Review of Phenomena (1985) by Dustin H — 25 Apr 2008
Its a bad movie. But, like many bad movies, its worth checking out just for all of the WTF moments it has. I can only imagine that's why it has such consistently high user ratings online, because this movie, from otherwise fantastic director Dario Argento, is amazingly incompetent in its construction.
First thing you'll notice though, is that the cast is phenominal, featuring Jennifer Connelly and Donald Pleasence among a group of fine Italian actors... all of them ham it up in this movie. Honestly, its like they weren't even trying.
The plot meanders around a bit, set to a pretty fantastic synth soundtrack from the Goblin guys, with Jennifer, playing a character named Jennifer, sleepwalking around and talking to bugs while Donald Pleasence teaches his pet monkey about the dangers of razorblades.
The ending is huge though, and I'm not the first to point it out. If you like bloody action, the last fifteen minutes makes up for the rest of the movie. And the poor dialog is kept to a minimum, so that's always a plus...though the continuity gets really bad during the boat sequence.
Highlight of the movie: Donald Pleasence's corpse is being slowly wheeled away by ambulance drivers while Jennifer stares in horror, simultaneously, the soundtrack switches over to Motorhead. MOTORHEAD! Playing at a beat about ten times the speed of any motion in the otherwise somber scene. Dario...what were you thinking?
This review of Phenomena (1985) was written by Dustin H on 25 Apr 2008.
Phenomena has generally received positive reviews.
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