LET’S GET PHYSICAL: PHENOMENA (1985) ** ½

FORMAT:  4K UHD (REWATCH)

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

(As posted on July 17th, 2007, under the title, Creepers)

A pre-Labyrinth Jennifer Connelly stars in Dario Argento’s film about a misfit girl who has a psychic connection with insects who teams up with a paraplegic forensic expert (Donald Pleasence) and his super smart chimp to solve a series of brutal murders. The murder sequences are pure Argento and include a cool decapitated head and a sword through the back of a girl’s head and out her mouth. The pacing drags substantially mid-movie, but the rousing finale is among Argento’s best work. The nightmarish imagery involves a pit full of maggots, a mutant killer kiddie, a bee attack, and a homicidal primate. The best part of the movie is the cool soundtrack by rock bands such as Motorhead, Iron Maiden and Goblin. Co-starring the director’s wife Daria Nicolodi and the director’s daughter, Fiore. 20 minutes were cut out by the American distributors, but later DVD releases were fully restored.

QUICK THOUGHTS:

This is the longer Italian version that clocks in nearly thirty minutes longer than the American release.  While it provides more backstory and fleshes out Jennifer Connelly’s character, I can certainly understand the reasoning behind the cuts.  I’ve always felt that this is one of Argento’s most uneven films, but the rewards mostly outweigh the pokey pacing.  The reinstated scenes unfortunately make things a tad bit pokier.  There’s probably enough plot and weird imagery for three movies here and Argento strings the audience along a bit too much.  However, the last fifteen minutes achieve a wondrous fever dream anything-goes sense of dread like only Argento can craft. 

4K UHD NOTES:

Fortunately, if you want to see the American version, Creepers, it, along with yet another version of the film, is included along with a host of extras.  The 4K scan is quite good, which enhances Argento’s lush visuals.  The underwater scenes in the finale are particularly beautiful.  In fact, the film looks so detailed that some of the gore (most noticeably the hand in the opening scene) looks a little fakey.  That said, speaking as someone who previously owned the film on DVD as part of a Mill Creek 50 pack of horror movies, this comes as a major upgrade in every way.