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Jennifer Connelly stars as Jennifer Corvino, the daughter of an American film star, who enrolls in a prestigious Swiss boarding school under the tutelage of the prudish Mrs. Bruckner (played by frequent Argento collaborator and former beau Daria Nicolodi).
Possessing a unique telepathic gift, Jennifer is capable of communicating with insects on an instinctive level, often while sleepwalking. This trait soon brands her a freak among her snooty classmates but makes her a valuable asset to entomologist Dr. MacGregor (Donald Pleasence), who is currently employing the innate forensic skills of insects to aid police in tracking a serial killer targeting the boarders at Jennifers school.
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one of Argentos most bizarre creations --IGN.com
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
This is the third version of the film I've owned and compared to the previous DVD releases, this Arrow Blu-ray release easily blows them out of the water. I went back and watched my old Anchor Bay DVD for comparison after watching the Blu-ray (I hadn't viewed it in a while) and the drop in quality was pretty drastic and left me wondering how I was ever satisfied with it. The clarity is far improved even from the opening titles when the camera does a roaming aerial shot over the beautiful Swiss countryside. The amount of extra detail and clarity makes this the best home video edition currently out there and I'd be surprised if some other company manages to improve upon it as it looked pretty much perfect to me.
This is also the first version of the film I've seen with slightly prolonged scenes that switch to Italian dialogue with English subtitles at certain points since I assume no English track was ever created for these moments. The extra snippets are very brief, sometimes lasting only one second with an extra line of dialogue here and there that frankly makes no difference at all. I can understand why the lines were cut as they bear no significance to the plot, but it's still nice to have the most complete version of the film even if you randomly get one added line here and there that makes no difference. One of the differences is so minute it begs the question why the editor even bothered removing it originally.
The Blu-ray is also region-free, so if you're in the U.S. like I am and feel jealous that we don't have Phenomena on Blu yet, take comfort in knowing this Arrow release will work just fine.
This is also the first version of the film I've seen with slightly prolonged scenes that switch to Italian dialogue with English subtitles at certain points since I assume no English track was ever created for these moments. The extra snippets are very brief, sometimes lasting only one second with an extra line of dialogue here and there that frankly makes no difference at all. I can understand why the lines were cut as they bear no significance to the plot, but it's still nice to have the most complete version of the film even if you randomly get one added line here and there that makes no difference. One of the differences is so minute it begs the question why the editor even bothered removing it originally.
The Blu-ray is also region-free, so if you're in the U.S. like I am and feel jealous that we don't have Phenomena on Blu yet, take comfort in knowing this Arrow release will work just fine.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
While the mid to late eighties are seen in some circles as the beginning of the end for Argento as a maker of high quality horror cinema, I personally feel a lot of his work around this time to be underrated and highly watchable. Tenebrae was somewhat of an anti climax after inferno and supiria but is still an excellent and visually stylish giallo well worth a fans time and opera still rates highly with me for its outlandish murder sequences and fusion of rock and opera (though the end in the long version still leaves a lot to be desired). My favourite however is this one, Phenomena. A giallo set in a girls school featuring psychic insects and most memorably a straight-razor weilding vengence crazed chimp. Jennifer Connelly (labarynyh, Beautiful mind, dark water ect ect.) plays a schoolgirl whose father is a famous actor working in the phillipines and is sent to a swiss girls school where she has trouble fitting in with the other pupils, not helped by her ability to psychicly communicate with insects. To add to the young girls troubles a mysterious crazed killer is butchering his way through the campus. Jennifer finds herself teamed up with an entemologist (played superbly by the legend donald plesence) to try and find out whose killing the girls. Phenomena was previously available in vhs under the title CREEPERS in a much shorter version for anyone unfamiliar with argentos work who finds the plot description sounding familiar, but this is a much better version and uncut. Phenomena is outlandish and more than a little bizarre to say the least, certainly it could be off-putting for anyone more familiar with more contemporary horror films, but give the film a chance and it will grow on you.
So, is the disc worth getting? The answer is a most definate yes. I've championed other arrow releases in the face of some criticism but its really hard to find fault with this blu-ray. Perhaps because the film is more modern and arrow have better materials to work with, but the picture quality on this disc is AMAZING, its razor-sharp with vibrant colors and the level of detail is the best i've ever seen it (including the japanese laser disc and the anchor bay discs.) The sound mix is perfect to boot so that alone makes it worth a look.
Extras wise we get..
*intro by sergio stivaletti.
*A 50 minute documentary on the making of the film.
*music for maggots, an interview with claudio simmonetti.
*a live q and a session with sergio stivaletti from dublin and glasgow.
Overall then if you like phenomena and own a blu-ray capable machine buy this now!
***EDIT**** also after watching the film through, some scenes are in german/italianb only and there are some 'new' scenes I don't remeber from the anchor bay version. This leads me to believe this is the FULL version only previously available on japanese laserdisc.
So, is the disc worth getting? The answer is a most definate yes. I've championed other arrow releases in the face of some criticism but its really hard to find fault with this blu-ray. Perhaps because the film is more modern and arrow have better materials to work with, but the picture quality on this disc is AMAZING, its razor-sharp with vibrant colors and the level of detail is the best i've ever seen it (including the japanese laser disc and the anchor bay discs.) The sound mix is perfect to boot so that alone makes it worth a look.
Extras wise we get..
*intro by sergio stivaletti.
*A 50 minute documentary on the making of the film.
*music for maggots, an interview with claudio simmonetti.
*a live q and a session with sergio stivaletti from dublin and glasgow.
Overall then if you like phenomena and own a blu-ray capable machine buy this now!
***EDIT**** also after watching the film through, some scenes are in german/italianb only and there are some 'new' scenes I don't remeber from the anchor bay version. This leads me to believe this is the FULL version only previously available on japanese laserdisc.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
I won't go on about it for ages... if you're thinking about getting this film you probably already know what a classic it is and if you know it blah blah (does that even make sense?!). Anyway, it's an Argento classic with a great score (you can hear the Goblin tracks in full on YouTube) and this Arrow release and sounds looks STUNNING on Blu-ray... they've added all missing scenes and have loads of language options/commentaries/extras etc, but just watch it in English and be amazed at 1080p maggots.... classic!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
"..BRILLIANT AND ORIGINAL.."
Yet again this is another awesome film from cult director Dario Argento, following the story of a psychopath who kills young girls and hides the bodies, Jennifer Connelly plays a... Read more
Published 28 days ago by S. Drury
Very good Blu-Ray but with one criticism
I last watched Phenomena as a teenager back in the 80's when it was released on VHS under the title "Creepers" with around 30 minutes of the original film cut out of it, making it... Read more
Published 2 months ago by D. Parsons
Arrow Blu-ray package has it where it counts (with minor niggles)
I won't go into much detail here on the actual film itself. Suffice to say I think its one of Dario Argento's best. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Grinderman
Good version
At last, an Arrow release that is worth buying! Good picture quality, excellent sound and a film that Blue Underground haven't released. Read more
Published 7 months ago by S. Kemp
Total Cult
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... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Lord Anon
phenomena blu ray
arrow films blu ray release of phenomena,has one of the best blu ray transfers i have seen so far.considering the age of the film and the low budget,the picture quality is... Read more
Published 12 months ago by MICHAELM
One of Argento's weirdest films
Jennifer (Jennifer Connelly), a strange girl with the ability to somehow communicate with insects, is taken to a Swiss boarding school where her strange powers begin to alienate... Read more
Published 13 months ago by TGillespie
Beware, not as good as it seems...
Anyone interested in the technical aspects of the disc, and the picture quality, might want to read over this Land of Whimsy review first. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Rick Dangerous
Good movie plus great DVD treatment
Some of Argento afficionados loathe on this title (even on his official website, Dark Dreams, it got 3/5 and quite bitter review), obviously not noticing the fact of general change... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. J. M. Zielinski
SUBLIME
i saw it last night and i was astonished the quality of the picture is phenomena le fantstic
but the sound is not so great no 5. Read more
but the sound is not so great no 5. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Marc Bouhana
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