Phenomena

There's a consensus among Dario Argento fans that his talent's dropped off precipitately. Since Opera (1987) his movies have grown increasingly poor, style smothered under rampant absurdity. His most recent effort, Dracula 3D (2012), reached its nadir when the title vampire morphed into a giant mantis. Not to mention Argento's fetish for showing daughter Asia naked, beaten and raped. 

Phenomenon (1985) represents an early dent in Argento's skill. An odd supernatural thriller, it's full of gratuitous gore and weird ideas that never gel. Jennifer Connelly keeps the show from being a complete disaster, but the movie delivers few frights and little pleasure.

Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly), daughter of an American film star, arrives at the Richard Wagner Academy for Girls in Switzerland. She alienates her schoolmates when she's revealed to have a primal connection with insects. Her only friend is John McGregor (Donald Pleasance), an etymologist helping police track a gruesome serial killer. When girls at the school start falling prey to the murderer, Jennifer uses her newfound powers to track them down.

Of all the potential Phenomena shows, it's the main idea that disappoints. Jennifer's insect connection provides one arresting set piece, when she silences mocking school girls with a swarm of "friends." Yet Argento makes surprisingly little of it. The bugs help Jennifer uncover a murder clue and once save her life, yet otherwise feel tacked on. Jennifer makes a key discovery following swarm of maggots, surely something a non-"gifted" protagonist would spot equally well. It's a bad sign when the movie's central conceit feels superfluous.

The whole film's equally messy. Argento was never strong on plot, yet his films generally make sense - even the demented dream logic of Suspiria and Inferno. Phenomena chucks so many ideas at the screen that none really stick. Is it a murder mystery? A supernatural thriller, Carrie-style? Gothic horror? A movie can be all those things, but Argento doesn't tie them together. Bits of story hang there without amounting to much: characters leave without fanfare, people die gruesomely, plot strands vanish unceremoniously.

When Argento does try to make sense of anything, he fails spectacularly. Periodically the action stops cold for lifeless exposition and cringeworthy dialogue. Characters overreact to mundane developments in comical ways. Jennifer sleepwalks one night, so she's accused of schizophrenia! How does that work? Even better is a scene where Jennifer takes shelter at Frau Bruckner's (Daria Nicolodi) home, where (after friendly introductions) Jennifer instantly turns nasty and Bruckner spontaneously starts insulting her guest. Is it sublimated tension rising to the surface? More likely, it's bad writing and atrocious acting.

Even stylistically Phenomena is a letdown. Argento's baroque touches, so effective elsewhere, seem labored and ludicrous. The killings become parodic, with characters barging into abandoned houses to be carved up. One scene, with Jennifer trapped in a pool of decaying corpses, is surely as disgusting as any set piece ever filmed. The problem is it's too gross to be genuinely scary. Not to mention the killer's reveal, or McGregor's chimp with a razor fetish. Goblin's score incorporates tracks from Motorhead and Iron Maiden to little effect.

Jennifer Connelly makes Phenomena watchable. With a badly written character, she nonetheless exude scharm and charisma, propelling her to instant stardom. The other stars register little. Donald Pleasance flounders in an empty part, complete with pathetic Scottish accent. Daria Nicolodi froths and devours scenery as a mad villainess. Patrick Bauchau and Michele Soavi putter about, even more useless than most giallo policemen. The schoolgirls are interchangeable harpies.

Phenomena is a major disappointment. Far from a stylish chiller, it's a stilted collection of oddities without aim or direction.