Jennifer Corvino, daughter of a famous movie star, moves to a Swiss boarding school called the Richard Wagner School for Girls. She is welcomed by her roommate Sophie, but sleepwalks that night, witnessing a murder in her dream and getting lost in the woods. A kindly entomologist, John McGregor, and his chimpanzee find and care for her. When she returns to the school, the administrators are not impressed with her antics and insist on medical intervention. The bodies start piling up as Jennifer discovers her latent power.
Phenomena is one of the weirdest and most disappointing movies I've seen. It has all of the trademarks of an Argento film, but is so poorly done. The acting, music, and use of supernatural all contribute to this. Going into to any Italian horror film of the era, there will be bad lip syncing and over the top acting, which I'm used to at this point. However, the characters don't have any real depth and the acting seems more over the top than usual. Even Donald Pleasance doesn't seem himself here and Jennifer Connelly, very early in her career here, seems lost. The music is all rock/pop music of the time that often doesn't capture the mood of the scene at all. It didn't age well and most newly composed scores for Argento's films are well known and loved now. The supernatural elements seemed overpowering. There is usually something that grounds the film even in the face of some fantasy element, but it seems to be missing here.
Jennifer's powers, the villains, and the violence are all ridiculous. Jennifer has the power to communicate telepathically with bugs, which is portrayed dramatically. If this was the only outlandish thing, I might have liked it, but the villains are so over the top. The headmistress at the school is convinced Jennifer is completely evil and wants to see her put away in an institution. She's a very one note, badly acted character. The murderer turns out to be a deformed child, which makes no sense logistically, with the weirdest knife. The ending is the cherry on this bizarre cake when the entomologist's chimpanzee saves Jennifer by stabbing yet another villain to death. Many Argento films are well crafted and beautiful and this is not one of them. It's all confusing, out of nowhere, and almost laughable. Parts of the film are visually wonderful and that's about the only good thing I can say about it. I will not be revisiting it if I can help it.
My rating: 1.5/5 fishmuffins
* Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
The Michael Myers Laurie killed in the previous film was shown to be someone else. Guilt ridden and in an insane asylum, she waits for Michael only to be killed swiftly by him. A year later, a reality show called Dangertainment sets up in Michael Myers' house where contestants spend a night in the spooky house with surprises from production. Unbeknownst to them, Michael Myers returns home and starts killing off the cast and crew one by one.
The Halloween franchise has a lot of ups and downs through several timelines and eleven films. This one has its flaws, but I believe is a bit better than people give it credit for. Halloween: Resurrection isn't the greatest horror film, but it takes a critical look at reality TV that still rings true today. A group of people compete online for a chance to be on the Dangertainment TV show and have no idea what they're signing on for beyond being on television. Each character their own camera to add a splash of found footage into a conventional horror film and emulate actual reality shows like Fear. The show is proved to be influenced by the production, as with all reality shows. Fake dead bodies are hidden in the walls and a producer dresses as Myers to terrify the contestants. This takes on a particularly sinister tinge when I realized its essentially re-enacting a true crime event where real people died. But the production doesn't bat an eye because online viewers will be glued to every minute.
The horror aspects are where the film stumbles. The triumphant ending of the last film where Laurie finally beheads Michael is completely destroyed. Of course it was someone else to continue the franchise and Laurie is killed within the first 15 minutes of the movie. It was impressive that she convinced everyone she was essentially catatonic and had a plan for when Myers would inevitably come after her. However, she's dispatched rather quickly. It makes me happy she can get revenge in the most recent installment. Anyway, the rest of the scares disappoint, especially when Busta Rhymes electrocutes Myers' genitals. The film looks painfully dated and populated with non-actor famous people like Tyra Banks. Myers himself is pretty forgettable and the scares are lacking. Although this isn't the best Halloween installment, it's far from the worst.
My rating: 2/5 fishmuffins
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