Rating: 
Summary: A real jolter!
Review: In Switzerland, an American girl named "Jennifer" ( Played by Jennifer Connelly) is attending a girl school there but unknown to her she has special telepathic powers that communicates with insects. An insane murderer is butchering young girls at night, only Jennifer with her insects, a crippled bug researcher ( played by Halloween's Donald Pleasance) and his Chimpanzee assistant must join together to put a stop to the raving mad killer or else it will find her.An entertaining and very bloody horror mystery thriller that is completely original and interesting, it's from the mind of Italian horror master Dario Argento ( who did " Tenebre", "Demons" and "Suspiria"). This movie is the debut of Jennifer Connelly before she was a big star, she looks good as ever in this movie especially in the nightgown scene, oh man! Jennifer Connelly is a perfect woman. This movie is quite smart, scary and gory at times but keeps you on the edge of your seat. Originally released here in the U.S. by New Line Cinema called " Creepers" then heavily cut to 82 minutes, Anchor Bay thankfully has re-issued this movie under it's true name " Phenomena" and with the original length 118 minutes of extra footage not seen in the U.S., if you love good suspensful and gore ridden thrillers then add this to your collection. Also recommended: " Silence of the Lambs", "Suspiria", "Tenebre", "City of the Living Dead", "Cannibal Ferox", "Caligula", " Day of the Dead", " Re-Animator", "Scanners" ," Making Contact ( a.k.a. Joey)", " Inferno", "Sleepless", " The New York Ripper", " Maniac ( 1980)" " House of 1000 Corpses", " Carrie", " Demons", " Akira", "Firestarter", " The Fury", " The Toxic Avenger", " Battle Royale", " Riki-Oh The Story of Ricky", " Ichi The Killer" and "Audition".
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome Argento! Original and Creative!
Review: It's hard to find horror movies that haven't taken some kind of thought or idea from a previous one but Dario Argeto's ("Tenebre", "Susupiria", "Deep Red") Creepers seemed to be in a class all by itself (at least to me anyway). Jennifer Connelly plays Jennifer, a girl who is sent to a boarding school while her father is out of the country working on a film. Unfortunately for Jennifer and the other girls in the school there is a raving psychopath wandering the grounds and butchering the students. When Jennifer meets up with entomologist Dr. John McGregor, played by the late, great, Donald Pleasance (Halloween) she learns of her great power to control insects. If she is going to survive and save the other girls in the process she'll have to learn how to use her gift to stop the killer. Creepers is very entertaining and moves at a good clip, it's original and well acted for a horror movie. From reading the other reviews I see that this seems to be a shorter version of Argento's "Phenomena". Where Creepers runs about 82 minutes, Phenomena is 110 minutes. I haven't seen Phenomena yet but plan on it. If your a fan of Argento's or horror movies in general this movie is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Night of Terror
Review: Argento seems to have lost his complete touch on films after the 1980's but his horror films are still worth watching and above average, almost filled with an artistic intent. Creepers is a little film about an odd case of communicating with bugs and savage killers. I especially liked the weird creature found inside the film, I won't give it away so you have to watch.
Rating:
Summary: An Argento Delight
Review: If you're a fan of Argento then Phenomena is a must see - unless of course you're too afraid of the creepy crawlies. Fabulous soundtrack.
Rating: 
Summary: Yuck
Review: God awful movie...this movie is total garbage. I picked this up out of the used bin at a local video store hopeing to get a good midnight horror flick with Donald Pleasance. The movie starts out with a promise, then takes a serious nose dive. Thank god I only paid $5.00 for it. Beware!
Rating:
Summary: My third Dario Argento Movie I viewed.
Review: The first movie of Dario Argento's I watched was Opera. The second movie was Tenebrae. Out of all three movies directed by Dario Argento that I have seen so far, this is the best one. Everything about this movie is enjoyable.
The soundtrack is amazing! It is peacful yet keeps you on the edge of your seat. The music fits in incredibly well.
This is the first horror movie that has made me cringe..the murder scences are really full of gore. I could feel the pain the victums were going through! I had to bite on a blanket I was covered with.
During this film, I fell in love with Jennifer. She is an innocent girl who gets involved with the murders happening around her and soon becomes the next victum. There were times I thought she was a goner but like most movies, the main character does not die.
To be honest, this is my favourite movie I own. I could put it in my dvd player and watch it again right now. I just finished it before I started writting this too! I have tons of movies, mostly horror, and out of all the ones I own I have never felt that way before. This movie is truely amazing. I do not see why fans bash this great movie. I enjoyed it a lot. I had low epectations because of other reviewers but bought it anyway. I am extremely glad to say, I was filled with satisfaction while watching this.
Rating: 
Summary: Very wacky, but entertaining
Review: Simply put, this film is pretty messed up. I don't know quite how seriously we are supposed to take all this, as the various plot elements and twists are just so bizarre and/or silly. Part of me would like to believe that this is supposed to be a whole lot more light-hearted than Argento's other fare, but I don't really believe this is the case. (I certainly could be wrong, though) So, in the end, I suspect this was just a severe misstep on Argento's part, but it's an entertaining misstep, at least.
This film combines Giallo with supernatural elements, to odd effect. The basic setup is that a 14 or so year old American girl, Jennifer Corvino, is sent off to a fancy private girls-school in Switzerland, whereabouts a maniac killer is slaughtering young girls. Also, Jennifer sleepwalks, and has a telepathic connection with insects.(!) Naturally, she and Scottish entomoloigist, Dr. Somethingorother, who just happens to be in the area, determine that they must catch the killer, with the help of the insects.(!) This may sound a bit more complicated than most of Argento's other fare, and it is, which leads to the main problem with the film- too much plot, not enough killing. The acting is something of a mixed-bag, as it tends to be in Argento's films. Donald Pleasance, as the entomologist, gives the best performance in the film. He's likable, and quite restrained by his standards. Sadly, he has a smaller part than I'd imagined. A very young Jennifer Connelly (Dark City, A Beautiful Mind) plays the lead, and suffice to say she is a much better actress now than she was then. She's not terrible, but pretty flat and bored much of the time. (It's interesting to note that she was 14 at the time, approximately the same age as the character she was playing. What a novel concept) Daria Nicolodi, who generally gives some of the best performances in Argento's movies, is a bit off here. Sometimes she's good, sometimes she overdoes it. Most of the other roles in the film are pretty tiny, but the supporting actors are quite consistently bad. Some of Jennifer's schoolmates are almost painful to watch, but they aren't around much. The chimp who plays the wheelchair bound entomologist helper-chimp does a decent job too, and Argento wisely does not give him too much screen time, as all monkey are hideous and obnoxious. (Though he is less hideous and obnoxious than most)
The plot is pretty off the wall, but that's not the real problem with the film. The real concern is that the horror scenes just aren't any where near Argento's standards. Most of them are staged in a not particularly interesting fashion, and lack any terribly interesting gore. (There is some gross out stuff, but most of it isn't in the death scenes. I'll get to that later) Furthermore, the killer generally uses a very modern, metallic spear, which just isn't a very interesting weapon. Still, it has it's moments. The most effective death is towards the beginning, where a nameless girl is being chased by the killer, and stabbed in the back with the spear.(Spoilers) She then crashes part way through a window and screams at a Jennifer, only to have the spear driven through the back of her head and out her mouth. Sadly, that's the only killing toward the beginning of the film which is particularly interesting. (The ending is better)
Stylistically, this is a bit more restrained than most of Argento's other films from that era. Still, it looks nice, with lots of beautiful forested scenery, and some cool architecture and a bit of ominous, stylized lighting in some scenes. The camerawork and cinematography aren't terribly exciting however, other than a nice shot of the camera zooming through a house to find a maggot-covered severed hand. The music is hit and miss. As is typical of Argento's soundtracks, and soundtracks involving Goblin, the music itself is well written, although the production techniques tend to be a bit dated. I particularly like one of the more prominent themes, until it breaks out into an inappropriate and overdone dancebeat. (I'm talking about the one with the solo opera singer) Still, it's not as good as what you usually get in an Argento film. They also use some heavy metal here, and it doesn't work very well. (Unlike in Opera, where I actually think it does) The problem is that it isn't used at appropriate times: It's ok to use it after the killing is already underway, but not during moments where you're trying to build tension. That, and it uses a popular, well-known song (Flash of the Blade) which is a bit distracting in and of itself. (i.e. I think it better to use more obscure stuff, so that it doesn't call too much attention to itself)
It may seem like I've done nothing but criticize this movie, but in the end it's quite fun and entertaining. The plot is quite absurd, but more interesting than most of his other films, and it's got a very entertaining climax, with a bunch of deliriously weird twists. They also kick up the gross out quotient towards the end, with a nasty pit of rotting corpses, a hideous mutant child, a hilariously dated decapitation, self-mutilation in order to escape a pair of handcuffs, and worst of all, some painfully drawn out vomiting. And the final twist, while clearly telegraphed, is pretty amusing as well.
In the end, this is a `good-bad' movie. (unlike the 5 other Argento films I've seen, which were good-good movies) But that's better than most movie can manages, and this is certainly worth seeing if you're interested in the director's work in general.
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.
Rating:
Summary: A real jolter!
Review: In Switzerland, an American girl named "Jennifer" ( Played by Jennifer Connelly) is attending a girl school there but unknown to her she has special telepathic powers that communicates with insects. An insane murderer is butchering young girls at night, only Jennifer with her insects, a crippled bug researcher ( played by Halloween's Donald Pleasance) and his Chimpanzee assistant must join together to put a stop to the raving mad killer or else it will find her. An entertaining and very bloody horror mystery thriller that is completely original and interesting, it's from the mind of Italian horror master Dario Argento ( who did " Tenebre", "Demons" and "Suspiria"). This movie is the debut of Jennifer Connelly before she was a big star, she looks good as ever in this movie especially in the nightgown scene, oh man! Jennifer Connelly is a perfect woman. This movie is quite smart, scary and gory at times but keeps you on the edge of your seat. Originally released here in the U.S. by New Line Cinema called " Creepers" then heavily cut to 82 minutes, Anchor Bay thankfully has re-issued this movie under it's true name " Phenomena" and with the original length 118 minutes of extra footage not seen in the U.S., if you love good suspensful and gore ridden thrillers then add this to your collection. Also recommended: " Silence of the Lambs", "Suspiria", "Tenebre", "City of the Living Dead", "Cannibal Ferox", "Caligula", " Day of the Dead", " Re-Animator", "Scanners" ," Making Contact ( a.k.a. Joey)", " Inferno", "Sleepless", " The New York Ripper", " Maniac ( 1980)" " House of 1000 Corpses", " Carrie", " Demons", " Akira", "Firestarter", " The Fury", " The Toxic Avenger", " Battle Royale", " Riki-Oh The Story of Ricky", " Ichi The Killer" and "Audition".
Rating:
Summary: 4 words...
Review: Jennifer Connelly, Iron Maiden. That says it all. Any movie with Jennifer and the Maiden in it is just freaking awesome!
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