Film Snail

Phenomena
Phenomena

6.8

Phenomena

R·1985·110m

Summary

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

Crew

Director, Screenplay, Story

Dario Argento

Screenplay, Story

Franco Ferrini

Reviews

John Chard

John Chard

October 3, 2014

6

Phenomena, doo-doo doo-doo-doo.

Arriving at a Swiss Academy for girls, Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly) gets embroiled in the workings of a serial killer. Her friends the insects and Professor John McGregor (Donald Pleasence) are on hand to help if possible.

Directed and co-written by horror legend Dario Argento, Phenomena is a mixed bag. Ignoring the butchered American version, which was titled Creepers, the full uncut version is still messy. Argento the director is doing good work here, which explains why the film has a sturdy reputation. His eye for striking imagery and horror scene staging is evident here for sure, but Argento the writer (along with Franco Ferrini) fails to string a decent enough narrative together. Pace is all over the place, the dialogue often boorish, while wasting Donald Pleasence is a crime against horror film making. Still, there’s enough good Argento at work here to keep Phenomena above average, even if it’s more for the eyes than the brain. 6/10

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

Budget:

$3,800,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Keywords

daughter
insect
boarding school
psychopath
telepathy
detective
switzerland
girls' boarding school
murder
serial killer
teenage girl
school
maniac
american abroad
chimpanzee
murder investigation
sleepwalking
recurring dream
sanitorium
swiss
entomologist
maggots
flies
service animal
animals & nature
fly