Phenomena (1985)

Phenomena is about Jennifer, the precocious daughter of a famous actor, recently sent to a Swiss boarding school. Upon arriving Jennifer is introduced to a few things the first being torment by her classmates who are more or less jealous of her father and put off by her odd love of bugs, and the second that a killer has been lurking the school for months. The mysterious murder preys on the young female students and has remained anonymous entirely to the police. When Jennifer sleep walks one night and is witness to one of the murders she ends up at a Dr. John McGregor, an entomologist, house with his pet and friend monkey Inga. Instantly McGregor takes a liking to Jennifer as they both have a love of insects in common but McGregor also notices her unique ability to handle them. Suspecting that Jennifer is able to telepathically communicate with bugs is proven true when she summons them to her school. With her new gift Jennifer may be able to solve the murders but it doesn't exclude putting her life in danger.

Insanity at it's best we have a crazy plot but with a much more mature director, especially at the beginning. A visual forepart of Swiss alps scenery, and in particular a waterfall, make this the 'nature version' of the Argento deaths. Often I felt the 'I've seen this girl's head fall through a glass window before' but got over it as I got way that our killer was rather keen on impalement and decapitation. Jennifer's sleep walking visions are intensely effective and appear almost nightmarish for the viewer. Often the sub-plots hit dead ends throughout the story and some things that occur in the beginning didn't connect to the end. The film falls apart in the latter half, and I preferred the story buildup to the absurd climax, but I had fun there too. A monkey wielding a straight razor is not a bad day in my opinion.

Jennifer's personality becomes a little high strong as the film progresses but still holds a likeability that's usually not allotted to her type of character which appeals directly in her being different. This is one of Jennifer Connolly's first roles and it displays her as a mature actress at her age. Donald Pleasence is the entomologist who helps Jennifer and alone steals the film with his quiet but great performance. I really did like his character and I was sad when he died. Unlike a lot of his works the film isn't enriched with a tantalizing blue and reds, instead we are treated to a more green scope of nature with the choice of scenary. And of course the deaths are as up close and personal as ever. I labeled this as Argento's heavy metal rock film of the eighties, an odd yet somehow brilliant combination I did not believe could exist. The film blares loud chords of rock music and in it makes itself much younger, maybe to appeal to the slasher teen audience of the eighties.

Phenomena doesn't really care that it doesn't make sense or that it leaves near dead plots, it's just a usual Argento; great soundtrack, great visuals, and interesting deaths. There's of course the inevitable similarities between it and Suspiria, but really only in plot. The two girls are Americans who go to a boarding school run by strict women but other than that the two scenarios vary greatly. Suzy is naive and doesn't do that much to get out of her situation where Jennifer is constantly pushing and has an ability above the typical final girl unfortunate. After seeing this its not hard to conclude what scares the director, in common theme I feel that boarding schools with strict cruel headmasters (Suspiria, Phenomena), and faces with distorted features that expose buck baby teeth (Phenomena, Deep Red) give him quite a scare. Or at least what he attributes to be the most effective. Either or Phenomena is a fabulously absurd eighties horror film, for any fan of Argento or for those looking for a light on the camp and high on the strange film.

The Master of Horror - Dario Argento

Next year's lists will not be so crammed, I promise. I'll admit I tried to squeeze a few viewings in of films the night before, having not seen them but knowing they had a strong legacy in the genre. I'm sure some that I critiqued or rather ignored will grow on me and the list will inevitably change, hell Boyfriend's With Fangs needs a drastic update since last year. So do know that none of them are absolute or near such (maybe with the exception of Stephen Kings) and that all contain the fine print "So far".

Thus to prevent addressing it in ever paragraph of this list (as it inevitably would be) lets just mention the flaws of Argento's work; awful sound transfers, not the best acting, and plot instances that fail. Its safe to say character development and the logical plot are not his strong points. What are? Setting up atmosphere in set design (I've heard he's meticulous about such things), collaborating well with composers, directing his DP's to gorgeous cinematographic heights and creating a beauty in death, something I don't believe any other filmmaker has done quiet so well. To note I didn't get distinctly different in separating the giallo's from the true horrors as I would therefore not have a list and they are scary despite trying for a more crime fiction motif. Not solely a master of Italian horror but basically a master of horror in general Dario Argento's films established a cult following based of his work. Not all can be Argento fans (understandably) but those who are appreciate them for what they are, broken masterpieces. So for this year's Master of Horror I focused on my favorite country of horror by one of my favorite directors, My Top Five Favorite Dario Argento Films:

#5 Phenomena (1985)


This is Argento's heavy metal rock film of the 80's, a combination I couldn't dream up if I'd even believed it to work. However, it does in this outlandish piece of cinema. Usual Argento the film has excessive flaws in plot, where most lead dead or near death, and dialogue. Often I'm afraid that he's more interested in surprising us with a killer than establishing a substantial reason as to why this person is murdering everyone. Regardless Phenomena did capture my heart briefly at it's start, young Jennifer Connelly and Donald Pleasence are good in their roles which they play against a beautiful Swiss Alps scenery. The soundtrack is killer as it plays loud chords and blares inside the story, and unlike other films its never inaptly played (I'm looking at you Deep Red). Jennifer's creepy bug telepathy and the rest of the works I've praised place this as number five on my list.

#4 Opera (1987)

Another gore fest Argento with surrealism at play. Again he creates a beautiful sculptured film that transcends the expectation of art. A deeply unhinged but emotionally sympathetic lead makes this the closest thing Argento has had to a character study. Of course bad dubbing doesn't precede the film but no less tolerable than normal. This is by far the most brutal flick ever conceived from this MOH. Harsh and stunning at the same time.

#3 The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)





Oddly The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is less known or rather less acclaimed than his other films. I'm a little confused to this; yes there's an absence of blood but this is one of the best Argento films ever, and it happens to be the first he directed. It follows the basic giallo plot of a writer who witnesses an attempted murder outside an art gallery and begins to investigate for himself. In a way I felt that Deep Red was almost a remake of this, between the similar plots and Sam eerily wearing the same black button up shirt and khaki pants as Marc Daily. The film, though mostly giallo, has a very haunting atmosphere, curtosy of an enchanting score by Ennio Morricone. It takes a real horror turn when Sam's girlfriend is locked in her apartment and the killer is trying to break in. A little excessive reaction but ultimately effective in capturing the terror of that moment, which is to attribute to good acting, especially by lead Tony Musante. No amateur directing shown on his half, Argento's first try was impressively good and a tense suspenseful watch, with a bit of humor.

#2 Deep Red (1975)

If Phenomena hadn't of fallen apart towards the end it had a better chance at ranking higher than Deep Red. But overall Deep Red is the more composed film and the quintessential of his giallo's. A complex range of characters speaking between Italian and English this was the film that scared me since seeing Suspiria. A breach of safety in my seat when I jumped from that laughing doll, a provoked chill from the break in and the death at Amanda Righetti's house, and essentially a great build of tension for the Italian thriller. Deep Red is a quite important viewing in the world of giallo films, not only Argento's most significant but arguably one of the most significant of the genre. And even better a killer with motivation! Deep Red is topped with good performances and an astounding soundtrack (though not the best, in my opinion) which makes it a must see.

#1 Suspiria

This was likely obvious as my header is of the film's eloquent cover but it's not as if there's any other choice. As gathered I liked/loved the other four films on this list nothing comes close to the bravura of Suspiria; a bleeding array of colors via the director of photography and a deafening soundtrack by the Goblins escalate the film to horror movie greatness. The lost in translation aspect appears here as Jessica Harper's Suzy is attending a ballet school in a foregin country. The plot doesn't succumb to the typical monsters as we tend to expect (vampires, werewolves, etc) but does a more rare fear of witches. Suspiria is the work of an preeminent nightmare caught on film, the images, the blood, the lack of distinction to what's going on, the distorted set pieces...nothing is right within the film. Captured soundly by Argento, bad dubbing and odd dialect aside this I'd argue is Argento's most seamless film. Unlike the others which become tangled in themselves Suspiria stays generally focused (I didn't say absolute now did I), and delivers a horror induced ending. As said Suspiria does not go without faults but I don't care, my favorite Argento film is certainty not Oscar worthy, nor is my favorite horror movie. Two titles that Suspiria shares.

Honorable Mentions: Inferno (1980), the sort of sequel to Suspiria that takes a focus on the Mother of Darkness, with a beautiful underwater sequence guest directed by Mario Bava. Tenebre (1982), another giallo piece that follows the murder surrounding a novelist's new book; a blood spattered ending is undoubtedly to satisfy fans.

If you're reading post your own.

Deep Red (1975)

WARNING: May Contain Spoilers

After a performance jazz pianist Marc Daly is witness to the brutal murder of psychic Helga Ulmann, who read the mind of the precocious killer earlier in the day. Marc with little leads from the police begins his own investigation with the help of a feisty local journalist. Dissecting the clues though proves as a challenge as the killer is always a step ahead of Marc, and is now targeting him. Drawn into different leads, only to be left dead by the killers actions Marc begins to uncover that this killer isn't all that new to murder and has a very dark past. I must apologize ahead of time, though I'm not comparing it to Suspiria, the film comes up several times in this review, but do know that I do not measure this based on my love of Dario Argento's masterpiece, merely just using it as reference.

Deep Red, or Profondo Rosso,  is the first of Argento's stuff that has scared me since seeing Suspiria years ago. I admittedly jumped when that doll came running out of the closet in that absurd bit of laughter, it about scared the piss out of me. In true Italian Horror, or rather maybe just signature Argento, the deaths are gory and run a bright red color of blood. Always memorable my personal favorite was the bathroom scene murder, where it was actually absent of blood but made for a rather haunting death that doesn't leave you. The murder mystery proves to be as deceiving as can be, I only guessed it seconds before the reveal. As in all his films Deep Red is quite visually stunning to look at, with the dazing use of red and surrealistic lights of blues. In this however Argento uses a distinct lack of color, painting a portrait with neutral tones, which I may find more gorgeous to look at than the former. The music, though phonemically composed by the Goblins, is ill-fitting at times (i.e. Giordani's death, Marc scaling the balcony), but very tone setting in others (Amanda Righettani death, the uncovering of the drawing).

I'm an Argento finantic as much as the next horror movie lover but I'm not shy toward admitting there's faults in his work. In watching a Dario Argento's film I've noticed that generally the same story occurs, or rather the same basics. The beginning usually opens up with a woman who we never really get to know dying a gruesome death only to be followed by more unattached deaths, all of course in full giallo style. Also in having a love for his films that does mean you substitute certain qualities over the others, i.e. I'm willing to forgive the poor sound editing in respect to the DP and camera movements. The construction of characters is more developed in this as opposed to his prior films, and oddly human with their faults and personalities. David Hemmings Marc, the pianist, is sensitive in his work as an artist, which is humorous in contrast to Daria Nicolodi's Gianna as the high strong reporter. And then the darker side of the film, Gabriele Lavia as Carlo, the talented composer suffering from alcoholism.

In reading reviews prior to viewing the film most acclaimed this as the best of his giallo's, which as far as I've seen might be true. Hoping that my next film to watch by him does not disappointment me as the dreaded Tenebre, which unfortunately might be attributed to me watching it after I watched Suspiria. When renting the film make sure you get the Italian version, not the American. For those who hate subtitles you'll be disappointed as putting it in English there still are bits in Italian for scenes that had to be re-edited in after being cut. But that's the film in full form and has several important if at the very least enjoyable moments. Nothing will ever be Suspiria, I'm sure most know this, but Deep Red is rather a good on its own terms and defiant of the genre giallo. I really enjoyed the film and found it scary, I'd recommend for Argento or Italian horror fans.