Venus (2022) - two movies in one and a finale that's worth the wait

Title: Venus

Year: 2022

Director: Jaume Balagueró

IMDb score: 5.5/10

Personal score: 5/10

Summary: Horror invades the concrete corridors of a cursed apartment complex on the outskirts of Madrid. 

One-sentence review: A slow start that leaves you wondering where the "horror" tag comes from, leading to a finale that makes it crystal clear. 

Watch if: 

• You're a fan of lovecraftian/eldrich horror
• You like slow burns
• You like a mixture of thriller, horror and action

Don't watch if:

• You hate jump-scares 
• You want horror that escalates fast and provides constant scares
• You have issues with tentacles or gore
• You don't like endings that leave you questioning

Review: I don't know what I was expecting going into this. I don't think I had any expectations, seeing as I was going in almost completely blind. All I knew was that the movie took place in an apartment building and followed a woman who was in some sort of trouble with... the mafia? The underworld? That was all I knew. When I started watching, I found myself slightly confused. I knew it had to be a horror movie. The tag under the movie said it was horror. I was sure I was watching the correct movie. But why was the movie playing out like a thriller then?

Venus is an odd one in the sense that it almost seems like two movies in one. On one hand it's a thriller where you follow a woman who has done something very risky and is being hunted down by very dangerous people. And half of the movie is exactly that: a thriller where you follow a protagonist who has been driven into a corner and who is trying to find a way to escape a dangerous situation. And then there is the other half of the movie that starts so slow that you start questioning whether it will bloom into full-on horror after all or whether you're watching a thriller movie with horror sprinkled in for flavor. It was at the halfway mark that I started seriously questioning if I was just wasting my time, waiting for scares that would never come. Maybe I'd been hoodwinked into watching a movie that wasn't going to deliver what it promised... but then it delivered. 

To be fair, despite a large focus on the thriller part of the movie, Venus manages to create an unsettling atmosphere from the get-go, that still hooks you in, even when you're beginning to feel like the horror will never come. Everything is just a little bit off-kilter. Just strange enough to make you feel like something is coming - something that is worth the wait. The movie teases you with small mysteries that intrigue you just enough to continue watching, even if you don't appreciate the crime/thriller storyline. There's the half-empty apartment complex that makes you question what happened in the past to make everyone leave. The missing sister who seemed to have vanished overnight. The remaining neighbors who are just... a little bit off. Everything is just strange enough to make you believe that something horrifying is coming down the line. And then it does...

I can't claim that the ending is going to blow your mind and leave you begging for more, but it is fun, somewhat unexpected and entertaining enough to make up for the slow parts of the movie that I personally didn't enjoy. I do like movies that manage to surprise me and this one had visuals that I didn't expect, some interesting "monster" designs and an ending that made me go "What?" several times. The movie might start off slow, but the ending is explosive, action-packed and gory enough that you won't even mind having to wait for it. Plus, I always love a movie that gives a (somewhat) believable explanation as to why a seemingly normal person is suddenly able to pull off almost superhuman feats and ignore what would be debilitating wounds to any normal person. 

Overall, it was worth a watch and anyone who likes lovecraftian works should enjoy this movie. Funnily enough, one of the writers of this movie is H.P.Lovecraft, according to IMDb...

Side note: you can watch the trailer, but it might be better to go in blind.

Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WflBCCVdDkw