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Phenomena [Blu-ray] [Region Free]

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Jennifer Connelly (Actor), Daria Nicolodi (Actor), Dario Argento (Director) Rated: Suitable for 18 years and over Format: Blu-ray
4 out of 5 stars 61 customer reviews
2 new from Â£65.98 5 used from Â£34.96

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Product details

  • Actors: Jennifer Connelly, Daria Nicolodi, Donald Pleasence
  • Directors: Dario Argento
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • Language: English, Italian
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: All Regions (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.66:1
  • Number of discs: 2
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Arrow Video
  • DVD Release Date: 7 Mar. 2011
  • Run Time: 116 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B003OCFJ7U
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 72,108 in DVD & Blu-ray (See Top 100 in DVD & Blu-ray)

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Product Description

Product Description

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 Jennifer s school.

From Amazon.co.uk

Italian horror maestro Dario Argento made his name by turning homicide into modern art with a cinematic flourish, but with Phenomena he takes his stylish mayhem in new directions. The film opens with the dreamy grace of a fairy tale: a young girl wandering the green meadows of Switzerland and discovering a gingerbread house, wherein lives a monster more modern than mythic, a psychopathic maniac who plunges the picture into a lush nightmare. Jennifer (Jennifer Connelly in her first starring role), a gifted young girl at a Swiss school, has a psychic link to the insect world and develops a connection with the killer through midnight sleepwalks. With the help of a lonely, wheelchair-bound entomologist (genre stalwart Donald Pleasence, who inflects his sonorous tenor with a gentle Scottish burr) she turns telekinetic detective, which only draws her closer to the killer's lair. The densely plotted story becomes muddled at times (this is the busiest film in Argento's oeuvre) but the lyrical cinematography and gorgeous nocturnal imagery--dreamy sleepwalks, nightmarish murders, hideous horrors that emerge in the dark of night--take on a poetic elegance not seen in his previous work, providing the tale with a kind of dream logic. This is a slasher film reborn as an exquisitely grim fantasy: Jennifer in Argentoland. --Sean Axmaker --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsArgento at his maddest, great entertainment
By Now Zoltan on 28 April 2010
Format: DVD Verified Purchase
For me this is Dario Argento's most overlooked, underrated film. The plot skeleton - young girl adrift in a foreign school whilst a murderer wreaks havoc - is obviously Suspiria, but, incredibly, this film makes that effort look almost conventional. Some of the scenes in the final 20 minutes are genuinely unbelievable - swarms of insects, homicidal chimpanzees, an unforgettable face, Iron Maiden, extreme violence and a certain young future Oscar winner looking on with unfeigned bewilderment - whats not to love!
The Anchor Bay Region 1 disc is recommended. Check out the Bill Wyman video on the extras - bet he would shudder to see this now!
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5.0 out of 5 starsA visually stunning delight
By Mr. Jonathon T. Beckett on 15 Oct. 2008
Format: DVD Verified Purchase
Okay, I think is terribly underrated. Its certainly my favourite Argento, and given the competition thats some achievement. It is a film that can astound, delight and horrify in equal measure, and if the plot baffles at first, stick with it, as you will be rewarded.
The first scene we get is of a schoolgirl being brutally murdered by a waterfall in a forest. We quickly shift to the laboratory of wheelchair bound entomologist John McGregor(Donald Pleasence), who is assisting the police in ascertaining the age of a rotting corpse, through the type of insects feeding on it. Then the location swiftly changes again as we meet young Jennifer Corvino(Jennifer Connelly) who is on her way to an exclusive girls boarding school where her father has sent her. She is reluctant to say the least. Jennifer has an incredible power. She is able to telepathically commiunicate with the insect world, and she uses this power to assist her when being bullied, or in danger. Oh, and did I mention that girls staying at the boarding school are being murdered.
Then Jennifer runs away from the school, meets up with McGregor, and along with his simian housekeeper Inga(played by Tanga), they set about trying to solve the murders.
As I said the plot may be complex, but theres real fun to be had from unravelling the various strands. Connelly and Pleasence both give great performances, as does Tanga the chimp. Also with Argento regular Daria Nicolodi. Theres a wonderfully O.T.T gory climax that will leave you reeling, and of course another wonderful soundtrack by Goblin and Simon Boswell. Brilliant. 5 out of 5.
NB-Okay DVD release, as mentioned before has different picture than one used in product information. I thought the picture/sound quality were excellent
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5.0 out of 5 starsClever, interesting storyline and some genuine horror moments.
By StormSworder on 19 Jan. 2009
Format: DVD Verified Purchase
After only ever having seen Creepers, it was nice to finally be able to watch the full version. The story involves Jennifer, a girl who finds she can communicate with insects, arriving at a Swiss boarding school for girls. Before long she finds there is a serial killer on the loose, and it's up to her - with the help of her insect friends plus a local entomologist - to solve the crimes.

This is a brilliant film. The use of solving crime with the help of insects is an inspired one, and the sleep-walking scenes are marvellously surreal. The horror is real horror, and there's a first-rate soundtrack (which is well worth getting on CD). My only complaint was that there are a few lines of dialogue in the English language version which seemed to be in Italian(?) for no apparent reason. These include some woman trying to get Jennifer to close the window on a tram-car and some of the arguing between Jennifer and that woman with glasses. But as this doesn't really affect the film overall it's still a must-see.
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe best of Dario Argento
By L. Cross on 20 Sept. 2010
Format: DVD Verified Purchase
I am a huge fan of Argento's early work (before he came out with the most awful movie I've seen in a long time - Mother of Tears) and decided to purchase this to add to my little collection of films by him. I must say, that this is probably the best giallo movie I have ever seen with the most individual storyline added to it. The storyline of a young teenage girl who can communicate with insects and uses her ability to track down a local killer may sound somewhat cheesy and childish, but I assure you that you won't be disappointed. As with most Argento movies, the dialogue can get a little over-dramatic but that adds to the movie. The ending is really spectacular in my opinion, too.

The soundtrack is fantastic, one of the best movie soundtracks I've heard in a long time. This again adds to the movie.

The only critisim I have on this movie is that the DVD cover is very cheap looking. But still, this has become one of my favourite movies ever.
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4.0 out of 5 starsVery good Blu-Ray but with one criticism
By D. Parsons on 5 Mar. 2012
Format: Blu-ray
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 a very different movie to what we have here. The only thing I remembered about Creepers was that it was quite forgettable, so I had no interest in watching it again until recently when I bought a Blu-Ray player and discovered Arrow Films. I thought I'd try the movie again, this time in its full-length form, and I'm certainly glad I did! Although this isn't Argento's best movie by any means, it still has a lot going for it, and is more than a cut above a lot of Italian horror.

Although I'm fairly new to Blu-Ray I've already bought 7 of Arrow's releases, and can say that the picture quality on Phenomena is very good indeed. The disc has some interesting special features and at under a tenner from Amazon it is good value for money, so I would definitely recommend it to fans of the genre.

As much as I enjoyed Arrow's Blu-Ray transfer of the movie I'm going to knock off one star and rate it 4 out of 5 for this reason:

The native language of Phenomena is English. Arrow's Phenomena has been created using the Italian cut of the movie, and some small parts of the English audio track are missing. This means that when watching the film with its native English audio, there are a few brief occasions when the English voices switch to dubbed Italian with English subtitles. The plus side of this is that we don't miss out on any scenes (great for fanboys), but the negative side is that it is such an oddity to watch a movie that is 99.5% English and 0.5% Italian.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great price for this product. My favorite Argento besides Suspiria and Trauma.

Published 22 days ago by opus
1.0 out of 5 starsAbsolutely dreadful

Well that's the last time I watch a film based on a high rating. This film is terrible.
Crazy story of a girl who insects are in love with - who befriends a guy with a chimp... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Helen T
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A1

Published 2 months ago by peter viner
5.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant all the way

Brilliant all the way, excellent performance by Donald Pleasence, insects and a chimp , weird different and that cold atmosphere once again, probably the best Argento movie...

Published 3 months ago by .kramsie
5.0 out of 5 starsArrow does it again with minor drawback

Arrow have done a great job on the picture. The extras are well thought out. My only criticism is that it lacks the R1 DVD Anchor Bay commentary with Dario & production team.

Published 4 months ago by Simmo56
4.0 out of 5 starsSurprised me in a good way

Honestly, this movie really surprised me. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did when I saw it due to some of the things I read before watching it but I was pleasantly... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Darkness
5.0 out of 5 starsgreat movie!

Great movie and ever better soundtrack

Published 7 months ago by clare lawson
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A classic 80's horror film with a brilliant soundtrack.

Published 10 months ago by Bridgit Heapy
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Was not bad.

Published 11 months ago by Rabobank
4.0 out of 5 starsHighly entertaining but slightly sloppy from Argento and disgraceful...

Entertaining if absurd tale about an American student staying in Switzerland who can communicate with insects. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Colonel Decker

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