Horror

Thriller

Phenomena

DACFILM Rome

Italy

Dansk

Deutsch

Italiano

English

Jennifer Connelly

Daria Nicolodi

Fiore Argento

Federica Mastroianni

Fiorenza Tessari

Dalila Di Lazzaro

Patrick Bauchau

Donald Pleasence

Alberto Cracco

Kaspar Capparoni

Mario Donatone

Antonio Maimone

Davide Marotta

Fulvio Mingozzi

Francesca Ottaviani

Michele Soavi

Franco Trevisi

Fausta Avelli

Franca Berdini

Marta Biuso

Marisa Simonetti

Geraldine Thomas

Tanga

Stefania Possamai

Dario Argento

Franco Ferrini

Simon Boswell

Romano Albani

Franco Fraticelli

Giorgio Armani

Sergio Stivaletti

Luigi Cozzi

Nick Alexander

Massimo Anzellotti

Claudio Simonetti

Andy Sex Gang

Fabio Pignatelli

Angelo Iacono

Marina Malavasi

Patrizia Massaia

Piero Bozza

Antonio Corridori

Danilo Bollettini

Bettina Graebe

Pierantonio Mecacci

Patrizia Corridoni

Barbara Morosetti

Cesare Jacolucci

Marcel Just

Maurizio Garrone

Nello Giorgetti

Luciano Spadoni

Umberto Turco

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

Both a great chance to see two acting icons (one, Donald Pleasence, at his prime, and the other, Jennifer Connelly, just starting out on her filmic journey) and one of the films on director Argento's great run of horror classics, this is worth purchasing the finest print and will award the horror aficionado many great times in rewatches. Cinephiles often called Argento 'the Italian Alfred Hitchcock', and this would be a great Exhibit A for their evidence. Essential for connoisseurs of the arcane.

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Phenomena

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Jennifer Connelly

Daria Nicolodi

Fiore Argento

Federica Mastroianni

Fiorenza Tessari

Dalila Di Lazzaro

Patrick Bauchau

Donald Pleasence

Alberto Cracco

Kaspar Capparoni

Box office

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