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Phenomena

Play trailer Poster for Phenomena R 1985 1h 50m Horror Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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76% Tomatometer 25 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
An American (Jennifer Connelly) at a Swiss finishing school calls on insects to help a paralyzed scientist (Donald Pleasence) fight a monster.
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Phenomena

Critics Reviews

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Budd Wilkins Slant Magazine 03/21/2023
Eschewing fussily prepared three-act structures and stopwatch-timed story beats, Dario Argento’s films unfold according to their own distinctive logic. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Royle Time Out 02/09/2006
Between shots of stunning mountain scenery there are paranormal breezes, unfeasibly bright night-lighting and buckets and buckets of maggots. Go to Full Review
Jon Pareles New York Times 08/30/2004
The best acting is by an expressive, resourceful chimpanzee -- definitely the year's Best Supporting Primate. Go to Full Review
Trace Thurman Horror Queers Podcast Jul 28
4/5
Bizarre even for Argento, Phenomena sees the director using the kitchen sink approach to throw everything at the wall to see what sticks. Not everything does, but it all makes for a wildly entertaining ride with plot developments you'll never see coming. Go to Full Review
Joe Lipsett Horror Queers Podcast Jul 23
4/5
This movie is absolutely wild. It's like a Stefon sketch because it truly does have everything: insect attacks, a knife wielding chimp, telepathy, sleepwalking, heads through windows, a ridiculous villain monologue. So wild! Such fun! Go to Full Review
Maitland McDonagh MaitlandOnMovies (Substack) Mar 28
...pure Argento: Weird and brilliant and preposterous and yet it works. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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David W Aug 9 Great cast, great director and a great film. See more Stephen C @bob25009 Jul 4 Meant to scare me in 1 hour and 50 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Omar G Mar 20 Phenomena (1985) is like a soft remake of Suspiria (1977) based on the original draft. But with teenagers in a private school in Europe abroad, her friend is murdered, the protagonist is from America, is helped by an expert, the miss of school has a secret life as murderess, she try to poison the protagonist, she escapes the big house that is the lair of the ruthless madwoman. See more Sams K 11/11/2024 Very interesting story, one of the most important works from Argento, but I think the music is sometimes misused. A great movie that you can't miss. See more Eduardo S 10/19/2024 É um filme muito bom e muito viajado, com uma ótima direção, tirando as partes em que a música muita das vezes não combina com a situação, o filme estrela Jennifer Connelly em um de seus primeiros papéis no cinema que não está ruim mas também não está maravilhosa ainda assim é um filme muitíssimo divertido com alguns diálogos inúteis mas outros que parecem ser mais vão ser usados no futuro, enfim, adoro esse filme e as vezes também gosto da trilha sonora. See more RANDY F 08/21/2024 This was one of many Argento films that was screened in a festival of his work in NYC some years back. Of all of his films that I saw at the festival, Phenomena was the film that got the biggest and most vocal reaction from the audience. Everyone had a great time. It's the film I choose to show people when I want to introduce them to the work of Dario Argento: it's almost the "greatest hits" of his style, his viciousness, and certain iconography ( like maggots, faces pushed through glass, and big scissors used in awful ways) that pop up in a lot of his films. It's also sort of bonkers in a truly great way. What other film could you find a girl who has telepathy with insects, a psycho killer, and a chimpanzee with a razor blade? He really throws in everything except the kitchen sink in this film. To truly glorious results. Plus the music score by Goblin is just phenomenal. A great film and a great horror film. My favorite of all the Argento films. See more Read all reviews
Phenomena

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Movie Info

Synopsis An American (Jennifer Connelly) at a Swiss finishing school calls on insects to help a paralyzed scientist (Donald Pleasence) fight a monster.
Director
Dario Argento
Producer
Dario Argento
Screenwriter
Dario Argento
Production Co
DACFILM Rome
Rating
R
Genre
Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 14, 2017
Runtime
1h 50m
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