Film: Phenomena
Release date: 7th March 2011
Certificate: 18
Running time: 111 mins
Director: Dario Argento
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Daria Nicolodi, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Patrick Bauchau, Donald Pleasence
Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Italy
Italian horror maestro Dario Argento follows a string of genre classics such as Suspiria, Deep Red and Tenebrae with 1985’s Phenomena. Originally released in America under the title Creepers, the film was heavily edited with almost 30 minutes cut. It is now finally released in full on Blu-ray for the first time.
A young Danish tourist is left behind in Switzerland after her bus leaves without her. Approaching a nearby house, she hears a banging from upstairs as she calls out for help. Someone has been chained to the wall of one of the bedrooms and is struggling to break free. As the girl searches the house for further signs of life, the shackles are torn free from the wall, as the girl is brutally murdered by a leather gloved killer.
Eight months later, Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly), the daughter of a well-known film star is escorted to her new school, a creepy international boarding school for girls, by Frau Brückner (Daria Nicolodi). Suffering from bouts of sleepwalking, she has an affinity with, and the ability to manipulate insects. Jennifer struggles to adapt to her new lifestyle, tormented by bullies and finding it hard to get on with her classmates and teachers, especially the stern head mistress.
After sleepwalking through the grounds of the school, Jennifer awakens to find herself on the roof, where she witnesses the murder of a student at the hands of a leather gloved killer. After fleeing into the local village, she soon becomes acquainted with entomologist Professor John McGregor (Donald Pleasance), who is capable of studying the insects found in decomposed body parts, and can use this information to ascertain the approximate time of death. He believes that between them, he and Jennifer can solve the riddle of the murders, and tasks her with tracking down the killer using a fly from a maggot found on one of the murdered student’s gloves, which leads Jennifer on an investigation that erupts in a crescendo of violence, as she discovers that she has nobody left who she can trust…
Dario Argento has created a unique fusion of the fantasy and giallo genres, which successfully combines a sense of mystery with supernatural horror. The main success of Phenomena is the performance from a 15-year-old Jennifer Connelly, who follows her exceptional performance in Sergio Leone’s classic Once Upon A Time in America with this. Connelly gives a fragile and inquisitive performance which works extremely well alongside the breathtaking, eerie cinematography by Romano Albani. Switzerland’s sweeping countryside proves to be an exceptionally creepy environment, and adds to the suspense of many sequences.
Likewise, horror veteran Donald Pleasance’s Scottish entomologist is a welcome addition to the cast, even though his bizarre Edinburgh accent leaves a lot to be desired. The wheelchair bound professor lends the film’s more ludicrous assertions a sense of grounding in reality, despite the fact that his assistant is a mischievous, razor wielding chimpanzee
Argento has once again chosen to collaborate with Goblin on the film’s score, this time adding tracks from Iron Maiden and Motörhead. Critically praised, but completely ineffective, Goblin’s score is all jazzy synth and inappropriately upbeat guitar tracks. The main grievance with the score (and the accompanying heavy metal tracks) is that it completely undermines any sense of intrigue and suspense created by the director. One scene in particular, where Jennifer’s roommate Sophie is dreaming that she is lost in an old abandoned house, is completely ruined by the inappropriate use of Iron Maiden’s ‘Flash Of The Blade’. It plays out like a low-budget music video as opposed to the carefully crafted, moody scene it was undoubtedly intended to be.
The film shines when it moves away from the surreal sleepwalking montages and dream sequences and focuses on the more palatable horror elements. Argento’s oeuvre contains some much better examples of giallo (see Profondo Rosso) than this, but there are some unique and exciting elements to the slasher side of this film. Sergio Stivaletti’s make-up and special effects used during the film’s more exciting scenes are exceptional, with the facially disfigured, grotesque monster-child’s demise at the hands (or teeth) of a few hundred thousand flies proving especially effective.
The plot is, at times, frustratingly slow and confusing, with holes appearing throughout. This lack of pace is thankfully alleviated towards the end, when the narrative is wrapped up in a tense and exhilarating final act.
Unfortunately, the transfer does unfairly age the film by exacerbating some of the slightly dubious swarm effects and gives certain scenes a stark, hospital lighting feel, which does little to add to the suspense. Extras include a fifty-minute making-of documentary which traces the film’s production from inception and features many of the key players, including Argento himself, which gives an interesting insight into the director’s vision.
Phenomena is a mixed bag of excellent gore effects and some effective flourishes which are unfortunately hindered by the poor pacing and lamentable music. While by no means one of Argento’s strongest works, a strong cast and moments of genuinely squirm-inducing insect horror help to alleviate this from being an entirely unenjoyable experience. RB
No comments:
Post a Comment