Review of Phenomena (1985) by Tim B — 10 Oct 2009

So I have just watched my third Dario Argento film, Phenomena. The first two being Suspiria and Tenebre. A few facets of Argento films are beginning to come clear to me. Argento the director towers over Argento the writer. Argento the director takes screenplays penned by Argento the writer that are full of plot holes, lack any character development, and have terribly goofy dialogue and turns them into damn near masterpieces. One has to prepare for his films, much like preparing for a David Lynch film to a lesser extent of course. Don?t expect all the loose ends to tie up, don?t expect what happens now to have a big influence on what happens later, do enjoy every scene for the beauty of the scene, do prepare for very stylistic kills, do prepare horror that borders on surreal.

Back to Phenomena. This film is fantastic. Argento takes a paranormal story of insects, serial killers, boarding schools, creepy scientists (played by Donald Pleasence of Halloween fame who has the niche character of the mostly-creepy-know-it-all-scientist all but written on his forehead now) and just goes nuts. Argento known for booming scores doesn?t disappoint here. In fact, he mixes in some Iron Maiden and Motorhead for fucks sake, how awesome is that. There is plenty to love in this film even though at least 20 minutes could have been left on the cutting room floor. Oh yeah, Phenomena includes the best use of a monkey. I?m not a big fan of animals playing characters, but it really works here.

I suspect that if this film would have been my first taste of Argento, I would not be so kind, but now that I understand his pacing and story structure (or lack there of), I really am turning into a big fan. There?s a comfort level with his films, not unlike the sitcom format. Although this sitcom involves pounding bass, severed heads, suspenseful murder sequences, an lotsa blood.