[I have to admit, I gave serious consideration to actually writing this Friday the 13th Scary review of John Travolta's Phenomenon instead. I mean, Holy Cow, Travolta urinating on the grave of Flowers For Algernon, romancing maudlin Kyra Sedgwick and still finding a way to be a Christ figure? The stuff is crazy-scary. Equally scary, it seems to me, was the short-lived Judith Light television series Phenom about a tennis prodigy and her mother. That was pretty scary as well. But it doesn't look like Epinions has a category for that one. Oh well. I guess, then, you'll just have to sit back and relax, while I ramble on about Dario Argento's 1985 near-masterpiece Phenomena or, as American audiences knew it in a wildly edited form, Creepers...]

The great directors need hardly hide their influences. Where would the fun of Spielberg be, for example, if he didn't make obvious textual references to Disney or John Ford? How would Martin Scorsese live without Fuller and countless others? So it's no surprise that Dario Argento's 1985 piece of genre-fusion Phenomena doesn't shy away for near endless quotations to (of?) Argento's greatest heroes.

The film borrows liberally from Hitchcock's The Birds, Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace, as well as the entire run of 1970s films in which the onset of puberty in teenage girls is explored symbolically through their discovery of terrifying supernatural powers (Carrie, The Exorcist, Fury et al). Surely the influence of Bava and Hitchcock goes well beyond single films — they shaped Argento's work. And yet, Dario Argento need not be restricted by his adherence to some of the methods of these all-time greats. Phenomena is a film made by a man who loves film, but that doesn't mean it's derivative. While the bits and pieces may seem familiar, this is still the original work of a Italian treasure. While Argento may have been influenced by those who came before him, his influence on those who came after has been just as great — note the nods to Phenomena in several of star Jennifer Connelly's later films as well as Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, George Romero's Monkey Shines, and the large hunks of theft (or homage) at work in Matthew Kassovitz's Crimson Rivers.

Phenomena begins in the foothills of the Swiss Alps, so you know that if nothing else, it's going to be stunningly beautiful (and Romano Albani's cinematography doesn't disappoint). A young school girl misses her bus and goes wandering off down a secluded path. There, she meets her gruff old uncle who gradually becomes a mentor to her and she becomes a highland lass.

Ooops. That's Heidi. But speaking of scary movies!

Anyway, the school girl (played by the director's daughter Fiore, who isn't as hot as his daughter Asia) goes wandering to an abandoned farmhouse, which is never a good idea. And she goes inside, even though nobody answer the door. And that's never a good idea either, especially since there's someone or something inside just chompin' at the bit to get out. And before you know it, the poor girl has been stabbed with shiny scissors, beheaded, and dumped in a swiftly flowing river. Needless to say, she won't be a major character from here on.

Cut forward several months, where police investigators are chatting with noted Scottish bug expert John McGregor (Donald Pleasence pretending, from what I can tell, to be Robert Shaw in Jaws). Dr. McGregor is wheelchair bound, but he's assisted by a helper-monkey named Inga (Billy Barty), who responds to a laser pointer like the obnoxious things that people used to point at movie screens in 1999 (and which is used to produce shades of Jimmy Stewart's flashbulbs from Rear Window). Dr. McGregor is helping the police investigate a series of murders. He basically analyzes the number of maggots on corpses to determine how long they've been out. It's not a pretty pastime, but it sets the groundwork for McGregor's interaction with young Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly).

[It should be noted that Billy Barty did *not* actually play Inga the helper-monkey. That was a mean joke on my part. Billy Barty was actually a genuine legend and the founder of the Little People of America. He was in The Wizard of Oz and Willow and UHF. Billy Barty passed away in 2000 and I meant no offense to the man, whose legacy vastly outweighed his stature. He's got a well-earned star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and everything. All hail Billy Barty!]

Jennifer (getting back to the plot now and I hope you'll forgive the digressions, as I've been away from writing for a week and my mind is going pell-mell in all directions) is the daughter of a famous movie star who has been sent off to boarding school in Switzerland. On the cab ride up to the school a bee flies through the window, circles her and Jennifer begins to pet it with her thumb. That's our first hint that there's something a little off about Jennifer. Jennifer, you see, has an unnatural rapport with the insect world. She also sleepwalks, which causes problems on her first night at the Richard Wagner International School for Girls, one of those places of middle education full of secret hallways, corridors, wings that should never been entered, and faux-Gothic architecture. Jennifer's sleepwalking leads her to McGregor and also leads to the realization that she has a psychic bond with the killer, or at least with the maggots the killer leaves in his or her wake. When her roommate Sophie (Federica Mastroianni (Marcello's niece) becomes the latest victim, Jennifer and McGregor decide to catch the killer with the help of a whole lotta bugs.

For Argento, Phenomena was an opportunity to combine the supernatural genre with the Italian giallo crime films on which he'd cut his teeth (for a further explanation of giallo either check out Mike Bracken's excellent review of Phenomena or my review of Blood and Black Lace). On one hand, Phenomena could almost been seen as a conventional crime film, with countless red-herrings and a growing body count, but then there's that whole thing where Jennifer keeps summoning and chatting with insects, as well as the possibility that the killer may not be 100% purely human. That sortta sets it apart. There's also a healthy dose of dream imagery and Freudian subtext with takes the film off into an entirely different plane. It's suggested that the supernatural occurrences need not be accepted as actual phenomena and that everything may be the manifestation of any number of twisted psyches.

But more than anything, Phenomena is creepy on any number of levels. On one hand, you get Argento's handling of the killer, which is pure Bava, including POV shots and stylized close-ups of the killer's weapon of choice, a multi-part scalpel/knife, which has to be reassembled with each murder. You also need to deal with Jennifer's increasing detachment from reality and her increasing confidence in her power over the insect world. As so frequently happens in the Puberty=Freakiness genre, Jennifer is mercilessly mocked by her classmates who she finally counters with a swarm of flies, which predictably leads to attempts at having her committed. Then there's the gore, which is ample. And if you have problems with worms and flies and an impressive assortment of decomposing human bodies, probably this just isn't the right film for you.

If, however, the idea of maggots crawling around a spoiled human head, several beheadings, a big pool of decomposing human filth, and seeing the world in a maggot's POV is appealing, Phenomena is good gross fun. Sergio Stivaletti and Antonio Corridori use an impressive variety of effects shots to produce nastiness which only looks slightly dated 17 years later. And Luigi Cozzi is responsible for the optical effects like the aforementioned swarm of flies, which may not look perfect, but still have aged better than the matte shots in The Birds. Romano Albani's microphotography of the insects was ahead-of-its-time in 1985 and is still admirable.

The fluidity of Argento's camera is, as always, remarkable and his greatest achievement is in taking all of the disparate elements of the film and keeping things perpetually scary on every level. He shifts from the near-surreal dream-logic visuals to the harsh and visceral gore with his patented ease. This was supposed to be Argento's big break in the United States, though the film disappointed, especially after being rendered incomprehensible by the snippage of 20 minutes. Thankfully Anchor Bay has restored the film to its proper form on this DVD release. As introductions to Argento go, I'd still suggest Tenebre or Suspiria, but it's possible that this is Argento's most *fun* film and neophytes may respond to the familiar faces of Jennifer Connelly and Donald Pleasence.

At this point in her career, Jennifer Connelly was mostly competing with Elizabeth Taylor for the unofficial title of "Most Beautiful 14-Year Old in Cinema History." This was still years before her Rocketeer/Career Opportunities peak of voluptuousness and even longer before she lost a massive amount of weight and became an Oscar winner (a dramatic shift in body-type which may or my not have been 100% natural). Anyway, Connelly's performance in Phenomena emphasizes, like many of her early performances, innocence mixed with a nascent sexuality that may be outside of her awareness. Question: Should we be disturbed by Argento's willingness to make Connelly into a sensual figure? Perhaps (though I remain more disturbed by instances of his sexualizing his daughter Asia at a young age). Jennifer is constantly sleepwalking in lace-fringed nighties (costumes by Georgio Armani) and even the insects seem to want to have sex with her. It adds to the twisted tone of the film, to be sure. Connelly had already be totally sexualized by Sergio Leone in her first film, Once Upon A Time In America (albeit with a body double), so apparently the Italian directors liked what they saw in her in a sortta pervy way. The fact that Connelly was mostly acting opposite Italian actors whose English was probably spotty only makes her performance more impressive. She gains the sympathy necessary to make this film work.

Donald Pleasence's performance mostly consists of bringing along his extensive backlog of genre characters. Seeing Pleasence here makes links to Halloween unavoidable and were clearly intentional. He was an actor whose steely intensity could make even horror good-guys seems scary. Although he's stuck in a wheelchair for the whole film, it's only his authority that's necessary here. And he provides it.

Argento treats Inga like a human character, never "directing down" to the monkey. In terms of framing, lighting, and music cues, the monkey is just another lead actor. At first Inga is treated as comic relief, but as the film moves along, she becomes more and more the subject of the viewer's sympathy and empathy. Inga could have been replaced by a kindly nurse, or some kind of helper-human, but amazingly, by the end, the audience accepts Inga as a natural part of the plot and not a gimmick at all.

As is all-too-frequently the case in Argento's films, the music is frequently a distraction. The synth-metal sounds of Goblin are sometimes perfectly suited for the film, but more frequently feel wildly inappropriate, producing laughter that wasn't intended. And nobody really needed Iron Maiden and Motorhead on the soundtrack unless their only goal was to make Phenomena feel instantly dated. Other music from Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, Simon Boswell, and Claudio Simonetti also varies in its effectiveness. Sometimes the atypical scoring gives Argento's films a totally unexpected effect that never could have come from a traditional horror score, but I sometimes wish he'd thought better of his choices. Oh well.

Phenomena's climax is well-executed and satisfying, with major characters dropping like flies and several major scares. The killer is unexpected, but also not-completely-organic. Thinking back on their victims, it's sometimes difficult to suss out motivations. But no bother. If you're looking for a nice piece of Friday The 13th creepiness, head out to your local video store and look for Anchor Bay's DVD. It features a disjointed commentary from many of the people involved with the movie, a really cool behind-the-scenes featurette on the effects, and a disappointing interview with Argento from a 1985 talk show. But mostly it features a beautiful widescreen transfer of Phenomena in its nearly-original form. Jennifer Connelly, a fun monkey, and maggots? What more do you want.

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The review is part of the Friday the 13th Horror Write-off hosted by mom2tyzick. Do I really need to explain the theme of this write-off? Check out entries by some of Epinions very bestest writers of horror film reviews (and general film reviews, for that matter). I feel honored to be in the company of folks like Mike_Bracken, brandon_m, artbyjude, xxxxer, Vormancian, tbthorn, SusiDee34, shadow8, sampo24, remnjava, peterbryan, Rbradford, lambchops, aliventiasylum, and matt2050...

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Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD