Phenomena (film)

After missing a bus in the Zurich countryside, 14-year-old Danish tourist Vera Brandt comes across a cottage and is beheaded by an unseen assailant, who retains her body. Eight months later, her case is being inspected by forensic entomologist John McGregor and Inspector Rudolf Geiger of the Kantonspolizei Zürich, who note that Vera is the first in a series of murders of young girls, including McGregor's former assistant. Meanwhile, Jennifer Corvino, the daughter of a famous American actor, arrives at the Swiss Richard Wagner Academy for Girls, chaperoned by Frau Brückner, who places her with roommate Sophie. At night, Jennifer sleepwalks through the academy and witnesses a student being murdered. She flees into the woods, where McGregor's chimpanzee, Inga, finds her and leads her to him. Upon noticing the affection his captive insects have for Jennifer, McGregor comes to believe that she has a telepathic link with them. The following night, the murderer kills Sophie. Jennifer sleepwalks again and is led by a firefly to the scene of Sophie's murder, where she finds a maggot-infested glove. McGregor identifies the maggots as the larvae of Great Sarcophagus flies, which are drawn to decaying human flesh. He theorises that the killer is a necrophile who has been keeping his victims close to him post-mortem. Later, when the other students taunt Jennifer for her connection to insects, she summons a swarm of flies that covers the entire building, prompting the headmistress to arrange for her transfer to a mental hospital. Jennifer flees to McGregor's home, where he gives her a glass case with a Great Sarcophagus fly to help her find the murderer's lair. The fly leads her to the same cottage Vera had found, but Jennifer finds it unoccupied. Inspector Geiger, who was secretly following Jennifer, talks to the local real estate agent in order to learn the identity of the house's previous occupant. That night, McGregor is murdered in his home in front of Inga. Jennifer calls her father's lawyer, Morris Shapiro, to arrange for her return to the United States. He alerts Brückner, who offers to let the girl stay at her house overnight. Meanwhile, Geiger's investigation leads him to a mental hospital in Basel, where he learns that a former staff member had been attacked 15 years before by one of the male inmates. At Brückner's house, Jennifer notices that all the mirrors are covered; Brückner explains that her son cannot stand to see his own reflection. Brückner insists that Jennifer take pills before she goes to bed; when she does so, she becomes sick and, assuming that the pills are poisonous, coughs them up. She attempts to call Morris, but is knocked unconscious by Brückner. Geiger arrives and questions Brückner, who confirms that she had worked at the Basel mental hospital and had been raped. She leads him to the basement and imprisons him. After waking, Jennifer engineers her escape through the basement. There, she finds Geiger and falls into a pool filled with maggot-infested corpses. Brückner arrives and taunts Jennifer, but Geiger frees himself and beats Brückner while Jennifer escapes. Jennifer finds Brückner's son Patau, the result of the rape by the inmate, who has a hideously deformed face. He chases Jennifer onto a motorboat and tries to kill her with a spear, which perforates the boat's fuel tank and causes a leak. Jennifer summons a swarm of flies that attack Patau, causing him to fall into the water. Jennifer is forced to jump into the water as the leaking petrol ignites, whereupon Patau grabs her, but he is immolated by the flames. Jennifer reaches the shore just as Morris arrives. A severely injured Brückner decapitates him from behind with a metal sheet and confesses that she murdered McGregor and Geiger to protect her son. Before she can murder Jennifer, Inga appears and kills Brückner with a straight razor in retribution for McGregor's murder. With the ordeal over, Jennifer and Inga embrace. ==Cast==

Writing and casting Argento became inspired to write and direct Phenomena after hearing a French radio broadcast detailing a murder case that had been solved thanks to the study of insects present on the corpse. In an interview with La Stampa, Argento said he saw the film as a personal challenge to American cinema. Screenwriter Franco Ferrini stated that, visually, Argento was inspired by Caspar David Friedrich paintings, noting the artist's purely Romantic portrayal of people and nature. Argento later stated that he imagined the film taking place in a world where Nazism had triumphed during World War II. For the scene where Jennifer follows the fly, Argento, recalling a trick learned from his childhood, had a real fly leashed with a nylon string. The chimpanzee, Tanga, who had previously starred in Bingo Bongo, proved difficult to direct, as Argento wanted to avoid its performance seeming comical. thus necessitating a body double for some scenes. Further problems arose when Tanga escaped during an outdoor scene and did not return for three days until forest rangers attracted it with food. Stivaletti also created a mechanical firefly prop for close up shots, but it was rejected by Argento. For Frau Brückner's son, Stivaletti drew inspiration from photographs he saw of sufferers of Patau syndrome. In a 2015 interview, actor Davide Marotta, who played Brückner's son, recalled the lengthy process of making a mold of his head, and stated that his death scene involved being smeared in glucose before having 40 million insects released on him. Music The original score was composed and performed by Argento regulars Goblin, with two cues reused from their score from Dawn of the Dead (1978), which are faintly heard when the character Sophie watches television in the film. Goblin frontman Claudio Simonetti wrote the film's main theme, which features the solo soprano voice of Pina Magri. Bill Wyman and Simon Boswell also contributed original compositions for the film. Unlike Argento's previous films, Phenomena adopts a mid-1980s trend of including popular songs in the soundtrack. It also includes heavy metal music by artists like Iron Maiden and Motörhead as well as goth favorites such as Sex Gang Children. == Release ==

Phenomena was released theatrically in Italy on 31 January 1985 with a 116-minute running time. This version of Phenomena is often referred to as the "integral cut". under the alternative title Creepers. This version of the film was truncated to 83 minutes, with scenes cut entirely and other scenes being re-ordered. Critical response Jon Pareles of The New York Times reviewed the Creepers cut of the film, finding that it "creaks along for its first hour or so, failing to work up any chills" and found the acting poor, writing, "The best acting is by an expressive, resourceful chimpanzee – definitely the year's Best Supporting Primate." Kim Newman of Monthly Film Bulletin said the film contained "astonishingly awful performances" and that the dialogue contained several unintentionally humorous lines, which Newman attributed to a language problem. Newman discussed the film's look and style, opining that "Argento's films have their stylishness to fall back on, but here he is experimenting with a washed-out blue look influenced by Possession that works in short scenes but becomes wearying after a few minutes". Commenting on the acting, the review stated that "Pleasence does his best with the script, Jennifer Connelly doesn't even bother to do battle". The Times found that the film contained traces of previous Argento films, "But the march of time and commercial success seem to have dulled the director's previous panache: Creepers just drags its feet from one absurdity to the next." The Sunday Times found Creepers "only intermittently frightening" and an audience with "a taste for discreetly revealed schoolgirl thigh and/or insects will not be completely disappointed". Malcolm Johnson of the Hartford Courant criticized some of the film's special effects, but concluded: "Otherwise, Argento displays his customary skill at horror chic. He plays Old World elegance against horrific sights as electronic scoring and macabre rock songs by Bill Wyman, Iron Maiden, and others give Creepers a loud, mad buzz." In retrospective reviews, John Kenneth Muir discussed the film in his overview of horror films from the 1980s, finding Phenomena to be "unusual" as well as "strangely stirring", and that the imagery in the film is "nothing short of amazing, even if the narrative is muddled." Home media Creepers was released in the United States on VHS and Betamax in 1986 by Media Home Entertainment. This release still had the shorter theatrical running time. By 29 March, Creepers entered Billboard Top Videocassettes Rentals chart. This chart was compiled from a national sample of retail store rental reports. By 5 April, the release reached number 29 on the charts. The film was first released on DVD in North America by Anchor Bay Entertainment as Phenomena, where it used the 110-minute version of the film. Arrow Video released Phenomena in the United Kingdom in 2017 including the integral version, the international cut and the Creepers version. Arrow's Blu-ray was among the top ten top-selling home video releases in the United Kingdom on its initial release. In February 2022, Arrow reissued the film in 4K UHD Blu-ray format in three different limited editions, each featuring alternate artwork; one of the editions, available only through Arrow's online store, features artwork bearing the Creepers title. Synapse Films also reissued a 4K UHD Blu-ray in North America. == Soundtrack ==

Cinevox released the soundtrack to the film in 1985 on vinyl, which included parts of the film's score and the rock music tracks. A compact disc edition was released by Cinevox in 1987. Enigma Records issued a vinyl release in 1985 bearing the Creepers title in the United States. In 2018, the complete soundtrack was released for the first time by Waxwork Records on a double LP. It included alternate, bonus, and unused tracks. Track listing • "Phenomena" – Claudio Simonetti featuring Pina Magri • "Flash of the Blade" – Iron Maiden (originally from Powerslave, 1984) • "Jennifer" – Goblin • "The Quick and the Dead" – Sex Gang Children • "You Don't Know Me" – Sex Gang Children • "The Wind" – Goblin • "Valley" – Bill Wyman and Terry Taylor • "Sleepwalking" – Goblin • "Locomotive" – Motörhead (originally from No Remorse, 1984) • "Jennifer's Friend" – Goblin • "The Maggots" – Simon Boswell • "The Naked and the Dead" – Sex Gang Children == Legacy ==

After Phenomena, Daria Nicolodi repudiated the film, labeling it "reactionary" on account of its portrayal of handicapped people, and stated on interview that she would no longer work with her husband Argento. They later divorced, but would work together again two years later on Opera. Japanese video game developer Hifumi Kono created his video game Clock Tower (1995) using many ideas from Phenomena. A novelisation of the film was written by Luigi Cozzi for the horror anthology Terrore profondo in 1997. ==References==