This bizarro horror outing from Dario Argento is a cut above the rest thanks to sheer originality alone. Argento blends in lots of different elements into his movie to create one wild, fantastic ride with plenty of weird stuff going on that you won't see anywhere else. While the first hour is a little slow, the film keeps you watching throughout thanks to some effective music (aside from that intrusive Iron Maiden stuff),some gorgeous Swiss landscapes, and the unpredictably of the murder-mystery type plot. Echoes of SUSPIRIA are present at the beginning of the film but this quickly becomes something a lot different; it may not be as horrific but the over-the-top ending is certainly up there with the best of Argento's output.

A 14 year-old Jennifer Connelly takes the lead role as Jennifer, an American girl whose actor father is away working in the Philippines, so she is sent to some boarding school in Zurich populated by cruel schoolgirls (in one CARRIE-inspired scene, their taunting results in a major supernatural event occurring) and an even crueller headmistress, played with relish by Dalila Di Lazzaro. Connelly's character is an odd one, you see, who goes out sleepwalking at night in one bizarre and confused sequence (she first witnesses a murder, then is hit by a car and finally finds herself lost in the woods) and also has a telepathic link to insects (there's something you don't see very often).

It wouldn't be an Argento film without the giallo aspects, and sure enough there's also a black-gloved murderer lurking around to kill off some schoolgirls in graphically gory fashions. Indeed the opening of PHENOMENA is a classic Argento set-piece as a girl is stabbed through the hand and escapes to a waterfall, where she is killed by a pair of scissors and her head decapitated by falling glass to roll gracefully down the waterfall in one of Argento's flamboyant violence-as-art sequences. Other horrific and fantastic aspects include lots of maggot-ridden bodies everywhere, huge swarms of flies which buzz down and attack (an elaborate effect involving coffee grains being poured into a water tank, achieved by Luigi Cozzi),Connelly following a firefly through the woods, a briefly-seen-but-still-creepy doll like the one in DEEP RED and a handcuffed prisoner who breaks his own thumb to escape. The excellent ending has some great horror sequences like where Connelly falls into a pit full of rotting body parts and maggots, a chase by a mutant child (a dwarf in a Sergio Stivaletti mask),a lake on fire, some underwater antics involving a mutilated corpse, and a surprise decapitation.

The icing on the cake comes when Connelly is saved by the unexpected hero of the movie - a chimpanzee carrying a razor! Yep, the kindly chimp is one of the main characters in the film and his gory, vengeful attack on the killer is a startling sequence and one of the coolest finales in an Argento movie I've seen. The supporting cast includes meaty roles for Agento regular Daria Nicolodi as a family friend with a hidden secret, and Donald Pleasence (complete with a Scottish accent) as a wheelchair-bound professor who helps Connelly in her quest. Fans of Italian horror may also spot Michele Soavi in a one-scene cameo as a cop. PHENOMENA is a fine Argento movie, possibly not his best but up there as ONE of his best, complete with as many unexpected plot twists and turns as you would expect, a mystery killer, plenty of violence, and some fantastic aspects involving intelligent insects. A jolly good show.

A young woman on a trip in the Swiss Alps misses her bus. She looks for help in a house but is killed by a crazed maniac who escaped from chains. The police gets help from insect expert Professor John McGregor (Donald Pleasence) who has a chimp helper. Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly) is the daughter of a famous actor. She's new at a Swiss all-girls boarding school that was once home to Richard Wagner. She has special abilities and affinity with insects. She sleepwalks and is befriended by McGregor.

The good part of this movie is the presence of the leads Connelly and Pleasence. They are very compelling actor in a rather flawed serial killer thriller. The insect aspect is not as compelling as it ought to be although there is a good 'Carrie' scene. The directing from Dario Argento is a bit stale. It's an European horror without anything scary and the music is crazy distracting. Also what's up with the chimp? Connelly keeps my interest and Pleasence adds gravitas. Then the movie loses Pleasence and goes to another place. The last half hour is a mistake. The movie needs to stayed at the school and wrap up there in a 15 minute flourish. Instead it stumbles and rambles with different characters and different locations and struggle for pace and tension. It's not a good way to end this but the campy chimp with a blade sequence is hilarious.

In Switzerland, the teenager Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly),daughter of a famous actor, arrives in an expensive board school and shares her room with the French schoolmate Sophie (Federica Mastroianni). Jennifer is a sleepwalker, is capable of telepathically communicate with insects and has adaptation problem in the new school. While sleepwalking, she meets and becomes friend of a Scottish entomologist, Prof. John McGregor (Donald Pleasence),and his chimpanzee Tonga. Jennifer decides to help the investigation of Dr. McGregor about a serial killer that is killing young girls in that area.

It may sound ridiculous, but "Phenomena" has never been released on video in Brazil; only two days ago, "Phenomena" was released on DVD in Brazil and now I am glad to have this movie in my collection. The weird story of Dario Argento, one of my favorite directors, is a total cult, showing bizarre characters and situations, maggots, flies, deformed people, serial killer and lots of bodies and body parts. A fifteen years old Jennifer Connelly in her third work, extremely beautiful, shines in the very original role of a sleepwalker that is very connected to insects and develop the skill of communicate with them. Daria Nicolodi, the mother of Asia Argento and former mate of Dario Argento, has a minor, but very important role. And the versatile Donald Pleasence, in the role of a paraplegic researcher, is efficient as usual. The music score, with Goblin, Iron Maiden and Motorhead, is another great attraction of this movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Phenomena"