LogFAQs > #979911230

17. Phenomena (1985 / 221 points)
Directed by: Dario Argento / Written by: Franco Ferrini, Dario Argento
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/38d3183c.jpg
Why Its Significant - No list of the most influential horror movies ever made is complete without a Dario Argento film. While not his most mainstream offering (though few of his films are), Phenomena is another stunning example of a specific type of slasher film Argento perfected - giallo, complete with his young woman protagonist and beautiful yet disturbing aesthetic mixed with a supernatural element, all prominent hallmarks of Argento filmmaking. Now I will be fully transparent here and say I dont think this film is THAT influential in the grand scheme of things compared to other films on this list, but I still found it worthy of inclusion (other than being an Argento film) for being the main inspiration behind the Clock Tower series of survival horror games, with the original Clock Tower featuring a protagonist named Jennifer and design lifted straight from Jennifer Connellys character, plus a few plot similarities.

The Rankers
Johnbobb - 5
Snake - 8
Karo - 10
Evilordexdeath - 13
Rockus - 14
Seginustemple - 16
Fortybelowsummer - 20
Inviso - 21
Jcgamer107 - 21
Bitto - 22
Lightning - 22
Mythiot - 23
Plasmabeam - 26

Johnbobb - Obviously the Final Girl is a big horror trope, but is there a name for the girl at the beginning that inevitably gets killed off to introduce the movie? The First Girl? Because this is a top tier first girl. I mean, wondering into a stranger's house calling out "Is anybody there? I'm a foreigner and I'm lost!" pretty much just locks down the standard for First Girls. This movie is absolutely ridiculous and just filled with memorable lines.
"With this we can determine the date of death." "Or MURDER."
"My name is Sophie. I'm freench."
Jennifer Connelly is eating baby food, then says it tastes like cat food, and continues eating it. What is happening?
"If I thought about your father, I'd never fall asleep!" fucking DAMN girl
"Do you take something, like - do you understand - drugs?"
"WE WORSHIP YOU. WE WORSHIP YOU." "I love you. I love you all." Why is her hair blowing in the wind when she's inside
Legitimately the bugs swarming the building shot was great.
What is this soundtrack? I mean, I like it, I think, but it's all over the place and almost never matches the tone of the scene

Snake - Enigmatic murders, stylish cinematography, and a focus on suspense. I am very biased here since Clock Tower is one of my favorite game series, and I watched this film after learning where Clock Tower got its inspiration from, and yes it probably made me love it more than I reasonably should. But, but, it still stands out well on its own! This movie is WILD. Dario Argento throws everything at the wall in this gloriously insane giallo. Jennifers telepathic connection to insects, an outcast, ostracized by her peers, lush Swiss landscapes and the opulent boarding school setting juxtaposed with brutal murders and grotesque insect swarms, and a razor-wielding chimpanzee for some reason. Theres technically a Goblin score here that throbs with suspense yet the film also has tons of heavy metal songs with bizarre usages and hell I aint complaining. I dont know, it just all works for me and sometimes I wish more horror movies could be this wild and fun all in one package more often.

Karo - A young girl goes to a swiss boarding school plagued by a mysterious killer. She can also control insects for some reason that isnt explained.

I give the movie props for seeming fresh and different, and full to the brim with an air of genuine mystery. Red herrings are everywhere, scenes are set with daring music picks that seem the choices of a madman yet somehow work.

I just wish everyone would talk like real people, rather than speaking with this off putting weirdness that seems like it was generated by an AI algorithm rather than a real human mouth hole. But where the movie truly falls apart is the very end, where it degrades too much into sensationalist shlock - the most egregious of which was everything involving Brukner's son, all of which was unnecessary, exploitative and ableist. Just because someone has a deformed face doesnt mean they should have less humanity than a fucking chimpanzee.

All in all it is original and complex film with a tone of all its own to help it stand out from the pack, yet unfortunately also saddled with deep flaws that prevent it from being fully engaging.

Evilordexdeath - From what I understand having not seen it, Suspiria would've been an auto-include if we were doing 70s horror, and this is kind of the Dario Argento film we get in its place since it's 80s. I was hoping I'd like it more than I did but would end up comparing it to goofy slasher films like Sleepaway Camp more readily than the, let's say, art horror films I was hoping it would resemble. The central idea that the main character can communicate with and control insects is fun, and makes for some of the coolest imagery in the film, but this and the murder mystery plot feel generally unconnected except one instance where main character Jennifer (who, fun fact, was the main inspiration for the main character in the SNES classic Clock Tower, which resembles this movie in a few other ways as well,) uses a corpse fly to try and track down the killer. This is also one of those horror movies where the climax drags on for way too long, where the hero seemingly reaches safety like 5 times only for the antagonist, or some new antagonist that's barely even been alluded to before, to pop up once again and threaten her for like 20 seconds before getting clocked. I'm ranking this above some other similarly weak films mainly for the occasionally amusing bit of eccentricity, most particularly how a major part of the plot is the murderer being tracked down by a vengeful chimpanzee.

Rockus - This might be a little overstuffed and some of the elements come off as kind of silly, the monkey butler especially, but Argentos direction is still assured and somehow it all comes together in the end. A part of me still wishes it was as bold and colorful as Suspiria but theres still a dreamlike quality to a lot of the night sequences that looks great. Its both parts absurd and gruesome and has like three finales packed into the last 20 minutes and theyre all bangers. Also, even with the supernatural ability to talk to and control insects Argento still manages to dedicate a lot of screen time to a bunch of stabbings.

Seginustemple - "Monkey Butler" could be the tagline for this. I don't quite understand it, but boy does it have flavor. Gloomy boarding school, insect powers, random metal song, necrotic fleshpit, mutant pig-boy, it's like Lord of the Flies as a proto-Saw movie. It takes a while to get going but that final act goes nuts. Gold Star to Donald Pleasance as the entomologist for delivering this line: "What is this association between insects and the human soul...is it because of the multifarious mystery of them both?". Yeah man, that's gotta be it, it's the multifarious mystery!