Phenomena

1985

Action / Crime / Horror / Mystery / Sci-Fi

60
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 67% · 25 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 67% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 32734 32.7K

revenge doctor daughter insect boarding school psychopath

Plot 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.

Director

Dario Argento Photo
Dario Argento

Top cast

Jennifer Connelly Photo
Jennifer Connelly as Jennifer Corvino
Davide Marotta Photo
Davide Marotta as Brückner Son
Nick Alexander Photo
Nick Alexander as Real Estate Agent
Pietro Ceccarelli Photo
Pietro Ceccarelli as Patient at Mental Hospital
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
865.81 MB
1204*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 10
1.77 GB
1792*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 42

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by BillyBC

Like an eerie, twisted fairy tale....

(****1/2 out of *****) My personal favorite Argento picture, this stars a young Jennifer Connelly (who would later go on to win a best supporting actress oscar for "A Beautiful Mind") as an American student in a snobby Swiss boarding school that is being terrorized by a brutal serial killer. Helping Connelly find the murderer are crippled Donald Pleasance, his intelligent primate assistant, and the entire insect world, with which Connelly has an unexplainable psychic connection. This movie may be short on sense and logic, but it more than makes up for it with outrageous style and bizarre uniqueness. It's like a twisted fairy tale, with heroic flies, disfigured killer midgets, and vengeful chimpanzees with straight razors. As in Argento's "Opera," some of the use of annoying late ‘80s metal bands (like Iron Maiden and Motorhead) doesn't work half as well as the ominously beautiful score composed by Claudio Simonetti. Argento's never been a great writer of dialogue, so some of the lines seem pretty stilted, and you also have to put up with some so-so acting from a good majority of the cast (also, unfortunately, typical of a lot of Argento's movies), but these things are easy to overlook in the midst of the nightmarish beauty and creepy atmosphere on display here. Also stars Daria Nicolodi in a more wicked role than usual and Patrick Bauchau as a police detective.HIGHLIGHT: The plot becomes more and more freakishly surreal until Connelly finds herself, first, in an underground tunnel, following the extension cord of a telephone (a scene reminiscent of Alice in a seriously frightening Wonderland), and, later, in a filthy pool full of human bones and maggots.
Reviewed by ma-cortes 6 / 10

Good Gialli with imaginatively staged murders by the master of horror,

¨Creepers¨or ¨Phenomena¨ is a nice Giallo full of grisly killings , suspense and bizarre intrigue. A teenager(Jennifer Connelly), with an amazing and unusual capability to communicate with insects , is moved to an exclusive Swiss girls' boarding school ruled by a rigid principal (Dalila Di Lazzaro) . As there happens several murders with bloody and creepy executions . Meanwhile the series killer goes on a real massacre on various unfortunate victims in a string of loathing murders. The girl who has a most unusual relationship with insects might help solve some gruesome killings. Slowly more people are found dead and a scientific (Donald Pleasence)expert on insects investigates the strange killings committed by a mad murderous running amok and with numerous suspects .Dario Argento's great success is compelling directed with startling visual content. This frightening movie is plenty of thrills, chills, body-count and strange color with phenomenal results. This is a classic slasher where the intrigue,tension, suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room, corridors and luxurious interior and exterior. The movie belongs to Italian Giallo genre that was invented by Mario Bava along with Riccardo Freda(Secret of Dr. Hitchcock) , they are the fundamental creators . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color with shining red blood, usual zooms, and utilization of images-shock . Later appears the maestro Dario Argento with his typically stylish Giallos, he is another essential creator of classic Latin terror films. Argento's so-so direction is well crafted, and as always more inclined toward violence and lots of killings . This genuinely mysterious story is well made and is one of the best ¨Giallo¨ with oneiric, effective aesthetic ; it packs lots of gore, guts and twists plots . This is a trademark terror work for the Horrormeister Argento with high tension quotient and equally high suspense by means of an ever-fluid camera that achieves colorful shots . Noteworthy for intelligent edition work that tightens the mystery, glimmer use of color and distinctive utilization of shock images. Sometimes weak screenplay is added by nice but gory special effects with insects .Screeching musical score by Goblin with stereophonic whispers combining to fortissimo soundtrack which help achieve incredible creepy moments and adding hard rock by Motorhead , Iran Maiden , among others.The terror pieces are well staged with eye-opening flair-play and contain obscure tracks to the denouement of the script . The motion picture is originally directed by Dario Argento, one of those film-makers who set off simple for frightening us to death. His period of biggest hits were the 70s when he directed the animals trilogy: ¨Four flies over gray velvet,The cat of nine tails, Bird with the crystal plumage¨, after he directed ¨Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre¨ and of course ¨Deep red¨. This bloody fun plenty of graphic gore and weirdness may not be for all tastes but to be liked for Argento connoisseurs especially .
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