Phenomena

Let's kick the lid off with a little movie review.




Phenomena (originally titled “Creepers”) came out in 1985, and it was a must see for me, because I like to catch anything with Donald Pleasence in it (though I sometimes ask myself “why”: afterward). This film, while simple and far from scary, has its merits.

For one thing, we learn that The Don can’t speak with a Scottish accent for more than three seconds without blowing it.

We also learn that the young Ms. Connelly, who grew into quite an attractive woman, had some disappointing stick legs back in the day.

Upon viewing the film, we also discover that while bugs are prominently featured on the movie posters, they don’t pop up often in the movie itself. In my opinion, that’s a good thing. Not wanting to give any spoilers, I can say that the bugs are still a very important part of the plot. In fact, the movie could not move forward in the same way without them. This could have been another “bug attack” movie, but it didn’t turn out that way, and I’m grateful.

Also on the plus side is the absolute train wreck of an ending. By “train wreck,” I refer to the individual elements that had all been barreling toward the climax coming together in a massive pileup. I honestly laughed out loud. It would not have been surprising if a large safe or grand piano had fallen out of the sky during the final action sequence.

While you’re watching, take note of the soundtrack. Actually, you’d have a hard time missing it. While the volume sometimes spikes in an annoying way and the music doesn’t seem to fit the movie at all, it was a pleasant surprise. For those of us old enough to remember, most of the movie’s pieces are so extremely 80’s, they cause flashbacks. More than once, I wondered if David Bowie would make a singing appearance via some Labyrinth connection with Ms. Connelly. Most of the pieces are done by a group called Goblin. Look them up. They’ve scored Italian films for years. Call me strange, but I’d actually like an MP3 of the ending theme. It made me stay to read the credits.

Final verdict: If you’re knocking out the classics, don’t skip this one. If nothing else, there’s a monkey in it, and we all like monkeys, right?