Phenomena

Rating:
Summary: One of the best horror films ever made!
Review: This film is perfect! Story, Music, FX, actors (especially the young Jennifer Connelly), all are simply great. An atmospheric first-class horror movie! Of course, you have to see this masterpiece in its uncut version (110 mins).

Note: I felt very strange when I saw well-known places in Switzerland (Zurich etc.) as locations in a splatter horror movie...

Rating:
Summary: THIS FILM BUGS MY FRIENDS BUT I LOVE IT!!!
Review: Dario Argento, my favorite director, strikes again with this beautiful, dreamlike film. This movie is truely frightening in places and must be seen by ANYBODY who even remotely likes horror films.

(could this be the third of the "mothers trilogy?")

Rating:
Summary: A must-have for Jennifer Connelly fans.
Review: A full 28 minutes longer than Creepers! Widescreen format, with audio commentary by Director Dario Argento. A must-own for Jennifer Connelly fans.

Rating:
Summary: ARGENTO LOVES THOSE MAGGOTS!!!
Review: Jennifer Connelly is phenomenal as the innocent boarding room schoolgirl who, through telepathic powers, can communicate with insects. If you liked CREEPERS, even though it had 28 minutes of vital footage cut from it's original release, you'll love the uncut PHENOMENA.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful film
Review: If you liked "Creepers", the butchered version of "Phenomena", you might like the unedited film. The plot makes more sense and there are some added frights, such as an entire chase sequence (with a gory conclusion), which was cut from "Creepers". "Phenomena" is a great and very enjoyable horror film from Dario Argento, with lots of terrifying atmosphere, lots of excellent music, and lots of insects. Watching Argento's film on DVD is even better, so that his often visually stunning style looks as beautiful as it should.

Rating:
Summary: An absolute must for cult horror fans!
Review: It's not Dario Argento's best film by far but it his most eccentric. A visually stunning mad-as-a hatter-supernaturnal-fairy tale complete with razor-wielding monkeys, mutants and madmen.

A great DVD too.

Rating:
Summary: FORGET "CREEPERS". THIS IS THE REAL THING!
Review: I saw "Creepers" a long time ago. When i watched this completly unedited version, I thought it was a different movie! what a hack job the U.S did to this movie in 1984. "Phenomena" is a must buy movie. Other than "Suspiria", this is Dario Argento's best work! Also includes a heavy metal soundtrack.

Rating:
Summary: monkeys, maniacs, mutants, and creepy crawlies by the ton
Review: What more could you want from a horror movie? A pretty schoolgirl who commands armies of insects, a knife wielding serial killer, a deformed boy kept chained to a wall in the attic, a vengeful helper monkey with a razor blade, Donald Pleasence, delirious camerawork, blindingly gorgeous cinematography, pulsating music, characters who behave strangely for no particular reason, lots of pockets of glowing blue light (see where X-Files got some of their aesthetic ideas), surreally graphic violence, beautiful scenery, it's all right here. Sure, it's not Dario Argento's best work, but it's his most eccentric. Besides, why not watch a real horror film instead of Scream?

Rating:
Summary: Stylish, entertaining horror...
Review: Although CREEPERS is obviously cut to shreds from the original version (PHENOMENA),and it lacks SUSPIRIA's unrelenting intensity (possible because of the cuts), it is still great fun, and far superior to the average American 80s slasher crap. It is enhanced by Argento's typically beautiful cinematography and a great score (especially the theme, "PHENOMENA" by Goblin). Highly reccomended!

BTW, PHENOMENA may be released on video in the US soon...

Rating:
Summary: Hope you're not afraid of bugs
Review: Dario Argento's "Phenomena" is the story of young Jennifer (a very young Jennifer Connelly), who is sent to a Swiss boarading school for girls. She has a special talent for communicating with insects, especially maggots and flys. And it is a good thing, because she is going to need it to help solve a series of murders in the area. My first problem with "Phenomena" (which was relesed in the U.S. under the name "Creepers") is that it bears a large resembelence to Argento's earlier film "Susperia"; also about a young girl who moves into an all girls boarding school where weird stuff is happeneing. This film is another one of those movies that only work when you are caught up in the moment and do not think too hard about what is going on in the long run. Believe it or not, the fact that Jennifer can talk to animals is probably the most plausable aspect of the movie. Then you start trying to connect the dots, it makes for spotty work at best. For example, the characters seem to be able to make intuitive deductions without much evidence to go on; they seem to show up at the right place at the right time for no appeareant reason. And the pet monkey seems to be able to find a weapon just in the nick of time (I didn't know people just throw away perfectly good, never been used, streight razors all the time in a trash can in the middle of the woods) and know just how and when to use it. The audio mix on the DVD is also a little off, and I don't mean because it was dubbed into English from Italian. The soundtrack (which by the way is very cool, Iron Maidon and Motorhead!!) seems to have been placed in at the most inappropriot places in the movie. The actors just did what they had to do; Jennifer Connelly was playing the Nancy Drew bit to the hilt. Donald Pleasents basicly plays Dr. Sam Lomis (from "Halloween") again, this time wheel chair bound with a monkey and maggot covered severed head for company. The others are pretty forgetable. I did like the photography, it was well lit and the locations and settings were phenominal (no pun intended). So, it is just an interesting foot note in Italian cinema.