October Horror Movie Challenge: Ænigma (1987)

 Tonight I am heading back to school.

Unfortunately, it is a Lucio Fulci school, so this will probably not end well.  This one has been on my list for a while, but I never got around to watching it. It is *slightly* outside of my range, but 1987 is on my mind right now, and I thought a college-era movie with psychic shenanigans would fit well.

Ænigma (1987)

Kathy (Milijana Zirojevic) is a student at St. Mary’s, an exclusive girls’ boarding school outside Boston. She is lonely, awkward, and the target of a particularly cruel group of classmates. The girls convince Kathy that Fred, the school’s gym instructor, is romantically interested in her. Kathy believes them and meets him for what she thinks is a date. Kathy is excited and happy. 

But it is all a joke.

Her classmates are waiting nearby, and when they reveal themselves, laughing at her humiliation, Kathy panics and runs into the road. She is hit by a car. 

Kathy survives, but only barely. She remains unconscious in a hospital, trapped in a coma while her mother keeps watch over her.  Her doctor, Dr. Robert Anderson (played by Jared Martin from "The Fantastic Journey") kereps an eye on her and can't figure out how a girl who is pretty much brain dead is experiencing emotions. Especially when people at her old school start to die.

Then a new girl arrives at St. Mary’s.

Her name is Eva (Lara Lamberti).

And Kathy has found a way back into the school.

Directed by Lucio Fulci and written by Fulci and Giorgio Mariuzzo, Ænigma was an Italian-Yugoslav production shot in Sarajevo, despite the story being set around Boston. Fulci openly acknowledged Carrie as an influence, describing his film as essentially a version of Carrie split between two characters. 

I can't help but think about Phenomena (1985) from last week.

These movies have given me much to consider when it comes to boarding schools. We had a case in point with the one in Phenomena. It is a staple of Gothic fiction and horror for good reason. A normal high school has its way of emptying out; by a certain hour the hallways are quiet and everyone, teachers and students alike, has made their way back to their parents.

A boarding school does not afford that luxury. Class is over, but the kids stick around.

You cannot leave. Your home is your school, and your neighbors are your classmates. The girl in chemistry who can’t stand you is only three doors down. The teacher you hate may be in the same building. There is no line to be drawn between private life and school life since the institution holds sway over both.

That is what makes St. Mary’s so central to Aenigma. Kathy is not just put upon at school; she is living in the very social environment that has cast her out. There is no safe house for her at 3:30 and her tormentors are always on hand. But once she has the upper hand on Eva, the tables are turned. They can no longer go home. The victim has become part of the edifice, and the school is her hunting ground.

I like that kind of horror. You do not need some contrived reason for why nobody is leaving, as you might in an old Gothic tale where a storm keeps them in the castle. At St. Mary’s you are there because you have class tomorrow.

The Other Girl

Then there is Eva Gordon. She is put in Kathy’s old room following the accident, which ought to have been a warning sign. Before long you see something amiss with her. She acts odd and knows more than she should. Her tie to Kathy is plain to see as the latter’s psychic output at the hospital picks up whenever the supernatural rears its head at the school.

This is where the film holds my interest.

It would be easy to say Kathy is possessing Eva in the demonic tradition but it feels more like a projection. Kathy is still alive, her body in the hospital, her brain working. Yet a piece of her consciousness has left her and gone into Eva.

The movie is not going to offer a rigorous account of the mechanics. Fulci is never helped by having rules imposed on him.

Kathy uses Eva as a physical proxy at St. Mary’s and can share senses or work her will on the environment from afar. Her comatose form is the transmitter and Eva the receiver. In a way she is haunting people without being dead. It blurs the line between "Psychic" and "Magic" very effectively.

Since this is horror and the Carrie influences abound, the deaths begin to pile up. 

Each of Kathy's tormentors dies in a horrible way (the snails and slugs are particularly nasty), with Eva as the common factor in all the deaths; she is nearby. 

The movie is about what I expected it to be, really. It was still a lot of fun, and I rather enjoyed it. It's not great, but also not terrible. It didn't give me anything new, but it didn't disappoint me either. 

Jackson, IL Connections

I don't need a long list of powers or effects for a psychic killer; I just need a good reason. Kathy, or someone like her, provides that. It's interesting in one respect. These movies are about someone coming back for revenge against the people who wronged them; if the person coming back is male, we get a slasher; if they are a woman, it results in psychic powers. 

I have not had any solid ideas for psychics yet in Jackson, though I really should, to be honest. I mean, I have Morgan, but he is not likely to go on a murderous rampage. He would find that sort of emotional outburst to be unbecoming. 

I still have a list of names that don't have NPCs yet. Maybe my psychic killer is there.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
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