Phenomena

"Jennifer has a few million close friends. She's going to need them all!"

1985 1h 55m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 949

HorrorThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

“Jennifer has a few million close friends. She's going to need them all!”

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Cast

Jennifer Connelly
Jennifer Corvino
Daria Nicolodi
Frau Brückner
Fiore Argento
Vera Brandt
Federica Mastroianni
Sophie Brook
Fiorenza Tessari
Gisela Sulzer
Dalila Di Lazzaro
Headmistress Yetz
Patrick Bauchau
Inspector Rudolf Geiger
Donald Pleasence
Professor John McGregor

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dario Argento
Writers: Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini, Franco Ferrini
Languages: German, English, Danish, Italian
Countries: Italy

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

41 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: German, English, Danish, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dario Argento, shot by Romano Albani. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Simon Boswell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Franco Fraticelli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jennifer Connelly and Daria Nicolodi and Fiore Argento carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Jennifer has a few million close friends. She's going to need them all!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dario Argento directs. Romano Albani behind the camera. Simon Boswell scores. Franco Fraticelli cuts. Produced in Italy. Dialogue in German, English, Danish, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
241 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: German, English, Danish, Italian.
4Directed by Dario Argento, shot by Romano Albani. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Simon Boswell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Franco Fraticelli shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jennifer Connelly and Daria Nicolodi and Fiore Argento carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Jennifer has a few million close friends. She's going to need them all!".
9IMDB entry: tt0087909 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 27 themes, including "daughter", "insect", "boarding school", "psychopath".

The technical file

Cinematography: Romano Albani
Original score: Simon Boswell
Editing: Franco Fraticelli
Costume design: Giorgio Armani
Makeup / hair: Sergio Stivaletti
Runtime: 115 min · 1h 55m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,800,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Phenomena (1985)

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Dario Argento

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-10-03
★ 6/10
Phenomena, doo-doo doo-doo-doo. Arriving at a Swiss Academy for girls, Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly) gets embroiled in the workings of a serial killer. Her friends the insects and Professor John McGregor (Donald Pleasence) are on hand to help if possible. Directed and co-written by horror legend Dario Argento, Phenomena is a mixed bag. Ignoring the butchered American version, which was titled Creepers, the full uncut version is still messy. Argento the director is doing good work here, which explains why the film has a sturdy reputation. His eye for striking imagery and horror scene staging is evident here for sure, but Argento the writer (along with Franco Ferrini) fails to string a decent enough narrative together. Pace is all over the place, the dialogue often boorish, while wasting Donald Pleasence is a crime against horror film making. Still, there’s enough good Argento at work here to keep Phenomena above average, even if it’s more for the eyes than the brain. 6/10
talisencrw2016-05-09
★ 8/10
Both a great chance to see two acting icons (one, Donald Pleasence, at his prime, and the other, Jennifer Connelly, just starting out on her filmic journey) and one of the films on director Argento's great run of horror classics, this is worth purchasing the finest print and will award the horror aficionado many great times in rewatches. Cinephiles often called Argento 'the Italian Alfred Hitchcock', and this would be a great Exhibit A for their evidence. Essential for connoisseurs of the arcane.