Paroxismus is set in the late 60's & starts in Istanbul where jazz trumpeter Jimmy Logan (James Darren) is walking on a beach when he finds the washed up body of a young blonde woman on the sand. Jimmy becomes confused, he recognises the woman as a Wanda Reed (Maria Rohm) whom he briefly met the previous night at a party held by playboy millionaire Ahmed Kortobawi (Klaus Kinski), Jimmy also remembers that he witnessed Ahmed & two of his friends attack & murder Wanda. Confused & scared Jimmy leaves Istanbul & heads for the carnivals of Rio where he meets jazz singer Rita (Barbara McNair) & surprisingly meets Wanda again despite her seemingly being dead. It seems that Wanda may have come back from the dead to avenge herself & punish those responsible for her own murder...
This English, German & Italian co-production is known under various titles with the US retitling Venus in Furs the most common although hack Spanish director Jesus Franco originally wanted to call it Black Angel, despite bearing the Venus in Furs title this has absolutely nothing to do with the infamous novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch of the same name. Franco was apparently inspired to make Paroximus after a conversation with jazz musician Chet Baker, whoever he is. I will be honest straight away & say that I think Jesus Franco is possibly the worst filmmaker in cinematic history so maybe I am a little bit biased, generally speaking I hate his films & his dull cheap looking amateurish style but having said that I realise he does have fans & they consider Paroximus as one of his better efforts for some reason. Basically I thought it was complete crap from start to finish, it makes absolutely no sense & the sense of surrealism & symbolism that Franco was obviously aiming for ends up making the film incomprehensible & a chore to sit through. Nothing here makes any sense, sure maybe that's what Franco set out to achieve but I just couldn't get into it & felt it was a total mess of badly shot arty surrealism & supernatural ghost story with a hint of musical & soft core porn thrown in to muddy the waters even further. There's also a really strange twists ending that makes no sense & just left me frustrated & annoyed that I had bothered to watch the thing. Paroximus really is a terrible film, Franco does it again with yet another worthless 90 odd minutes.
Franco is a such a limited & talentless filmmaker that when he tries to shoot scenes in an interesting & artistic way that symbolize something they just look cheap, lots of random shots of beaches, the sea crashing against rocks, random stock footage of carnivals, various buildings in Istanbul & an apparent liking of the colour red amount to absolutely nothing. There are various uses of slow motion for no reason & the final few minutes are tinted various colours which just looks awful & will have you questioning whether your telly is broken. Even Franco's usual sleaze is absent, apart from a little bit of nudity & a few drops of blood there really isn't anything here of note. Paroximus also features possibly the worst car chase in cinematic history. When over half the film are close-ups of people or random buildings then you know your in trouble, quite simply Franco is not creating atmosphere or drama or a sense of surrealism he is merely trying to waste time with (dull) padding, this film really has nothing to say or has any sort of coherent meaning.
Probably shot on the sort of budget that wouldn't buy a round in your local pub these days the colour photography is alright & it's slightly better made than most of Franco's output, apparently shot in Istanbul. The acting isn't the best although to be fair I am sure English dubbing doesn't help matters. Klaus Kinski turns up in a small role while Franco regular Dennis Price is also here & gets an unintentionally funny death scene.
Paroximus or Venus in Furs or under whatever title is yet another crap Franco film shot on a shoestring, I just don't understand the guy or why he has any fans at all. His films are just universally terrible & Paroximus is a case in point, surreal & meaningless tripe.
This English, German & Italian co-production is known under various titles with the US retitling Venus in Furs the most common although hack Spanish director Jesus Franco originally wanted to call it Black Angel, despite bearing the Venus in Furs title this has absolutely nothing to do with the infamous novel by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch of the same name. Franco was apparently inspired to make Paroximus after a conversation with jazz musician Chet Baker, whoever he is. I will be honest straight away & say that I think Jesus Franco is possibly the worst filmmaker in cinematic history so maybe I am a little bit biased, generally speaking I hate his films & his dull cheap looking amateurish style but having said that I realise he does have fans & they consider Paroximus as one of his better efforts for some reason. Basically I thought it was complete crap from start to finish, it makes absolutely no sense & the sense of surrealism & symbolism that Franco was obviously aiming for ends up making the film incomprehensible & a chore to sit through. Nothing here makes any sense, sure maybe that's what Franco set out to achieve but I just couldn't get into it & felt it was a total mess of badly shot arty surrealism & supernatural ghost story with a hint of musical & soft core porn thrown in to muddy the waters even further. There's also a really strange twists ending that makes no sense & just left me frustrated & annoyed that I had bothered to watch the thing. Paroximus really is a terrible film, Franco does it again with yet another worthless 90 odd minutes.
Franco is a such a limited & talentless filmmaker that when he tries to shoot scenes in an interesting & artistic way that symbolize something they just look cheap, lots of random shots of beaches, the sea crashing against rocks, random stock footage of carnivals, various buildings in Istanbul & an apparent liking of the colour red amount to absolutely nothing. There are various uses of slow motion for no reason & the final few minutes are tinted various colours which just looks awful & will have you questioning whether your telly is broken. Even Franco's usual sleaze is absent, apart from a little bit of nudity & a few drops of blood there really isn't anything here of note. Paroximus also features possibly the worst car chase in cinematic history. When over half the film are close-ups of people or random buildings then you know your in trouble, quite simply Franco is not creating atmosphere or drama or a sense of surrealism he is merely trying to waste time with (dull) padding, this film really has nothing to say or has any sort of coherent meaning.
Probably shot on the sort of budget that wouldn't buy a round in your local pub these days the colour photography is alright & it's slightly better made than most of Franco's output, apparently shot in Istanbul. The acting isn't the best although to be fair I am sure English dubbing doesn't help matters. Klaus Kinski turns up in a small role while Franco regular Dennis Price is also here & gets an unintentionally funny death scene.
Paroximus or Venus in Furs or under whatever title is yet another crap Franco film shot on a shoestring, I just don't understand the guy or why he has any fans at all. His films are just universally terrible & Paroximus is a case in point, surreal & meaningless tripe.