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Directed by Written by Starring Rated R Presented by 110 minutes |
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PHENOMENA Review
With his latest MOTHER OF TEARS about to be released (finally) in the United States, Anchor Bay Entertainment has released some of Dario Argento’s films for the first time on DVD in the form of a box set and individual releases. Two films would be given a stand alone re-release. One is the 1982 classic TENEBRE (reviewed here), while the other is one of Argento’s most well known films in the United States. Released here in 1985 as CREEPERS, it is widely known by its original title, PHENOMENA. PHENOMENA tells the story of Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly in her first starring role), a young woman with the extraordinary gift of telepathy, being able to communicate with insects. She is sent to a boarding school where a knife wielding madman is on the hunt, abducting and murdering young girls. One night Jennifer wanders off sleepwalking and witnesses a brutal murder. She is found by Inga, the chimpanzee companion to Dr. John McGregor (Donald Pleasance), an entomologist (the study of insects) who discovered the first victim and was able to determine the time of death by the maggots that lived in the decapitated head. McGregor learns of Jennifer’s ability and after another murder, goes to help her use that ability to solve the mystery of who is murdering these girls. However, as Jennifer’s gift becomes greater, so too does the killer’s body count, as students from the school are getting killed one by one. PHENOMENA is one of Argento’s better efforts in that he takes two successful horror genres: the giallo and the supernatural thriller, and like SUSPIRIA, blends both beautifully. While we all talk about how stylish he is as a director, his writing talents are often overlooked, and PHENEMONA is arguably his best story. Whereas some of his previous work feel like set pieces designed around the murders, the story of PHENOMENA is intricately complex but flows well. The character of Jennifer is one of his strongest protagonists and Connelly, 14 at the time, showed that she was more than able to carry a film. You can see she was destined for greatness, and even at that young age, was stunningly beautiful. Donald Pleasance is a delight as McGregor, probably his most benevolent film role in his career. His interaction with Connelly provides some emotional and tender moments and their friendly relationship is extremely well written here. Daria Nicolodi is also in fine form as chaperone Frau Bruckner. In her film debut, daughter Fiore Argento is the film’s first victim, but her scenes are very telling and frightening (it’s amazing what Dario has done to his lover and both of his daughters on screen). I would also say that the special effects on this film are amongst the best on any of Argento’s film, with spectacular moments of impalements, beheadings, slashings, and decomposed corpses. The use of insects are used to great effect here, especially in a fantastic scene where after being picked on by her fellow students, she covers the entire school with insects, showing just how powerful she can be. The cinematography by Romano Albani is also top notch, with some clever uses of lighting, shadow, and angles to provide the maximum effect of creepiness. The music in this film is interesting. While there are original pieces by Goblin, the film also uses tracks from Motorhead, Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, and Iron Maiden. The music by Goblin is effective here, while Motorhead and Iron Maiden feel a little out of place, but being this is 1985 and heavy metal was at its peak, it is fine (though now outdated). The DVD extras are aplenty, with a highlight being Dario Argento’s appearance on the Joe Franklin show in 1985 to promote CREEPERS. Showing a younger Argento, it is good to see him on American television, though it was annoying that Franklin only asked questions regarding his comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock. The commentary by Argento is fine but I would’ve liked to have seen Connelly reflect on her first starring role. The theatrical trailer is good as well. Once again, Anchor Bay puts some fine extra materials on their disc, providing just enough for genre fans. In all, PHENOMENA is great viewing; a stylish, complex supernatural horror in which the shocks are good but the film wisely relies on its suspense to deliver one of the better horror films of the 1980s. It is amongst Argento’s finest work (his best was his next film, OPERA) and deserves a place in every horror fan’s collection. PHENOMENA: 10 Out Of 10 Maggots
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