PHENOMENA (1985) (Synapse Films 2-Disc Standard Edition 4K Ultra HD Review)

PHENOMENA (1985) 

2-Disc Standard Edition 4K Ultra HD 

Label: Synapse Films
Duration: 110 Minutes (International Version), 116 Minutes (International Version), 83 Minutes (Creepers Version)
Rating: R / R / Unrated 
Audio:  Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 and 1.0, Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p UHD Widescreen (1.66:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1) 

Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Donald Pleasence, Daria Nicolodi, Patrick Bauchau

 

Phenomena (1985) is the third of what has become known as Dario Argento's animals trilogy - a trio of films beginning with the stone-cold giallo classic The Bird with the Crystal Plumage(1970), then Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) and ending with Phenomena (1985). The film was released following Tenebre (1982), one of my favorite Argento films, a stylish giallo update that brought new life to the well-worn Italian whodunit. Phenomena is a bit of a hybrid as it mixes giallo thriller elements with more fantastical supernatural elements, creating a weirdly dark fairy tale thriller that recalls many elements of Argento's supernatural thriller Suspiria (1977), particularly a young girl who is sent abroad to a school where she experiences strange happenings in and around the school. The movie opens as  unfortunate tourist Vera Grandt (Fiore Argento, Demons) misses a tour bus in the Swiss countryside. Now stranded  she ventures to a nearby house in search of some assistance. She knocks but when no one answers she enters the unlocked house, once inside she arouses the interest of something fiendish that's been chained to the wall inside. Whatever it is it manages to pull the chains from the wall mounts and attacks her with a pair of scissors. She survives the initial attack but after frantically running through the forest to a nearby gorge she is cornered and decapitated in a rather visually stunning manner - we'd expect nothing less from Argento - her head shattering a pane of glass in slow-motion, and while we do not see the actual decapitation we do see her head fall into  waterfall below and her body being dragged by an unseen culprit.

Months later, Jennifer (Jennifer Connelly, Labyrinth), the daughter of a famous American actor arrives at a nearby Swiss boarding school, the Richard Wagner Academy for Girls, and already we're getting some definite shades of Suspiria. There she meets Frau Brucker (Daria Nicolodi, Deep Red), the stern headmistress (Dalilia Do Lazzaro, Flesh For Frankenstein) and her new roommate Sophie (Federica Mastroianni), more shades of Suspiria. We discover that Jennifer has a few odd quirks about her, she regularly sleepwalks and is able to seemingly telekinetically communicate with the insects around, she's a real lord of the flies type girl. On her first night at the academy she sleepwalks, during which she envisions a long white corridor with many doors. These are great surreal Argento visuals, while sleepwalking she witnesses the murder of a girl from school, but has no recollection of it. During yet another nocturnal stroll she wanders off school grounds and encounters local entomologist Dr. John McGregor (Donald Pleasance, Raw Meat) with a snazzy Scottish accent. McGregor is wheelchair bound and relies on his care-giving pet Chimpanzee named Inga to assist him. Inga is very helpful and super protective of the doc, so much so that later in the movie she wields a straight razor while on a revenge mission! McGregor and Jennifer bond over their shared love of insects, also warning her that a demented psychopath on the loose in the area killing young girls, something they failed to mention back at the school. 

It turns out that Jennifer is not well-liked by her classmates when her creepy affinity for insects is revealed, after being bullied she summons a swarm of flies upon the school in a fit of anger, as you can imagine this does not help her image. The headmistress is intent on having her committed to a psychiatric clinic after the event but when the men in white arrive Jennifer has fled to McGregor's who irresponsibly sends her in search of the killer armed only with a sarcophagus fly to aid in the detection of cadavers. The search for the killer obviously puts her in imminent danger which leads to a startling revelation, a putrid corpse pit, and bizarre final confrontation on a boat with a fiendish freak and it's deranged mother.

There's not an extraordinary amount of death and gore here but what there we do get is significantly gruesome, we have some slasher-friendly kills, including a fun bit with a blade emerging from the victim's mouth, and some choice moments of rotting flesh to give you the creeps. The decomposition special effects by Sergio Stivaletti (Demons 2) are stomach churningly at times while the pre-digital optical effects work by Luigi Cozzi (Contamination) lends a bizarre atmosphere to the proceedings, with swarms of insects filling the screen. Claudio Simonetti of Goblin performs the main title theme but the signature Goblin music is not as prevalent throughout the film as in previous Argento film scores and instead we get tasty heavy metal cuts by way of  Motorhead's "Locomotive" and Iron Maiden's early banger "Flash of the Blade". The tastiest track is the composition "The Valley" by Bill Wyman & Terry Taylor, it's super eerie and has a Blade Runner sort of vibe about it. The film is a weird hybrid, it has a different feel than either his Giallo entries or the supernatural stuff, at times it's a somewhat jarring mash-up of the two, but I've grown to love it more and more through the years with each subsequent watch. Connolly is wonderfully otherworldly in the role and the movie has some serious wind-swept atmosphere and visuals that Argento fans can dig into. 

Audio/Video: Dario Argento’s Phenomena (1985) arrives on 2-disc 4K Ultra HD from Synapse Films containing three different cuts in 2160p UHD framed in 1.66:1 widescreen. Disc one contains the 116-minute Italian version with the 110-minute International and 83-minute Creepers version appearing on the second disc. I found the differences between the three in terms of video qualify to be fairly negligible, to my eyes anyway. Thankfully they all look terrific, the source is in great shape and/or has been gorgeously restored. The 4K resolution resolves grain beautifully throughout, it's a wonderfully filmic presentation with gorgeous textures and facial features in the close-ups. The Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grading reinvigorates the color scheme with the primary colors looking rich and deeply saturated throughout. Additionally the black levels are deeper and more layered. 

The Italian cut audio comes by way of uncompressed Italian/English Hybrid DTS-HD MA 5.1, Italian 5.1 and 2.0 stereo soundtracks, derived from the original 4- channel Dolby Stereo elements. The International version features English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 stereo soundtracks derived from the original 4-channel Dolby Stereo elements, plus as an added bonus is the inclusion of the rare alternate DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo mix for this version, featuring different sound effects and music cues. The Creeper cut sports English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono and 2.0 'stereo music version' soundtrack, mastered from the original 3 track DME magnetic mix. Phenomena has a killer score featuring music from Simon Boswell, Bill Wyman and Terry Taylor, Claudio Simonetti and Italian film score royalty Goblin - it's all fantastic stuff. Plus we get the inclusion of some major metal music selection from the likes of Iron Maiden, and Motorhead. These sound terrific, while the inclusion of the metal tunes might be a bit jarring to some I loved it as a teen and still love them today, the songs sound dynamic and full bodied with a solid low-end. 

Onto the extras we get a a great set of select, but not definitive, archival supplemental material. The Italian cut gets an Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento, while the International cut gets it's own Audio Commentary from Dario Argento scholar and author, Derek Botelho and film historian David Del Valle.

Other archival extras include the 120-minute Of Flies and Maggots, a feature-length 2017 documentary produced by Arrow Films, including interviews with co-writer/producer/director Dario Argento, actors Fiore Argento, Davide Marotta, Daria Nicolodi and others.  

Also included is the 31-min The Three Sarcophagi, a visual essay by Arrow Films producer Michael Mackenzie that compares the different cuts of Phenomena with in-depth side-by-side comparisons, as he comments on how much or little the cuts effect the overall narrative of the film.  Disc extras are buttoned-up with a 4-min Goblin “Jennifer” music video, directed by Dario Argento, plus the 3-min Original Italian Theatrical Trailer, 3-min International Theatrical Trailer, 1-min U.S. Creepers Theatrical Tailer, 1-min of Radio Spots and the Japanese Pressbook. It should be noted that both Synapse Films previous 2-disc Blu-ray and Arrow Video's UK only Blu-ray release have exclusive extras not ported over here, so hang onto those if you're a bonus junk junkie.

This 2-disc UHD release comes housed in a black Viva Elite keepcase with a sleeve of Reversible Sleeve of Artwork, featuring a gorgeous new artwork by Nick Charge, plus a reversible artwork featuring original illustrated theatrical artwork. Inside the 2 UHD discs each feature unique illustrated artworks, and the First Pressing Only Slipcover features the new Nick Charge artwork as well. 

Special Features: 

- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentations in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)

- 4K restorations of all three versions of Phenomena, including the original Italian version (116 mins.), the International cut (110 mins.), and the U.S. Creepers cut (83 mins.)

- Lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo soundtracks on the international version, derived from the original 4-channel Dolby Stereo elements

- Rare alternate DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo mix on the international version, featuring different sound effects and music cues

- Lossless Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo soundtracks, derived from the original 4-channel Dolby Stereo elements

- Lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono and 2.0 'stereo music version' soundtrack on Creepers, mastered from the original 3 track DME magnetic mix

- Lossless “hybrid” English/Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack

- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

- English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack

- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the hybrid soundtrack

- Original Italian Theatrical Trailer (3 min) 

- International Theatrical Trailer (3 min) 

- U.S. theatrical Tailer (1 min) 

- Radio Spots for Creepers (1 min) 

- Japanese Pressbook 

- Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento (on Italian Version)

- Audio commentary on the international version by Argento scholar and author Derek Botelho and film historian, journalist and radio/television commentator David Del Valle

- Of Flies and Maggots, a feature-length 2017 documentary produced by Arrow Films, including interviews with co-writer/producer/director Dario Argento, actors Fiore Argento, Davide Marotta, Daria Nicolodi and others (120 min) 

- The Three Sarcophagi, a visual essay by Arrow Films producer Michael Mackenzie comparing the different cuts of Phenomena (31 min) 

- “Jennifer” music video, directed by Dario Argento (4 min) 

- Slipcover/o-card with beautiful artwork from artist Nick Charge