Inferno/Phenomena

Amazon.com

Italian horror maestro Dario Argento made his name by turning homicide into modern art with a cinematic flourish, but with Phenomena he takes his stylish mayhem in new directions. The film opens with the dreamy grace of a fairy tale: a young girl wandering the green meadows of Switzerland and discovering a gingerbread house, wherein lives a monster more modern than mythic, a psychopathic maniac who plunges the picture into a lush nightmare. Jennifer (Jennifer Connelly in her first starring role), a gifted young girl at a Swiss school, has a psychic link to the insect world and develops a connection with the killer through midnight sleepwalks. With the help of a lonely, wheelchair-bound entomologist (genre stalwart Donald Pleasence, who inflects his sonorous tenor with a gentle Scottish burr) she turns telekinetic detective, which only draws her closer to the killer's lair. The densely plotted story becomes muddled at times (this is the busiest film in Argento's oeuvre) but the lyrical cinematography and gorgeous nocturnal imagery--dreamy sleepwalks, nightmarish murders, hideous horrors that emerge in the dark of night--take on a poetic elegance not seen in his previous work, providing the tale with a kind of dream logic. This is a slasher film reborn as an exquisitely grim fantasy: Jennifer in Argentoland. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Supernatural Argento.......2007-08-11

Many Argento fans don't include this in their list of favorites, but is classic Argento.

Great release!.......2007-03-03

INFERNO-I liked this just as much if not more then "Susperia". I love Dario's supernatural stuff like this and "Susperia". The story isn't really as hard to follow as everybody says you just have to pay attention(like all his movies). The special effects are awesome and I love the classic Dario Argento lighting thats in EVERY scene and its obviously a cue he took from Mario Bava. Speaking of Mario Bava, he did some of the effects scenes for this movie and they came out great! If you like Susperia you should like this.
PHENOMENA-Probably one of Dario's goriest with a hand being stabbed, a classic Dario shot of a head breaking through glass and a decapitation all in the first ten minutes. The acting is great, the score is amazing, the plot is strange and ranks up there as one of my favorites.

very original.......2006-08-13

This is a very interesting and original horror. A very talented Jennifer Connelly has a very strange gift of communicating with insects and is the outcast of a girl's school where even the teachers are cruel to her and think she is mental. There is a killer on the loose and via telepathic communication with the insects is able to track down the killer, or will she be the next victim?

one of his best.......2006-06-24

when i watch a dario argento film, i am not looking for spielberg-esque actors or scenarios and whatnot, but more of a dreamy, creepy, and artistic atmosphere...not to mention, the fact that dario never shows killers' faces until the very end of his films..this to me, is the very essence of a horror/mystery film.....if i am seeing a killer's face the whole time, then where is mystery and suspense??...and did i mention the good soundtrack? wow, dario sure has his essentials covered!

yes, this movie is messed up, but that is EXACTLY why i like it...and all of dario argento's films.

people will also run their mouths on Argento's films being "boring" as i have heard many times before...if you have the attention span of a chipmunk, you may want to stick with your stupid, hollywood, cliche mission impossible type films..this movie isn't meant for cinema pops..."gasp" you actually have to PAY ATTENTION!!"gasp".....just give this film a chance if you get an oppurtunity to watch it...i mean, i personally would recommend Suspiria and Inferno to Argento newcomers, but this one would suffice too.

shame it is out of print...i mean, im sure you could find a different version much cheaper, but you will be missing out on some fantastic speacial features.....not to mention, they may be edited.

PHENOMENAL FILM.......2006-04-09

"Phenomena" is my personal favourite Argento film. It has practically all the elements that form other movies of Italian maestro: boarding school for girls, mysterious murderer, dreamy atmosphere, beautiful music (although I thought the soundtrack could do easily without Iron Maiden and Motorhead), hidden rooms and passages in the houses, some unexpected and unthinkable plot lines, like Jennifer Connely's character being able to communicate with insects...
It's difficult, maybe even impossible to explain the beauty of Argento's pictures. I think whether you see it or not. It's like whether you love fantasy genre or not. "Phenomena" is extremely picturesque, enchanting and dark if you get into Argento's work. If you don't I guess you wouldn't be reading this. So if you enjoyed his other films like "Opera", "Inferno" or "Suspiria" you'll get a lot of pleasure watching this one.
Now a few words about editions: there are about 15 different releases of different countries, and Anchor Bay one is rather good - it has commentaries and some extra features. But my pick is German 2-disc limited edition by "Dragon entertainment". It has loads of extras and some additional dialog sequences missing in AB release. This edition is rather hard to find nowdays. But if you're a die-hard fan you might have your ways...

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