 11 Best Movies That Have Adapted The Most Maladjustable Writer\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/8740c5\/re-sonator\/375_142.jpg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>We will not find here complicated relationships between angles, mathematics and horrors outside space-time, but rather a rather ordinary combination of familiar elements, both in Balaguer\u00f3&#8217;s cinema \u2014the Venus building and<strong> its inhabitants could be those of &#8216;To enter to live&#8217;<\/strong>\u2014 and other closer references, such as &#8216;Lords of Salem&#8217; (2012) and its trio of old women \u2014with a scene at the table practically recreated\u2014, &#8216;Mandy&#8217; (2018) and her drugs as fuel or even hits by her partner Paco Plaza as &#8216;Ver\u00f3nica&#8217; (2017) \u2014that catalytic eclipse\u2014 or the most recent &#8216;La grandmother&#8217; (2021), with a similar use of a song.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 7 --><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-asset-image article-asset-normal article-asset-center\">\n<div class=\"asset-content\">\n<div class=\"base-wrapper-image\" style=\"padding-top:52.5%;\">\n                 <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sf-lazy centro_sinmarco\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/53c76e\/esther-exposito-protagoniza-venus\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/53c76e\/esther-exposito-protagoniza-venus\/650_1200.jpeg 681w,https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/53c76e\/esther-exposito-protagoniza-venus\/1024_2000.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/53c76e\/esther-exposito-protagoniza-venus\/1366_2000.jpeg 1366w,\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/53c76e\/esther-exposito-protagoniza-venus\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Esther Exposito Starring in Venus\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><br \/>\n  <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Esther Exposito Starring in Venus\" class=\"centro_sinmarco\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/53c76e\/esther-exposito-protagoniza-venus\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Balaguer\u00f3, however, <strong>seems more interested in the drama of the two sisters than in horror<\/strong>, on whether their mother forgives them or not, or on the group of mobsters-not-very-intelligent, who seem to have come out of an Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez comic.  But the underlying mystery is not developed very much and by the time the last act arrives, it seems that the script can be rushed.  It seems that if at least the most interesting had started before, &#8216;Venus&#8217; could be a survival horror like &#8216;Sweet Home&#8217; with Lovecraftian elements, but by the time that part arrives it is too late.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 8 --><\/p>\n<h2>A missed but worthy opportunity<\/h2>\n<p>Exp\u00f3sito fulfills its function and in the end Balaguer\u00f3 dresses her as Manuela Velasco in REC and has a small moment of scream queen that does not quite gel with the melodramatic tone in which Balaguer\u00f3 sometimes falls, with the aggravating circumstance of using horrendous techno music out of date. thread and fashionable, a stone with which &#8216;Veneciafrenia&#8217; already stumbled.  She accompanies the <strong>final stretch with more blood and gore, which is veiled by an elusive montage<\/strong>as embarrassed to show the result of the special effects, which is added to a dull, ugly photograph, full of very closed shots in the characters, without luster.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 9 --><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-asset article-asset-normal article-asset-center\">\n<div class=\"desvio-container\">\n<div class=\"desvio\">\n<div class=\"desvio-figure js-desvio-figure\">\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"17 masterpieces of Spanish horror\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/3d65e2\/cine-de-terror-espana-espanol-17-peliculas-imprescindibles\/375_142.jpg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Balaguer\u00f3 does not dwell on the locations, not even when he presents us with the building.  Each element arising from a great idea is being wasted in some way and in the end one of the most satisfying aspects is that <strong>there is more of the Argento of mothers than of Lovecraft<\/strong>despite the fact that his coda of some shiver of other people&#8217;s shame, despite the fact that he manages to keep up the rhythm and leave some good ideas, like that &#8220;fountain&#8221; of cockroaches or some dreams, some inspired by a deleted scene from &#8216;Jacob&#8217;s Ladder&#8217; (1990).<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 10 --><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-asset-image article-asset-normal article-asset-center\">\n<div class=\"asset-content\">\n<div class=\"base-wrapper-image\" style=\"padding-top:50%;\">\n                 <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sf-lazy centro_sinmarco\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/80e539\/exposito\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/80e539\/exposito\/650_1200.jpeg 681w,https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/80e539\/exposito\/1024_2000.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/i.blogs.es\/80e539\/exposito\/1366_2000.jpeg 1366w,\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/80e539\/exposito\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"exposed\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><br \/>\n  <noscript><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"exposed\" class=\"centro_sinmarco\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/80e539\/exposito\/450_1000.jpeg?w=788&#038;ssl=1\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8216;Venus&#8217; has the spirit of an anthology story, it is a pity that it does not dare to kick off a while before and does not finish exploiting its elements of cosmic horror, reduced to a script convenience for two thirds of this.  Although Balaguer\u00f3 is always welcome, he seemed more comfortable in the heist genre of his previous work, so much so that he seems to be including criminals in his plots to escape terror in some way, in any case it is <strong>a missed opportunity to win back the director and prove that The Fear Collection has something to say<\/strong> in modern horror movies.<\/p>\n<p><!-- BREAK 11 --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everything a film needs to rock an opening in Sitges is hidden somewhere in &#8216;Venus&#8217;, which after passing through Toronto has premiered for the first time in Europe at the 55th edition of the fantastic film festival of Catalonia. Nevertheless, the return of Jaume Balaguer\u00f3 to horror cinema leaves a bittersweet feeling, since on paper,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":94860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10746],"tags":[22660,27213,14536,15630,19555,21078,23173,12316,12477,23140,21124,11608,12406,15948,11675,13543,27214],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.blogs.es\/8d8ecf\/venussitges\/840_560.jpeg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imageantra.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}