Review of Phenomena (1985) by Christopher S — 03 Jan 2009

Disappointing and muddled effort from horror maestro Dario Argento. The plot is as ridiculous as usual, but the film is devoid of Argento's usual visual stylistic inventiveness. Amateurish performances - even a young Jennifer Connelly and veteran character actor Donald Pleasence struggle to make their awkward dialogue work.

The gory ending gets some points for sheer strangeness, but this one is for Argento completists only. Simon Boswell's score is effective, if badly dated, but there were way too many cheesy heavy metal songs on the soundtrack.