Dan is back from vacation and treats us to Phenomena (1985) – a supernatural giallo from Dario Argento that features a pre-Labyrinth Jennifer Connelly in a star-making lead as an insect-loving teenager who arrives at a Swiss girls’ school only to sleepwalk into a serial murder case that only becomes more bizarre as the story unravels. Released by New Line Cinema in the U.S. as Creepers (shorn of 30 minutes of its running time), Phenomena emerged in Argento’s most-celebrated period, with the director producing and co-writing with Franco Ferrini, Donald Pleasence as the obligatory learned eccentric, and a soundtrack that behaves like it's had one espresso too many. But is it an under-appreciated piece of Italian art, or an excessive and unruly misstep? Find out!
","author_name":"Conrad Chambers and Daniel Goh"}