![]() There is a brand new audio commentary track on Phenomena (the 110-minute cut) moderated by film historian, journalist and radio/television commentator David Del Valle who speaks exclusively with Argento scholar and author, Derek Botelho, author of the excellent book The Argento Syndrome. The 116-minute English/Italian hybrid audio Phenomena cut in HDīe aware that the extras that appear in this new Blu-ray release are completely different from the ones that have been released before, so hold on to your Anchor Bay DVD and Arrow Video Blu-ray if you have them, as their extras are excellent as well! The 110-minute International Phenomena cut in HD ![]() The 83-minute United States Creepers cut in HD Three (3) different cuts of the film, all available in high-definition for the first time ever in one collector’s edition package: This set is absolutely beautiful and definitely worth the price of an upgrade as it sports the following: Now, a deluxe, steelbook edition of Phenomena limited to 3,000 units comes to us by the fine folks at Synapse Films who also gave us Demons, Demons 2, and Tenebre. In 2011, Arrow Video released a terrific high definition, region-free Blu-ray of the film sporting the more well-known 110-minute cut and an array of newly-produced extras. In 1997, a double-laserdisc of Phenomena was released in Japan and ran $150.00 as an import and contained the full 116-minute cut of the film. Between the laserdisc and the various DVD incarnations, it’s enough to drive the die-hard collector to murder as one attempts to obtain the “definitive” version. Phenomena has been released on home video more times than I can count since it landed in my hands on VHS eight months after I first saw it. Argento actually got the idea for the film while vacationing during the previous summer and heard of such a case on the radio. I initially believed this to be nonsense and simply a plot device to further the story, but I later heard of real-life cases where murders were solved with the aid of insects. Phenomena is by no means original, but it does contain an interesting plot point wherein the police use the help of insects to determine the exact time/date of a person’s death. He also makes terrific use of the Steadi-cam and it never feels over-used. Argento wisely chose the breathtaking Swiss Alps as the film’s milieu and the results are both unprecedented and astonishing. Argento to play the lead in Phenomena because in his words, “She’s beautiful! Tremendously beautiful!” Jennifer Corvino is a 14 year-old student at an all-girls school in Switzerland (not unlike Suspiria‘s Suzy Banyon in Germany) who finds herself caught up in a murder, and enlists the aid of insects and entomologist Donald Pleasance to help find her roommate’s killer. Argento’s films made during the 1970’s and 1980’s boast ludicrous dubbing and equally inane dialogue, but I find them both charming in a strange way, and are easily quotable to others similarly afflicted! For me, there is something undeniably entertaining about the poor dialog and bad dubbing that makes this film endearing and so much fun to watch, and as I would later learn these attributes have both been a staple in Italian horror films long before this film was made. ![]() Argento’s most personal and favorite film of his own filmography, Phenomena is also one of his weakest efforts from a plot standpoint. It would be more than two years before the longer version of Creepers known as Phenomena would find its way into my hands. It was a new kind of cinema that I had not seen before and knew that I had to see more of it. The camerawork, the editing, and most of the all the incredible beat of Iron Maiden’s “Flash of the Blade” set to Steadi-cam fluidity was breathtaking. I was overwhelmed by this at times corny though undeniably uniquely-shot film that mixed heavy metal music with violence. I emerged from the theater a changed person. Someone in the audience shouted, “HEY!!! FIX THE MOVIE!!!” After several moments the framing was corrected and I sat through what was and still is my favorite film by this director. When Creepers began, the framing at the film’s start was completely off and the top of the screen was seen at the bottom. The only trailer they showed before Creepers was New Line Cinema’s A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Along with six strangers, I spent the sunny afternoon of Friday, Augwatching the first showing of this film while my parents and younger sister saw Back to the Future again in an adjacent auditorium. Although I had seen the television commercial for Suspiria in 1977 and was frightened half to death from it, my real introduction to Dario Argento’s work was in 1985 when I saw the television commercial for his new horror film called Creepers, which was a silly title at best, but I was very intrigued by the images that accompanied the rather ominous and strange voiceover which mentioned Mr. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |