Phenomena

When I first became interested in horror, Dario Argento wasn't a name that I was familiar with as my knowledge of all things horror tended to be limited to Britain and America from the late 1960s to 1980s and directors such as George A. Romero, Stanley Kubrick and William Friedkin. Just as with any interest, the more you know, the less you realise you know so my horizons quickly expanded to Asia and Europe and, once I had seen Suspiria, I wanted to know more about Dario Argento and see many, many more of his films. I had, unknowingly, already come across this film as I was doing a marathon viewing session in order to get through the 50 Drive-In Classic Movies box set which included a film called Creepers. Although I thought the film was very good, I didn't realise it was a cut down American version of Phenomena. Therefore, amongst the first lot of DVDs I bought was the uncut R1 version of Phenomena, a disc that would be played many times and quickly become one of my all-time favourite horror films.

As I had already seen Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebrae and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, I thought I would know what to expect from 'Un film di Dario Argento' so I put on the DVD and relaxed, anticipating a film with a mystery killer, a hint of the supernatural, elegant and stylish camerawork and, perhaps, and unsettling soundtrack. By the time Phenomena finished, I really didn't know what to make of it but knew I wanted more!

The film begins in Switzerland where a school party runs up to the road to catch a bus which Then drives off leaving one girl behind. After failing to wave it down, she stands in the freezing cold wind trying to figure out what to do before heading off in the direction of a house where she can phone for help. The next thing you know, the music escalates and the girl, thinking the house is empty, lets herself in, not realising that someone - or something - is chained up inside and breaks free while she is exploring.

Suddenly, the now free 'monster' grabs her from behind with its chains, giving her an incredible scare and rams a pair of scissors through her hand. After escaping the house, she runs up a small path next to a surging river and waterfall, before being trapped at the top where her pursuer stabs her in the stomach with the scissors, which forces her head through a plate glass window. The next thing you see, her body is on the rocks by the river where it is decapitated and her head is sent into the raging torrent below. It's not quite the famous opening sequence from Suspiria, but it'll do!

The next image is that of a chimpanzee which belongs to prominent entomologist, Prof. John McGregor, a Scotsman living in Switzerland who, after being hit by a car several years earlier, is confined to a wheelchair and is aided by a chimpanzee. McGregor earns a living helping out homicide police because of his uncanny ability to calculate how long someone has been dead due to the number, size and type of maggots on their body. He isn't the only foreigner around as Jennifer Corvino, the daughter of a famous American actor who is working in the Philippines for a year, has been sent to the Richard Wagner International School to carry on her American education.


As she so clearly displays in a limousine on the way to the school, Jennifer has an affinity with insects as, whilst the teacher and chauffeur are busy freaking out and nearly crashing the car because a bee is in the vehicle, Jennifer seems to attract the insect to her and begins stroking it. Being able to telepathically communicate with insects isn't Jennifer's only idiosyncrasy as she is also a somnambulist and occasionally takes off during the night, waking up in the strangest of places.

An outsider at school, she comes into contact with Prof. McGregor who is intrigued by her ability to communicate with insects and how they respond to her mood, even becoming aroused by her! When her French roommate, Sophie, who thinks Jennifer's father, Paul, is gorgeous, sneaks out one night, when she should be watching Jennifer, for a secret liaison with her boyfriend, Jennifer begins having extremely disturbing dreams, but nothing as bad as Sophie's evening. Following a row with her boyfriend, who seems to be more interested in finding out about Paul Corvino's daughter than Sophie, she storms off only for the murderous stranger to strike again and stab the French student to death.

During one of Jennifer's unconscious night time trips, she wakes up and finds what she believes is a glove belonging to the murderer. Taking it to Prof. McGregor for analysis, he recognises the maggots on the glove as sarcophagus larvae which feed on dead tissue and may be the key to solving the mystery as the larvae will be in the same place where the killer keeps his victims. In order to find the location, Jennifer is despatched with the sarcophagus fly, which will react when it is near the dead body (or bodies).

Phenomena is a maddening film as it feels as if Argento is experimenting with several different plotlines, concepts and types of music so there is the supernatural element that was in Suspiria and Inferno, the mystery killer that was in his 'animals trilogy' (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Cat O' Nine Tails and Four Flies on Grey Velvet) and Deep Red. You also have an unforgettable heavy metal soundtrack by Goblin (plus some from Claudio Simonetti in an individual role) and featuring music by bands including Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Andi Sex Gang.


There are numerous reasons why Phenomena shouldn't work and, if you watched it with a cold, analytical eye, there is no way that it could be compared to the likes of Deep Red, Suspiria or Tenebrae but, bizarrely, it all hangs together and draws you in so you don't mind the ludicrous nature of many aspects of Phenomena and, for many reasons, they are key to the film's charm. There aren't many films that could feature Donald Pleasence with a ropey Scottish accent, a chimpanzee, a maniacal killer on the loose, Jennifer Connelly playing a girl who can telepathically communicate with insects, a pit full of decomposing human remains and a lake of fire and still work, but this one does. It helps that Jennifer Connelly, aged just 13 or 14, gives such an assured performance in her first lead role, only one year after appearing as 'Young Deborah' in Sergio Leone's brilliant gangster epic Once upon a Time in America and she seems to be the calm little centre of the film, despite telepathically initiating a huge insect attack on her school!

Structurally, narratively and thematically speaking, this is far from Argento's best work but its madness works in its favour and Phenomena is probably the most watchable of all his films simply because you don't need to pay that much attention to what's happening to enjoy it!

There are two versions of Phenomena: the director's cut and the 'integral' cut, which is 5-6 minutes longer and includes some additional dialogue and scenes that are slightly longer - the version on this release is the longer cut. Because the English dub was only recorded for the director's cut, there are several instances when the English dub will disappear to be replaced by the Italian track with English subtitles. None of these lines are integral to the plot so you aren't necessarily miss out if you don't immediately switch and read the subtitles for a line or two but I feel as if they do add something to the film which is why I prefer watching it with the Italian track and English subtitles.

The Disc

Extra Features
When you play the film, the first thing you see is an introduction by Sergio Stivaletti, who was behind the SFX make-up on the film. Oddly, the sound seems to come entirely through the right channel and this is the sort of thing that you would happily watch once or twice but skip through (fortunately, this can be done) every other time.

Dario Argento's Monkey Business: The Making of Phenomena (52:11, HD) begins with brief comments from Dario Argento, Sergio Stivaletti and Luigi Cozzi before moving on to much longer interviews with these three men as well as Dario Nicolodi (who plays Fran Brückner) and underwater photographer Gianlorenzo Battaglia. They all talk about their individual contributions to the film is well as the movie as a whole so there are in depth explanations of the fly effects, where all the real flies came from (and went), the underwater scenes,, the research that went into creating a rotting head and working with Jennifer Connelly. As usual, Daria Nicolodi doesn't hold back in her criticism of Franco Ferrini, the screenwriter of Phenomena, calling him a 'poor writer' and how the film wouldn't be the same without her input. Also interesting is Dario Argento's evaluation of casting female leads and wondering what Freud would make of the number of times his daughters are killed or naked in his films! (The student killed at the beginning is played by Fiore Argento, Dario's daughter from his first marriage.)

Music for Maggots: Claudio Simonetti Remembers Phenomena (6:33, HD) is, as the name suggests, an interview with the main man behind Goblin and he speaks very well (in English) about writing the theme for Phenomena with a female soprano, what it was like writing a soundtrack that would incorporate other artists and what he thinks of the film.

Creepers and Creatures: Sergio Stivaletti Live Q&A Sessions (18:54, HD) were filmed in Glasgow and Dublin with Calum Waddell as the moderator with the SFX make-up artist answering questions as diverse as "What was it like working with the monkey?", "How involved is Dario Argento under special effects?" and "Did you get to direct Wax Mask?". Compared to the other featurettes, this one is a quite quiet and Stivaletti is fairly softly spoken so it is worth turning the volume up when it begins.

In addition, the set contains a reversible sleeve with four artwork panels, a double sided poster, a booklet with a brand new essay by Alan Jones, Argento expert and author of the Dario Argento 'bible', Profondo Argento.


The Picture
I really was unsure about how this would look in high definition in terms of the amount of DNR and whether the treatment would enhance the picture, making it something extremely special or detract from it, creating a digital mess like the first Blu-ray release of Gladiator. Thankfully, this is the former with the picture, presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, having excellent definition and superb clarity throughout. The colours are vibrant and strong and the high contrast levels ensure that blacks are suitably inky so, when Jennifer is in the lake at the end, there is no distinction between the black water and black sky so all you can see is her head bobbing up and down with the occasional flicker of light on a wave.

There is some grain which has been left there following the HD remastering process and, thankfully, fine detail is also untouched. Visually, the noisiest scene is at the beginning when the student goes through the window, but as this was shot in high speed for ultimate effect, this is perfectly understandable.

The special effects to look a little ropey by today's standards with the swarms of flies and 'monster' appearing a little unconvincing but it doesn't really detract from the film as I would hate if someone went the other way and 'Lucased' certain scenes with cutting edge technology which would make them look extremely good but also completely out of place, running your fond memories of the film.


The Sound
Thankfully, this has both English and Italian soundtracks, both LPCM 2.0 stereo so you can either watch it all in Italian with no switching between languages or in English, with the odd line appearing in Italian, subtitled in English. Given that this is such a bizarre soundtrack with an eclectic mix of dialogue and music, I was amazed at just how clear both the music and dialogue were presented and, even though the US Anchor Bay has a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, I really don't think this has sounded better.

As a fan of Goblin, Iron Maiden and Motörhead, I love the music and imagine it's the sort of thing that, if Dario Argento had presented it to a major studio executive, he would have been laughed out of the building. However, sometimes the most bizarre combinations work - who would have thought peanut butter and jelly would be such a hit?

When it comes to the subtitles, there are slightly different tracks for the Italian and English audio tracks and they are both well written and extremely clear against the background.


Final Thoughts
Phenomena isn't the finest film that Dario Argento has ever made but, in its blending of Deep Red-type giallo mystery thriller and the supernatural horror material found in Suspiria and Inferno is an unmissable and unforgettable viewing experience.

As far as the disc is concerned, this is probably the definitive release with a fine selection of extra features, excellent AV quality, all presented in what should be another terrific set released by Arrow Video.