"Incredible fusion of sex and sadism with horror overtones and a totally unexpected cast...Wow!"
- Michael Weldon, The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film

"As in Necronomicon [aka Succubus, 1968], the constant merging of dream and reality with oneiric slow-motion shots and fluid camera movements, transitions and superimpositions, works very well and is shattered only by the crude money-saving inserts of tourist-board shots. Similarly, Darren's voice-over narration and dialogue lines are a constant irritant."
- The Encyclopedia of Horror Films (edited by Phil Hardy)

"Before he carved out a phantasmagoric wonderland of hard-core Spanish-language porn in the early '80s, Jess Franco - nee Jesus Franco, but he's worked under so many different aliases (at least 40) it hardly matters anymore - was a certifiable nut-job of the most exotic proportions. For every pseudonym he concocted, there are about four films. Most were rickety slapdash numbers that served to mystify, titillate and disgust - like a one-armed go-go dancer....Franco exhales Albert Camus existential smoke, but really the film is like a Marvel Team-up between Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Russ Meyer set loose in the Hammer Studios. Translation: It's trippy and campy as hell."
- Wesley Morris, San Francisco Chronicle

"Venus in Furs gives you a glimpse of what's great and what's grating about the typical Franco film. Some scenes are shot with quirky precision and painstaking attention to detail, while others are cobbled together cheaply. The inevitable reaction alternates elation with irritation. Elation at sampling something unique and unheralded. Irritation at the slipshod and the mundane."
- Cathal Tohill & Pete Tombs, The Labyrinth of Sex: The Films of Jesus Franco

"...this is one of the director's most striking and 'respectable' efforts...No, it doesn't make much sense on a purely rational level, but like the best jazz, Venus in Furs works best when you tuck away any rigid notions of logic and just go with the flow. For those willing to submit, it's one hell of a ride."
- DVD Delirium (edited by Nathaniel Thompson)

"Venus in Furs is one of those films that creates a mood more than it delivers a clear narrative. If style over substance annoys you, then you're in the wrong movie. It's charmingly dated in dialogue, and moves from exotic locales such as Turkey and Rio for pretty much no good reason. If you liked The Hunger or David Lynch's films, you'll find Venus in Furs a lot of fun along the lines of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. It's chock-full of wonderful images: Barbara McNair singing on a tiled floor, Maria Rohm seductively caressing a Venus statue, and Klaus Kinski tied to a hook being whipped. The film has some purposefully psychedelic passages where colors and focus swirl around the camera in extraordinary ways. A lot of people dismiss this movie as merely a competent exploitation film, but it has enough technical proficiency to be considered a good film with an assured director behind it."
- Judge Cullum, DVD Verdict

"Regarded by many fans and also by the director himself as Franco's finest hour (I still think Vampyro's Lesbos is better but hey, there's no accounting for taste sometimes), Venus in Furs is a fantastic psycho-sexual thriller that just drips with tripped out atmosphere and sixties Euro-pop sensibilities. While it lacks the overtly blatant and sometimes pornographic sexuality of many of Franco's other films, there's no mistaking even a minute or two into the movie that yes, we are still in his world....Rohm is simply spellbinding in the female lead, looking as exciting clothed as she does in the nude and playing the role, which is one without a lot of dialogue, very nonchalantly and with some degree of cold, sexual menace to her character...from the Rollin-esque scenes of empty desolate beaches to the fantastic jazz score from Manfred Mann, Venus in Furs just works. Franco paints the picture in delirious hues of red, green and blue and adds his little touches all over the film (watch for him in a small cameo role) but he does it with a whole lot more style here than many of his detractors probably realize he has."
- Ian Jane, DVD Talk

"I have a general dislike of surrealistic cinema. Instead of being inventive or inspired I usually find such films silly, pointless and indicative of a lazy and/or way-too-stoned writer....Jess Franco's Venus in Furs - often touted as the Spanish auteur's greatest work - certainly leans to the avant-garde, yet mainly avoids the pitfall excoriated above. Suffused with an atmosphere of languid decadence, set to a smoky jazz/lounge beat, it's an erotic ghost story of obsession and revenge that in its best moments is strangely, compellingly hypnotic. Nothing is really explained in this (almost) Mobius Strip-like film but its dreamy spell is potent enough to make that of little consequence. As with improvisational jazz, you just have to surrender yourself to the vibe and go with it, man."
- Eccentric Cinema

"...poor mystery"
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide