PRESENTED IN 35MM!

PRE-SHOW: 7:30 p.m.
FILM: 8 p.m.

Giallo master Dario Argento reaches the peak of his ecstatic style and far-flung taste with this modern day horror fairytale, which follows lonely American teen Jennifer (Jennifer Connelly, just before LABYRINTH) to her new Swiss boarding school, where her telepathic bond with insects sets her on a collision course with a serial killer of young women.

Part-slasher, part-fantasy, and part-teen drama, Phenomena is as diverse in genre as its soundtrack, which runs from choice cuts by Motörhead and Iron Maiden to a lovely and appropriately cheesy baroque theme from Goblin keyboardist Claudio Simonetti. Like SUSPIRIA, which redeems a wandering plot with stunning visuals, PHENOMENA is best appreciated as a series of fetching neon-gothic tableaux and amusing, even wacky non-sequiturs. It’s Argento’s most purely likeable film, juxtaposing its unnerving ultra-violence and creepy crawly supporting cast of bees, flies, and scorpions with sweet moments where Jennifer solves mysteries with a disabled forensic entomologist (Donald Pleasance) and his chimpanzee life mate, and charming punk set pieces where school girls rebel against the headmistress who just might want them dead with the cathartic rallying cry of “Screw the past!”

(Note: We will be screening the 82 minute U.S. cut, titled CREEPERS.)