Phenomena

Phenomena has long been one of my favourite Dario Argento films. It definitely seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of film, even more so than most Argentos, and I think it's his most unjustly underrated piece of work to date.

A 14-year-old Jennifer Connelly shines in the lead role, playing a sleepwalker who has a bizarre telepathic bond with insects and uses them to help her solve a string of gory murders at a girls boarding school in the Swiss Alps. She is one of my favourite Argento heroines, a tough, brainy and eccentric little girl somewhere between Nancy Drew and Snow White. She deserves special credit for taking on some truly gruesome scenes, like when she falls into a pit of maggots, slime and rotting corpses. As for the rest of the cast, Donald Pleasance is good as the wheelchair-bound Scottish entomologist and Daria Nicolodi has fun with a small but juicy role.

Argento really let his imagination run wild making this one. Phenomena is a surreal, magical and surprisingly beautiful film, as much a dark fairytale fantasy as it is a horror film. It's visually stunning and I loved the incongruity of having all this gory mayhem happen against the picturesque backdrop of the Swiss Alps. Claudio Simonetti's electronic score is perfect, particularly the haunting main theme with its 80s synths and choral soprano vocals.

With its girls boarding school setting and unseen killer on the loose, Phenomena can be taken as a companion piece to Argento's earlier classic Suspiria (1977). But the introduction of slimy maggots, a razor-wielding pet chimp and six million buzzing insects set it apart. It all descends into glorious chaos for the Grand Guignol climax, which is perhaps the most thrilling house-of-horrors funhouse ride Argento has yet given us.

A remarkable film.

In Switzerland, the teenager Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly), daughter of a famous actor, arrives in an expensive board school and shares her room with the French schoolmate Sophie (Federica Mastroianni). Jennifer is a sleepwalker, is capable of telepathically communicate with insects and has adaptation problem in the new school. While sleepwalking, she meets and becomes friend of a Scottish entomologist, Prof. John McGregor (Donald Pleasence), and his chimpanzee Tonga. Jennifer decides to help the investigation of Dr. McGregor about a serial killer that is killing young girls in that area.

It may sound ridiculous, but "Phenomena" has never been released on video in Brazil; only two days ago, "Phenomena" was released on DVD in Brazil and now I am glad to have this movie in my collection. The weird story of Dario Argento, one of my favorite directors, is a total cult, showing bizarre characters and situations, maggots, flies, deformed people, serial killer and lots of bodies and body parts. A fifteen years old Jennifer Connelly in her third work, extremely beautiful, shines in the very original role of a sleepwalker that is very connected to insects and develop the skill of communicate with them. Daria Nicolodi, the mother of Asia Argento and former mate of Dario Argento, has a minor, but very important role. And the versatile Donald Pleasence, in the role of a paraplegic researcher, is efficient as usual. The music score, with Goblin, Iron Maiden and Motorhead, is another great attraction of this movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Phenomena"

I first saw this movie as Creepers, the heavily cut American version of Phenomena. After watching the newly available uncut version I feel I have seen a full film. There are 28 additional minutes of footage found in the uncut original version, but almost all of it is dialogue that makes the first half sluggishly drag on without much happening. The second half, however, kept me very interested. Some say this movie is very predictable, and I have to agree. The plot is set up for you to expect certain things, and those things do happen, although not in the way you anticipated. It is hard to explain what I mean, but people who have seen this will probably understand. I really do like this movie, it seems very similar to Suspiria in style. That movie also had a slow start, but picked up towards the end. You can't really question a movie like Phenomena, it just unfolds before your eyes. Many people won't get it, and that's fine; Argento films aren't for everyone.

(****1/2 out of *****) My personal favorite Argento picture, this stars a young Jennifer Connelly (who would later go on to win a best supporting actress oscar for "A Beautiful Mind") as an American student in a snobby Swiss boarding school that is being terrorized by a brutal serial killer. Helping Connelly find the murderer are crippled Donald Pleasance, his intelligent primate assistant, and the entire insect world, with which Connelly has an unexplainable psychic connection. This movie may be short on sense and logic, but it more than makes up for it with outrageous style and bizarre uniqueness. It's like a twisted fairy tale, with heroic flies, disfigured killer midgets, and vengeful chimpanzees with straight razors. As in Argento's "Opera," some of the use of annoying late ‘80s metal bands (like Iron Maiden and Motorhead) doesn't work half as well as the ominously beautiful score composed by Claudio Simonetti. Argento's never been a great writer of dialogue, so some of the lines seem pretty stilted, and you also have to put up with some so-so acting from a good majority of the cast (also, unfortunately, typical of a lot of Argento's movies), but these things are easy to overlook in the midst of the nightmarish beauty and creepy atmosphere on display here. Also stars Daria Nicolodi in a more wicked role than usual and Patrick Bauchau as a police detective.

HIGHLIGHT: The plot becomes more and more freakishly surreal until Connelly finds herself, first, in an underground tunnel, following the extension cord of a telephone (a scene reminiscent of Alice in a seriously frightening Wonderland), and, later, in a filthy pool full of human bones and maggots.

No pun intended - also way too young to make any jokes about her. But maybe also the reason she was fearless in some aspects - especially considering the animals she had to deal with. Apparently she did have some issues with a scene or two (and her character motivation), but you can either say she was totally committed or way too young to understand certain things. I actually would go with the former - she is amazing in every respect.

All that being said, she is not alone in this movie. Though she is being left alone when it comes to story and logic points (like falling while sleepwalking and still going on - pretty strong sleepwalking power I assume). But you usually do not watch Argento movies for the logic ... and this is no different.

There are two versions of this, the longer italian cut and the shorter international cut (also released as "Creepers" in America apparently). While I understand that some might want a something shorter (no pun intended), it is better to go with the longer ... version. Even if it has a couple of fillers. It also has all the deaths in all their gruesome glory ... just saying.

Acting is quite decent - which also is not something that happens always in an Argento movie. Maybe it had to do with the fact that this had a mostly englsih speaking cast - so not much dubbing that had to be done - or speaking phonetically.

Watch this if you want to know why people think so highly of Argento - while you may have only seen his newer work and don't get it at all (not blaming or shaming you - those movies are horrible - but can be entertaining for all the wrong reasons)! Music and editing again is helping - though I wonder if anyone has called a psychiatrist - considering what Argento is doing to his own daughters ... well one of them here. But Asia will be getting a lot more "pain" and "suffering" later on too (later works/movies that is) ... but it is a movie and I am half kidding ... if you see a crime thriller in this or even a slight Hitchcock vibe (I don't see that particularly - but you may feel different)