20 April 2024
Phenomena (1984)
110 min.
Directed by Dario Argento.
With Jennifer Connelly, Donald Pleasence, Daria Nicolodi, Patrick Bauchau, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Fiore Argento.
This well liked - and likable - Argento concoction is ultimately unsatisfying.

Young Jennifer Corvino (Connelly) possesses a strange bond to insect life.

After she enrolls at an exclusive Swiss boarding school, the poor gal finds a killer begins murdering those around her.

How can Jennifer harness and use her power to help catch the psycho? With the aid of wheelchair-bound bug doctor Professor McGregor (Pleasance), the two vow to find out the identity of the madman.

But will Jennifer live long enough to unmask the slasher?

A powerful death sequence opens the action, but unfortunately the sassy murder can't sustain the intensity throughout.

Pleasence at this point can be counted on for merely one tone: unhinged.

The whole thing is weird and confusing - a frayed piece always in danger of unravelling - and stylistically, it's certainly not up to par with Argento's best work.

Also known as Creepers.

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