Goddess of Love

Holy crap, what an awesomely entertaining film. I purposely knew nothing about it, other than the written synopsis, and the film ended up being of the most well-made American films I have seen in a long time. The premise starts off simple enough; a very pretty girl meets a man at a strip club and a relationship blooms. Unfortunately, things start to go south very quickly. The level of crazy in this is commendable, and I found myself chuckling at how disturbingly psychotic the female lead became, and by the time the credits start to roll, you are left with a sense of satisfaction that no loose ends were left, which in itself is a success. Coupled with a talented cast, great use of practical special effects, and some amazingly beautiful cinematography (seriously, there were times when I paused the film and thought to myself, "That would make a beautiful painting"), this film is an achievement in cinematic excellence, as far as I am concerned. The people responsible for this should be commended for not only showing the world what films can become at the hands of competent people, but also what a love for the craft embeds into the final product. A treat from start to finish, the writer/director has a new fan and I look forward to what this creative team does next.

Since the essential plot elements are mentioned by the other reviewers, all I want to point out is that Goddess of Love is a good-looking little film, with an aura of authenticity. The plot seems to be secondary, making the film an acting showcase for its star, Alexis Kendra, playing the role of a young and mentally unstable stripper named Venus. And what a showcase it is! Helping along is Woody Naismith, in the role of Brian, a photographer and a love interest, playing the character with wonderfully nuanced performance. Once in a while, a film like this one pops out, head and shoulders above films with similar budgets. Beautifully shot and directed by Jon Knautz. Pleasure to watch!

So, a stripper meets a guy at her job after following the advice from another stripper about picking out men to fleece. The things is, she is a novice and she falls for the guy instead of following her fellow stripper's advice. And we travel into the descent of madness for some strange reason because it doesn't make any logical sense to do so because films seems to speed up a relationship when all logic fails. Why do they do this all the time, a guy meets a girl a girl meets a guy and 3 minutes later they fall in love. Not real and this isn't real. I read another reviewers comments and it seems as if that person may have had a connection with the film because what they wrote had nothing to do with the film and what I experienced. In fact, based on those comments, I watched the film and as I watched it, I was very close to abandoning it because it was treading down well worn paths. I was hoping for better but in the end, it was no surprise with the ending as the attempt to misdirect throughout the film was an absolute failure as was the premise.

You kind of know where that woman is going when she is called Venus, don't you? But there is more to this than just her (sex) drive. As another reviewer stated, hell hath no fury - like Venus scorned I'd write. Having said all that, there is obviously nudity and sex in this movie, but also a lot of violence.

If you can handle that, there is something there to enjoy. Well if you can say that about madness and craziness of course. The story sort of makes sense, although there is a lot of things that go south and may be totally ruining the movie for some. Characters behaving irrationally is a given of course ...

In GODDESS OF LOVE, exotic dancer, Venus (Alexis Kendra) falls for a man (Woody Naismith) in the club where she performs, leading to a whirlwind romance. Unfortunately for Venus, the relationship doesn't quite go as she had hoped, causing her to become increasingly jealous, desperate, and suspicious.

Director Jon Knautz does a great job of slowly building the mania, and dialing up the psychotic tension. Ms. Kendra plays her unbalanced role as a somewhat sympathetic character, that is, until it all hits the fan. Venus is a driven force of nature who simply cannot handle disappointment.

The result is a superior horror-thriller fueled by vengeance. It also has a wonderful twist at the end...