Directed by Lucio Fulci
The spirit of a comatose teenage girl possesses the body of a newcomer to her girls' boarding school in order to enact bloody revenge against the elitist, lingerie-clad coeds responsible for her condition.
Internado diabólico, Enigma do Pesadelo, L'énigme, Aenigma, Enigma, Энигма, Тайна, Dämonia, En las garras del diablo, 怒霊界エニグマ, 复仇之谜, 애니그마
Weirdo 1987 flick feels like a hodgepodge of Carrie, Patrick, and Suspiria tossed in a Fulci grinder but it’s not like any of those movies... kinda like how the mad max ripoff Exterminators from the Year 3000 is nothing like mad max.
The Italian way of approaching this style of filmmaking is one of my favorite things and Aenigma doesn’t disappoint, with plenty of ominous atmos, gore, and weirdo imagery to fit the bill—hitting plenty of Fulci signature moments and peppering dorm rooms with Stallone and Top Gun posters as well as models, camerawork that Gaspsr Noe definitely watched, workout sessions, and snail violation.
Much like every Argento conversation ever that culminates in the claims that OpErA wAs ThE LaSt gReAt aRgEnTo mOvIe, Fulci gets that same rap—but I think that’s a half baked statement... its all irrelevant to me since I love numerous offerings from both directors later periods... I think there’s a lot of really good stuff there—Aenigma included.
Cool movie, GREAT poster—thanks Severin!
Many are familiar with the term masterpiece. But few have heard of the ultrapiece. Films that are underrated and will only be discovered for their brilliance much much later than originally intentioned. Aenigma is one of those films.
Aenigma will be a film recognized years from now as one of Fulci's crowning achievements. And if not then Bob and I will continue to talk about this film as one of Fulci's crowning achievements.
When we talk about Fulci's greatest films we usually mention the Gates of Hell trilogy and his earlier giallo films. But what about his late 80s supernatural shennanigan overload maximum films? Often dismissed as poorly acted, not enough gore and nonsensical plots.
Well Aenigma has one of…
"I wanted to call you Fred!"
At a Boston boarding school for girls, one of the students is bullied into a coma (not sure why, could be because she can't dress herself or maybe because her mother is the cleaner and can only communicate in grunts?) But soon after a new student arrives, Eva Gordon (played by Lara Lamberti or Margot Robbie with a time machine? - it's uncanny!) and that's when the bullies start paying in blood.
"Fred is Dead!"
A fairly decent but typical Fulci on the crackpipe (no evidence to support that) movie that has more slugs in it than the 1988 movie 'Slugs' and judging by the poster in the one of the dorm rooms I…
Great in many ways and completely lacking in others. Who knows why. It’s A Enigma!
A comatose young woman seeks revenge on those who caused her harm, psychokinetically imposing her will to carry out her vengeance. This has been done before in Patrick (1978), but I find AEnigma far more entertaining. Fulci has said on the record that his inspiration was in fact Carrie (1976), and there’s certainly a bit of that here too.
Of Fulci’s many films, surely this is one of his dumbest scripts. Most of the dialogue is so out of touch with what normal humans say, and in 2026 many of the slurs and affectations seen here have long ago been deemed politically incorrect. It also supposedly takes place…
Ænigma might be one of Fulci's more mellow efforts but don't let that deter you from checking this out. Not only does this movie have fun kill scenarios (one involving a statue and another one involving snails are highlights), but it also has:
- Cityscapes created with miniature models
- Girls wearing very ’80s clothing (+ aerobic outfits!)
- College dorms decorated with awesome posters (Yoda!)
- A Fulci cameo
- Some very unconvincing cigarette smokers
- A guitar solo heavy score
- A sex scene with our female lead all oiled up
In other words; plenty of reasons to put this on.
I'm glad that I got to rewatch this for my 101st MCWP with Michelle.
Spooktober IV: Morte all'italiana
Fulci enters the picture with a film that may be very low, like really, really, really low on his trademark eye violence, but compensates it with some gory, fun and somewhat creative death scenes and an entertaining revenge film about a chick that gets bullied to death by some of the popular kids and gets connected to this weird sci-fi device -along with some witchcraft- allows her to possess one girl and bring down his vengeance on this kids, in a very twisted and brutal fashion.
The performances leave a lot to be desired and do they get a little goofy from time to time, but they just add to the enjoyment of the film. There’s…
🩸 Horror 🇮🇹 Italy 🎬 Fulci 🛌 Academy of Evil (1987)[Pics soon]
"Wait, Eva! Fred has a pretty unhealthy reputation." "Good! So do I."
Ænigma delivers the snail equivalent of Fulci’s famous storm of maggots from City of the Living Dead, or Argento’s cat–rat incident from Inferno. What a scene. You could watch it just for that.
It’s been a while since I did Italian horror, so if you’re a new reader, you’ll want to start with The Beyond or City of the Living Dead. These are absolute classics. This is slightly later career Fulci, and it has the reputation of being not as good, which is mostly undeserved: there’s a lot that’s great here. His work is way better…
Italian horror is pretty much my answer to everything but tonight it was especially needed to wash the awful taste of Wishmaster 3 out of my mouth!
This overlooked Fulci gem is about a girl who falls victim to a school prank gone wrong only to return in a new girl’s body and seek revenge! I had seen this once before when it was first released on DVD but that’s been about 10 years so it was definitely due for a revisit. I say this one is overlooked because, like most of his later work, it tends to get passed over in favor of his earlier stuff. Still, this is a pretty fun (and pretty bananas) movie that must have…
It wasn't just his use of gore that makes Fulci a vital pillar of Italian cinema, but his ability to craft atmosphere. Like the shot of a snail on a Sylvester Stallone poster. A true master.
alright i don't think people are giving this enough credit, or maybe i don't know nothing about nothing... but after i've seen a fulci as tame as the psychic, even a drop of blood from his films is enough to make me a fan haha. ok maybe i don't mean that but i really enjoyed this one! i really didn't even intend to watch a fulci movie today since i have another lined up to rewatch later, this was just my random pick on tubi i decided to watch to pass time. by the opening credits, to heck with it since i'm building my fulci ranked list anyway.
a sweet seeming gal named kathy is helped getting dolled up for…
Patrick by way of Freddy Kruger.
Worth watching for:
1. The stunning Lara Lamberti.
2. Fulci’s nightmare sequences.
3. The questionable ethics of Dr. Robert Anderson.
A Carrie influenced teen slasher with supernatural elements from genre maestro Lucio Fulci. Ænigma begins with a high school prank gone wrong, resulting in the class outcast being confined to a coma. That doesn't stop her taking bloody revenge - by way of possessing a new girl to the school. The film is certainly one of the most interesting of Fulci's late career. A frankly bizarre mish mash of ideas that somehow comes together. The film is basically structured like a slasher that forsakes the gore but fully embraces the full weirdness of the premise. Death scenes include a man being strangled by an apparition of himself, a statue coming to life, window decapitation and, most notably, a girl is…