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Venom (2005)
Cheesy But in a Good Way
Directed By: Jim Gillespie
Starring: Agnes Bruckner, Jonathan Jackson, Laura Ramsey, & Meagan Good
MPAA Rating: “R” (for strong horror violence/gore, and language)
Starring: Agnes Bruckner, Jonathan Jackson, Laura Ramsey, & Meagan Good
MPAA Rating: “R” (for strong horror violence/gore, and language)
I wish that I could say that everyone who hated Venom just didn’t understand it...but, to see this film and not understand it is like seeing a chair and not knowing you are supposed to sit in it. No, I’m afraid that they watched Venom and just didn’t like it. So, to my surprise, why did I enjoy it as much as I did? It is a back-to-basics slasher film with an intriguing (though underplayed) voodoo concept thrown in...And that is it. I could end this review right here and you would know everything you needed to know. Do you like dumb, but fun horror films that feature a supernatural killer killing off a slew of hapless teenagers? If so, then Venom probably won’t be anything new for you, but it really isn’t that bad.
When a voodoo curse is accidentally released on unsuspecting Ray Sawyer (Rick Cramer), the strange but harmless gas station attendant becomes a brutal, bloodthirsty (and slightly decomposing, I might add) killer. Local waitress, Eden (Bruckner), and her boyfriend, Eric (Jackson), are forced into a bloody battle for survival with their friends, as Ray begins to kill them off one-by-one. Carnage ensues in the swamps of Louisiana. See what I mean? Doesn’t this sound like a shockingly similar plot to just about every slasher flick you have ever seen? All you have to do is take away the voodoo curse and throw in some revenge subplot and you have Prom Night or one of many films from the eighties. Chances are, if you really liked those films (I did), then you will probably enjoy the vibe of Venom as well.
Jim Gillespie (best known for directing I Know What You Did Last Summer) brings a lot of style and charm to the film via a dark, hazy, and mysterious mood. He capitalizes on the film’s setting, throwing our teenagers into murky swamps, creepy woods, and a sinister graveyard. The film is never scary, but the brilliant settings certainly do make it look like it is. Gillespie falters occasionally when he uses quick-cut editing to top off death scenes (and other scenes, in which it is even more pointless). The death of one particular police officer is perhaps the best example of this. However, this never hurts Venom too much. Slasher flicks such as these do not require much visual flare or brilliant direction so it was nice to see Gillespie inject some form of creativity into the shooting style. He also excels by keeping the killer masked in shadows for much of the film with only the occasional splash of light exposing his grisly face...until the sunlit finale, of course, when all darkness is thrown to the wind.
The death scenes in Venom are not the goriest ones ever filmed, but they have a certain creativity and brutality to them that harkens back to the eighties. Take for example, a scene in which a young girl is strung between two cars and then impaled on a tree limb. It was entertaining, creative, and certainly violent...but not much blood is shown. The cast, for the most part, is solid though they are stock teen actors who can be found on any CW back lot. Bijou Phillips, perhaps the only high-profile star in the entire film (and by high-profile, I mean Paris Hilton-wannabe) and, if I learned anything from Venom, it was that she is not a good actress. She is passable, but when your only job is spouting off a few lines of dialog, screaming, and then dying, any other actress would have been just as serviceable. The same can be said for Venom as a whole. It probably isn’t a good movie, but it is passable. Any other slasher flick would do the exact same thing as this (perhaps even better), but you could do far worse than Venom.
When a voodoo curse is accidentally released on unsuspecting Ray Sawyer (Rick Cramer), the strange but harmless gas station attendant becomes a brutal, bloodthirsty (and slightly decomposing, I might add) killer. Local waitress, Eden (Bruckner), and her boyfriend, Eric (Jackson), are forced into a bloody battle for survival with their friends, as Ray begins to kill them off one-by-one. Carnage ensues in the swamps of Louisiana. See what I mean? Doesn’t this sound like a shockingly similar plot to just about every slasher flick you have ever seen? All you have to do is take away the voodoo curse and throw in some revenge subplot and you have Prom Night or one of many films from the eighties. Chances are, if you really liked those films (I did), then you will probably enjoy the vibe of Venom as well.
Jim Gillespie (best known for directing I Know What You Did Last Summer) brings a lot of style and charm to the film via a dark, hazy, and mysterious mood. He capitalizes on the film’s setting, throwing our teenagers into murky swamps, creepy woods, and a sinister graveyard. The film is never scary, but the brilliant settings certainly do make it look like it is. Gillespie falters occasionally when he uses quick-cut editing to top off death scenes (and other scenes, in which it is even more pointless). The death of one particular police officer is perhaps the best example of this. However, this never hurts Venom too much. Slasher flicks such as these do not require much visual flare or brilliant direction so it was nice to see Gillespie inject some form of creativity into the shooting style. He also excels by keeping the killer masked in shadows for much of the film with only the occasional splash of light exposing his grisly face...until the sunlit finale, of course, when all darkness is thrown to the wind.
The death scenes in Venom are not the goriest ones ever filmed, but they have a certain creativity and brutality to them that harkens back to the eighties. Take for example, a scene in which a young girl is strung between two cars and then impaled on a tree limb. It was entertaining, creative, and certainly violent...but not much blood is shown. The cast, for the most part, is solid though they are stock teen actors who can be found on any CW back lot. Bijou Phillips, perhaps the only high-profile star in the entire film (and by high-profile, I mean Paris Hilton-wannabe) and, if I learned anything from Venom, it was that she is not a good actress. She is passable, but when your only job is spouting off a few lines of dialog, screaming, and then dying, any other actress would have been just as serviceable. The same can be said for Venom as a whole. It probably isn’t a good movie, but it is passable. Any other slasher flick would do the exact same thing as this (perhaps even better), but you could do far worse than Venom.
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