October Movie Challenge: Phenomena (1985)

Going back to 1985, to another Argento giallo, and another rewatch. Though it has been a little bit since I saw this one. This movie is notable for being one of the earliest roles for actress Jennifer Connley. This is not her first role, but it is one of her breakout ones along with Labyrinth of the same year.

Phenomena (1985)

This movie has it all: a serial killer and a Swiss boarding school, Donald Pleasence and some heavy metal, psychic insects, and even a chimp with a straight razor. And yet one would be hard-pressed to call that a full description of what is on screen. It is bonkers. I kinda love it.

We begin with the murder of a young girl. By the way, what is it with Argento and scissors? Anyway, as it turns out, her murder isn't the important piece, well at least at first. What is important are the bugs. 

The story soon follows Jennifer Corvino (Connley), the teen daughter of a well-known American actor. He has put her in the Richard Wagner Academy for Girls (yup, that is the name), an exclusive institution in the Swiss countryside. The locals have a way of calling the region "Swiss Transylvania," which might have given her father pause before he left her there.

Jennifer is prone to sleepwalking. On one such nocturnal wandering, she comes across the murder of a young woman and makes her way to forensic entomologist Professor John McGregor (Donald Pleasence). McGregor examines the insects on a corpse to tell the police where and when a death occurred. He is also the owner of Inga, a very smart chimpanzee who acts as his aide and nurse.

Jennifer realizes she has a peculiar rapport with insects; they do not go after her. She can sense them, talk to them, maybe even put them to work. McGregor figures this talent could be put to use in tracking down the man responsible for the deaths of young women in the vicinity of the school. Because of course that is what you do.

Like I said. Completely insane.

Again, this is like four movies. A serial killer, psychic girl, bugs, and whatever the hell is supposed to be up with that chimp. Not to mention the Swiss Transylvania thing, the headmistress who missed the casting call for a Nazi She-wolf of the SS movie,  and the asylum next door to the school. Most directors would have whittled that list down to two or three concepts. Not Argento.

Connelly is good and is showing some of the promise that will feature in her future roles. Hard to believe she is only 14-15 here. I mean, yes, she looks young, but she has solid acting skills. Her character is scared of the goings on around her but at the same time drawn to the insects; she has no desire to be cured of it, only to make sense of it.  Of course, the adults in her life are of little assistance. The school thinks her unstable, her peers make fun of her, and a doctor wants to write it off as mental illness. Then there is McGregor. He wants to use her as the bug-whisperer. It is the sort of role Pleasence excelled at in the 1970s and 1980s. Brilliant, eccentric, and likely clued in to something the rest of the cast can only guess at.  His and Connely's interaction is one of the best things in the movie.  A movie of just these two exploring her psychic ability would have been good.

The soundtrack is an odd mix of songs from Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Andi Sex Gang, and the like with Goblin and Claudio Simonetti. To have heavy metal intrude on a scene of Gothic suspense can be jarring, but it puts an identity on the film. At times it is brilliant; at others one gets the impression someone has put on the wrong record. I can't deny the soundtrack, on its own, is great. 

In the final act, Phenomena lets go of any pretense of restraint.  Typical for the time and typical for Argento really. We are treated to a decaying house with a secret basement, a pool of decomposing bodies and maggots, a murderous mutant child and some violent turns of events. There is even a chimpanzee of unexpected utility. In the last twenty minutes, Jennifer endures an extraordinary ordeal. By the time she is done, caked in filth, blood and bugs, she has stopped running from what she is capable of. For me, that is what makes the film. 

She starts out as the kind of odd girl everyone wants to dismiss or put in her place, but she is not so easily put down because the source of her strangeness is real and potent.

Is this one of Argento’s finest? Not likely. It is erratic and too given to substituting one bizarre notion for logic. But it is fun, often gorgeous and horrific to look at in equal measure.

I watched the longer Italian cut. That is the one I recommend over the shorter "Creepers" version. Though it does remind me I really need to learn Italian. 

Jackson, IL Connections

Jennifer Corvino is right at home in NIGHT SHIFT. As a psychic who channels her gifts through insects, she can quiet a dangerous bug or get an impression from those congregating on a corpse, and in time turn them into a threat. That ought to be frightening to all concerned.

So, take an adventure where a student at a private academy claims to have seen a murder in her sleep. The adults don’t believe her, but a forensic entomologist notes the swarm outside her window is arranging itself into a map. The insects are telling her where the dead are buried. A bit heavy-handed? Yeah, but I lack Argento's style.

Phenomena is a supernatural giallo, a heavy-metal nightmare, an origin story of sorts. It has no business working. Yet it does.

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