If you’re a fan of Suspiria, Reanimator, and other movies where filmmakers show no fear of going too far, you might love Phenomena. Phenomena takes loads of chances, and
mostly succeeds… if you’re willing to take it on its own terms.
But don’t get the wrong idea. You may have never seen Suspiria, or not give a shit whether the movies you watch take chances or not. Phenomena is good, simply for what it is…a movie with the grip of an angry bear.
If you’re familiar with director Argento’s movies, (I mention Suspiria because it’s another of my favorites) you probably won’t expect much plot or character development. You’d be right, even though both its stars, Jennifer Connelly and Donald Pleasence, are excellent actors.
Many of Argento’s movies feature a character forced to track down a murderer, without much training or experience. Circumstances force them into this. Jennifer, the hero of
Phenomena, finds herself in that exact position. Way in over her head, the way Suzy (Jessica Harper) was in Suspiria. But Jennifer turns out to have a guardian angel—in fact, thousands of them. By some unexplainable destiny, she was born with a deep bond with insects. She protects them, every chance she gets, even a bee trapped inside a car with her. In return, they do their best to watch over her…and save her from danger.
Jennifer–a kinship with all insects
Jennifer shows up at a snobby, clique-ish new school. Friends are hard to come by. But Phenomena is not a movie about friendship. It’s a story of survival—a young, vulnerable character trying to navigate a sea full of danger, heading straight into the path of the most insane shark in the ocean. Jennifer finds herself looking for a serial killer. But she’s no Sherlock Holmes.
Her weapons? Courage, ingenuity. And the guardian angels mentioned previously. But that’s all. You expect that she’ll
be put to the test…big time.
Phenomena immediately shows you Jennifer’s danger. You’re in a wild, mountain area—right away, “ the picturesque Swiss Alps” comes to mind. A school bus, state of the art in appearance, stops to pick up students. One girl is a moment too late. She goes for help, into a house that looks like a ski chalet. Not the
least spooky.
But little bits of hard rock begin to sneak into the bland music soundtrack. You get a point-of-view shot from inside the house…very creepy. The girl goes inside, calls out to see if anyone’s home. She gets no answer but you see a quick shot of chains bolted to a wall, then shaken hard, as the music turns to full blast rock and roll. Someone pulls the chains free.
Suddenly the chains are around the girl’s neck… tight. She’s unable to open the door and run. Scissor points stab through her hand. Finally she gets the door open and runs onto a walkway over a fast mountain stream. She follows the path between mountains into a clear plexiglass passageway. Even surrounded by mountains, a feeling of wild Nature, of endless freedom …
Then suddenly she is stabbed again with the scissors. You watch a long shot of a severed head plunging into a cold mountain stream, and realize crystal-clear, that things are not what they look to be. This is the Universe where Jennifer, the lonely hero, now finds herself.
Critics have described Argento’s movies as flimsy plots used to link a series of shocking scenes, some as violent as the one just described. Others just teasers. On the surface, Phenomena has a more realistic setting than Suspiria, which played out like an ultra-nasty fairy tale, a nightmare version of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. What is similar? A teenage girl, trying desperately to deal with chaos around her.
Like Suzy, Jennifer tries to get her bearings in a new environment, but is forced instead to react, barely getting a chance to function pro-actively. People at her new school are mean, snobbish to her from the first; the only exception her new friend Sofie. And oh, by the way, someone’s been killing people on the campus. Welcome to our school. And Jennifer carries yet another cross; she’s a sleepwalker who finds herself outside her building, just when the murderer could be stalking their next victim.
But one time, this curse turns out to be a blessing. Alone in the woods, Jennifer is actually led to safety by a pair of ladybugs. More unlikely, she then meets a gentle young chimpanzee.
Inga with Professor MacGregor
The chimp, named Inga, leads Jennifer to the man she takes care of, Professor McGregor, a biologist confined to a wheelchair. He has taught Inga to follow an electronic pointer, and to assist him around his house. His field of study is insects. A reserved, gentle individual, McGregor bonds with Jennifer. Inga too, soon responds to Jennifer’s kind nature.
Jennifer and McGregor have a lot in common: great chemistry with Inga and deep interest in insects. McGregor is concerned about Jennifer’s sleepwalking and shows her a way she can wake herself to avoid danger.
Jennifer and MacGregor–unexpected common ground
She has to be grateful for this friendship. The school faculty is so misguided, it places Jennifer in danger. They send her to a doctor to investigate the sleepwalking. His expert opinion? “The first step toward schizophrenia.” Thanks a lot, doc. The harassment by the other students (and the teachers) only grows worse.
Then Sofie, Jennifer’s only friend at school, is murdered. Jennifer, sleepwalking close by, escapes narrowly. But Jennifer is able to find an important clue—a glove small enough to fit a child. Inside the glove are maggots, and (if I understand her expression correctly), the maggots can communicate to her–that the glove was the killer’s. She explains this to McGregor who, rather than
doubting her sanity, trusts her intuition.
McGregor can sense the circle closing fast on the two of them. He believes that the killer does not dispose of the victims’ bodies, but likes to keep them around. He proposes a bold plan, using the “two greatest detectives” he knows. One is Jennifer. The
other…an insect known as the Great Sarcophagus Fly. This insect is the mature form of the maggot found in the child’s glove, and has a strong attraction to dead flesh. And, like all insects, the fly develops an instant bond to Jennifer, as you see when it immediately lands on her, then stays still.
McGregor tells Jennifer he’s sure more bodies are
close by; it won’t take long to sense their presence. She
will know right away by the fly’s behavior. Like Suzy in
Suspiria, Jennifer is frightened but finds courage to bring a close friend’s killer to justice.
You watch Jennifer and her companion, the fly, riding a bus on a mountain road, through an area like the one in the opening scenes. Argento seldom gets credit for bringing performances out of his actors (I tend to agree) but these scenes are exceptions. Without any unintended laughs, he is able to show the bond between Jennifer and the fly; actually make you believe it, as hard as that sounds. When the fly suddenly goes into a frenzy of activity, Jennifer knows that this is where they begin their search
I won’t give away any more. One review on the
imdb website actually called the ending the all- time best in any
movie, period. I wouldn’t go that far, but I definitely see
where he/she is coming from.
For the record, several of Argento’s movies have disappointed me; I am not someone who loves everything he does. There may be a lot in Phenomena that makes you say, “Yeah…I’ve seen this before.”
Never mind all that. This is the real deal…an angry bear coming straight at you, not knowing the meaning of the word ‘stop.’ Don’t miss this one.