![]() ![]() The camerawork, the editing, and most of the all the incredible beat of Iron Maiden’s “Flash of the Blade” set to Steadi-cam fluidity was breathtaking. I was overwhelmed by this at times corny though undeniably uniquely-shot film that mixed heavy metal music with violence. I emerged from the theater a changed person. Someone in the audience shouted, “HEY!!! FIX THE MOVIE!!!” After several moments the framing was corrected and I sat through what was and still is my favorite film by this director. When Creepers began, the framing at the film’s start was completely off and the top of the screen was seen at the bottom. ![]() The only trailer they showed before Creepers was New Line Cinema’s A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Along with six strangers, I spent the sunny afternoon of Friday, Augwatching the first showing of this film while my parents and younger sister saw Back to the Future again in an adjacent auditorium. You know it’s coming, but it’s still quite a stomach-churning experience.Although I had seen the television commercial for Suspiria in 1977 and was frightened half to death from it, my real introduction to Dario Argento’s work was in 1985 when I saw the television commercial for his new horror film called Creepers, which was a silly title at best, but I was very intrigued by the images that accompanied the rather ominous and strange voiceover which mentioned Mr. Phenomena is something like an amusement park ride that sails along pleasantly but uninterestingly, and then drops you fifty feet down. While Suspiria and Deep Red are works of art, Phenomena feels more intensely personal, as though Argento has dropped any pretense of what’s expected of him and is simply doing what he wants. And Phenomena is no worse in terms of acting than any other Argento film-giallo is rarely known for great performances, after all. ![]() Pleasence is delightful, however, and has great chemistry with the chimp, herself a very prominent player in the film. Phenomena has been criticized for its rather limited performances and unclear resolution-and certainly Jennifer Connelly became a better actress as she grew up. It should suffice to say that everything the film has introduced along the way does pay off – including an incongruous scene involving the chimp – and does so in maddest way possible. The solution to the mystery is definitely there and it does make sense – kind of – but the sudden plunge into excess is jarring and, in its own way, curiously delightful. But Phenomena really does stand by itself, both for artistry and total, batshit insanity. For experienced Argento viewer, you know that his films tend to get very weird in the third act, with the build-up to the denouement usually more coherent than the actual climax. What is most surprising about Phenomena is how slow-moving and creepy it is, avoiding more explicit acts of violence in favor of building tension and character. ![]() The music here is slightly less haunting than Suspiria, though it does emphasize Argento’s style, with bursts of head-banging rock and shrieking chords to underline apparently banal moments. There’s also a heightened emphasis on characterization and dialogue, especially between McGregor, Jennifer and, um, the chimp. But Phenomena is less soaked with atmosphere than some of Argento’s more popular works-there is the play of light and dark, but none of the flights of color and fantasy that come into movies like Tenebrae or Inferno. There are some excellent set pieces, including one scene where Jennifer summons the help of flies to defend her from bullies, as well as the usual giallo staples of sudden, violent deaths with bright red blood and rolling heads. And for that, it’s actually a refreshing experience. While there are the hallmarks of giallo, especially in the opening scene, the film is more interested in exploring the bizarre affinity between Jennifer and the insects than it is in focusing on the quest for the killer. Phenomena is a rare Argento film in the sense that it doesn’t spend all that much time dwelling on the visual poetry of murder. McGregor discovers that Jennifer has a telepathic connection to insects and realizes that this connection might be the key to finding the killer. One night, Jennifer sleepwalks and witnesses a murder, then stumbles onto the home of Professor John McGregor (Donald Pleasence), a disabled etymologist with a chimpanzee helper, with whom she forms a close friendship (both the professor and the chimpanzee). The film mostly follows Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly), the daughter of a famous actor, who arrives in Switzerland to attend the Richard Wagner Academy for Girls (yes, really), where a bunch of violent murders have been taking place. Dario Argento’s Phenomena opens with the brutal murder of a schoolgirl, somewhere in Swiss Alps, by a…well, something chained in a room in a remote cabin. ![]()
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