Phenomena

This might be a slow burn but boy howdy is it worth it for the last 20 minutes. So many gasps and "what theeee" and "NO WAY". Good stuff. And I had no idea what an amazing child actress Jennifer Connelly was.

**This is part of my 2022 HORROR Fridays**

Yeah…

Just as weird and disjointed as I remember it.

Only now I can see all the weirdness in 4k due to the new Arrow release, and yes…it looks great.

Phenomena is one of those movies I can't seem to get, but still loves unconditionally. There's something about the odd music, the cinematography and the excellent chemistry between the actors that makes me care less about a story that makes little sense, and just enjoy the beautiful visuals while enjoying some Iron Maiden and Mötorhead...

I said it was weird, didn't I???

I had not seen this classic before today, and I don’t regret either watching it now, nor having not watched it when I was much younger haha. Great piece artistically in so many ways (the soundtrack, the cinematography, Jennifer herself), but so traumatising. Sheesh.
The pace is nicely set, but in the end it just keeps throwing things at you for some truly shocking, “throwing-the-popcorn” kind of moments.

And if you ever were to choose a super power... maybe consider insects 😬


I recommend watching this with a bunch of friends, or a film club.
(I also had to wonder whether there is any connection between this being Jennifer’s first film/film before the labyrinth, and the main score made by “Goblin”? 😂)

If you have the option, don't bother with the Creepers cut. I grew up with that version, so I thought it would be my preferred version. Nope, it's a truncated mess...

The plot seems to stumble on itself and what it's trying to convey, but when the third act begins, all that's easy to ignore as the craziness begins. It's just too entertaining.

A delightfully bizarre film even if I find it a bit slow at times. This one reminds me a lot of _Suspiria_ but less colorful, less vibrant, and contains more elements that don't quite cohere. Those elements are blended together into a hyper-stylized fever dream with this atmosphere of oddity which keep me intrigued from start to finish. The plot is as obtuse as most gialli, but the supernatural elements and some gory surprises make it an entertaining watch. It definitely drags at first but really picks up for a terrific conclusion and has some great disturbing images. The scores of Argento's films are always incredibly amazing and this is no exception. Overall it's pretty entertaining and worth trying for the weirdness alone.

Slow descent into chaos that at times is a complete bore and at other times, batshit insanity.

Pretty boring this one, I watched the International Version though which is almost 2 hours so it dragged quite a bit, maybe should've watched another version. Music was horrible as well. I only watched it because I plan on playing Clock Tower soon and it's influenced by this film.

"Phenomena" is perhaps the last decent Dario Argento film, and is actually quite good for a horror B-movie. The visuals are more toned-down than Argento's previous works, but his direction is still tasteful and the acting is slightly better than usual.

As always, the clunky dialogues and nonsensical plot are the biggest flaws of the film. It starts off with the same structure of "Suspiria": a young girl (played by a stunning Jennifer Connelly) is enrolled in a school where weird things happen and people get mysteriously killed. It gets better towards the end, but the whole part in the academy and McGregor's endless speeches tempted me to stop there. I am confident they could have cut at least 30 minutes of extra fat.

Once the killers are revealed, the pacing drastically improves, not to mention that all the memorable scenes are condensed there. The music is not terrible, but there are few heavy metal songs randomly thrown in that killed the tension in many scenes. Goblin's main theme is cool, but I am not sure it fits the atmosphere of the film.

I can see how this became a horror classic during the VHS era but it's a bit of a mess for a first time viewer in 2022.