By Todd Garbarini

The plot of Dario Argento’s much-maligned 1985 thriller Phenomena has long been the subject of ridicule and derision by critics and fans alike since its initial release. The inevitable complaints about the film range from the bad dubbing and stiff performances to the ludicrous notion that insects can be employed as detectives in a homicide investigation (this is true and has actually been done, providing the inspiration for the film. A November 1996 episode of television’s Forensic Files even featured an episode about this very method). If the film does not sound familiar, that could be attributed to the fact that Phenomena was severely cut by some 33 minutes and retitled Creepers when it opened in New York on Friday, August 30, 1985.

Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly) is a fourteen year-old student attending an all-girls school in Switzerland while her movie star father is away for the better part of a year shooting a film. Her mother, who left the family when Jennifer was a child, is merely mentioned but never seen. Unfortunately, her roommate Sophie (Federica Mastroianni) has just informed her that the school is beset by a killer who stalks girls their age and kills them. Well, that is unfortunate! You would think that someone would order the school closed and the girls sent away. As you can imagine, this does not sit too well with Jennifer who suffers from a bad case of sleepwalking and manages to find herself embroiled in the very murders she was hoping to avoid. She meets entomologist John McGregor, a wheelchair-bound Scot who lacks a Scottish accent but possesses an avuncular disposition that endears Jennifer to him and his chimpanzee Inga who doubles as his nurse. Fortunately for Jennifer, he is aiding the police in their investigation into the murder of a Danish tourist, Vera Brandt (Fiore Argento, the director’s eldest daughter) and the disappearance of McGregor’s former aid. Together with the help of McGregor, Inga (yes, the chimp!) and a very large fly, Jennifer sets off to locate the murderer. When she does, she has a very good reason to nearly regret it.

Phenomena is an unusual entry in the Dario Argento universe as it is a mashup of fantasy and giallo-esque murder mystery, effectively making some to refer to the film as a fairytale. Jennifer Connelly was chosen by Mr. Argento to play the lead as he had seen her in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America (1984) and he thought she would be perfect for the film. His decision to set the film in the Swiss Alps is unorthodox but provides the perfect backdrop to the story as the scenery is utterly breathtaking. He also makes terrific use of the Steadi-cam and it never feels over-used. From a thematic standpoint, the film also deals with a subject I never would have thought of: female abandonment. Critic and devoted Argentophile Maitland McDonagh brought up this point when Mr. Argento discussed the film at the Walter Reade Theatre in June 2022 at a retrospective of his work. She is right: Vera is abandoned by the bus (accidentally), Sophie is abandoned by her boyfriend, Jennifer is abandoned by her mother (in an explanation left out of Creepers), and even Inga is abandoned by her keeper.

Phenomena has been released on home video more times than I can count, and I have personally owned it in the past as Creepers from the original Media Home Entertainment VHS release from 1986; as Phenomena in the form of the gatefold Japanese laserdisc pressing in 1997; the 1999 American laserdisc release from The Roan Group; the 2008 DVD pressing as part of a package of four other titles; the 2011 single Blu-ray from Arrow Films; the 2017 Blu-ray steelbook from Synapse Films; the 2017 Limited Edition Blu-ray from Arrow Films with newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp, and the 2023 4K UHD Blu-ray set from Arrow Films. Whew…Now, Synapse Films follows suit with their own release of the film in yet another 4K UHD Blu-ray edition, this time in a limited edition pressing with less-than-spectacular cover artwork design. However, there is a more cost-effective edition that has made me giddy with excitement. I must say that as a Dario Argento fan, and Phenomena being my favorite film of his, the new pressing of this standard edition from Synapse Films is a must-buy if only for the absolutely beautiful, gorgeous, and atmospheric cover artwork that has been newly commissioned by artist Nick Charge. As a purist, I generally shy away from artwork that is anything other than the key art used in the original exhibition of the film. I do not wish to sound stuffy or, heaven forbid, pretentious regarding this point, but it has been my experience that the key art used in promoting a film is generally the best and most effective artwork that has been used, regardless of the title in question, though there have been exceptions. The original style “B” poster for Dan Curtis’s 1976 thriller Burnt Offerings I have found to be infinitely more interesting and creepy than the lesser-used style “A” artwork; Conversely, Saul Bass’s beautiful mockup of the contorted face in the black lettering set against a yellow background in the style “A” for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) was, is, and always will be far more effective to me than the requisite and now tongue-in-cheek “Here’s Johnny!” image of Jack Nicholson’s crazed visage peering at his wife through the remnants of the bathroom door.

In the case of Phenomena, which was trimmed and altered significantly for its American debut and retitled Creepers, the original Italian key artwork by the late great artist Enzo Sciotti was discarded altogether in favor of a poster that focused on Jennifer Connelly holding flies in her hand, and the America video poster went even further to have the insects remove the flesh from half of her face! Nick Charge’s artwork is one of the most spectacular alternative promotional images of the film that I have ever seen.

Watching Phenomena again makes me realize just how much I miss Daria Nicolodi, Mr. Argento’s long-time girlfriend who appeared in six films for him. She brought so much to his work, and her absence is deeply felt more than ever now. In Deep Red (1975), she played the wonderfully sweet journalist, redubbed by Carolyn de Fonseca; in Inferno she’s the strange Elise Stallone Van Adler who keeps finding paint on her foot; in Tenebre (1982) she’s Peter Neal’s secretary Anne, redubbed by Theresa Russel of all people; here in Phenomena she’s the sinister Frau Bruckner, again redubbed by Carolyn de Fonseca; in Opera (1987) she is Mira, and this was the first time that her actual voice was used; and La Terza Madre (2007) she is Elisa Mandy (again with her own voice).

Donald Pleasence is also quite good as the entomologist. Some have complained about his performance, but I have never seen him give anything less than 100% in his roles, however off-beat. His presence in a horror film is always welcome. Check him out in Gary Sherman’s Death Line (1972). He is unorthodox and brilliant.

The new 4K UHD Blu-ray standard edition from Synapse Films is gorgeous and only contains 4K UHD Blu-rays. There are no standard Blu-rays or DVDs in this package. Phenomena has more detractors than admirers if you believe what you read, and even staunch proponents of Mr. Argento’s vision (Maitland McDonagh and Alan Jones) have written off the film as silly. However, the amount of love and dedication that has been lavished upon this film restoring it to its former glory on Blu-ray says volumes about those who cherish it. This set is absolutely beautiful and definitely worth the price of an upgrade as it sports the following:

Two 4K UHD Blu-rays which consist of three (3) different cuts of the film, all available in high-definition for the first time ever in one collector’s edition package:

the 83-minute United States Creepers cut in HD

the 110-minute International Phenomena cut in HD

the 116-minute English/Italian hybrid audio Phenomena cut in HD

Extras:

Disc One includes the Italian language cut of Phenomena. There is a disclaimer: “No English audio exists for scenes unique to the Italian version of Phenomena. This full-length version can be viewed either entirely in Italian, or in a hybrid version which uses Italian audio in instances where English audio is unavailable.” You can choose from English / Italian Hybrid in 5.1 Surround, or Italian 5.1 Surround, or Italian 2.0 Surround.

There is an audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento (on Italian Version). Mr. Howarth proves himself to be a fountain of knowledge about Italian horror and this film in particular.

There is a 2017 documentary produced by Arrow Films called Of Flies and Maggots, which runs two hours(!), including interviews with co-writer/producer/director Dario Argento, actors Fiore Argento, Davide Marotta, Daria Nicolodi and others. Much of the information presented here is already familiar to die-hard fans, but it is a welcome look at the film.

“Jennifer” is a music video of the Phenomena theme by former Goblin member Claudio Simonetti, directed by Dario Argento, and featuring Jennifer Connelly.

The promotional materials consist of: the Italian theatrical trailer, the International theatrical trailer, and a page-by-page replica of the Japanese pressbook.

Disc Two consists of both the international cut of Phenomena and the U.S. Creepers cut.

There is an 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 Derek Botelho, author of the excellent book The Argento Syndrome. The discussion is both spirited and informative as Mr. Botelho clearly knows his stuff. I love listening to commentaries that tell me anecdotes that I either forgot about or never knew before, and there is plenty of interesting info here.

The Three Sarcophagi is a visual essay by Arrow Films producer Michael Mackenzie comparing the different cuts of Phenomena, and it is enough to make your head spin trying to keep track of the different versions. This piece runs 31 minutes.

Rounding out the extras are the U.S. theatrical trailer and two U.S. radio spots for Creepers.

Phenomena is not Mr. Argento’s best. IMHO, Deep Red (1975) holds that title, and it also could be argued that Tenebrae (1982) is a contender for that mantle as well. It is, however, a terrifically entertaining murder mystery with some great set pieces and a driving score by some members of Goblin among others, and the sort of gonzo film that the Italian Maestro has not made since Opera in 1987.

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By Todd Garbarini

In May 1977 my parents and I saw George Lucas’s Star Wars and my life changed forever. We saw it July with other family members and a third time in November prior to the release of Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (henceforth abbreviated as CE3K). The trailer for CE3K was mysterious and intense to my young eyes and the prospect of seeing it again led me to turn down my parent’s offer to sit through Star Wars a second time after that afternoon’s showing. What frightened me about the trailer was not the chaotic scenes with Richard Dreyfus and Melinda Dillon, but rather the sequence wherein Bob Balaban and Francois Truffaut approach Richard Dreyfuss in a claustrophobic makeshift room to interrogate him about what he has seen, reminding me of my first trip to what I considered to be the Ninth Circle of Hell: THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE. In retrospect, I am amused by this memory and my initial impression of the film.

If you look at the history of Steven Spielberg’s work, his films are about many things, not the least of which is people’s impressions of the world around them. Additionally, a common theme that runs throughout much of his work is the notion of broken families or absent parents. Beginning with his film debut, The Sugarland Express (1974), and continuing with the father who is not around much for his young children in Jaws (1975), or a UFO-obsessed power plant worker who leaves his family for other worlds in the aforementioned CE3K, or a lonely young boy who feels a connection to an alien in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), or the broken family that needs to come together to survive in War of the Worlds (2005), to name a few, authority figures are often anything but authoritative. His latest film, the wonderful and semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans, is a story that has existed in Mr. Spielberg’s mind all his life and finally needed to come out during the height of the coronavirus pandemic during worldwide downtime, if it was going to come out at all. Collaborating with writer Tony Kushner for the fourth time, Mr. Spielberg gives the audience a sense of what his turbulent childhood was like.

Although Mr. Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, OH, his family moved around due to his father’s position as an electrical engineer in the burgeoning computer industry. In The Fabelmans, Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano standing in for real-life father Arnold Spielberg) and Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams standing in for real-life mother Leah Adler) take their young son Sammy (Mateo Zoryan) to see his first movie, Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, in Haddon Township, NJ in 1952. The spectacular train crash seen on screen both captivates and frightens him. Using his father’s 8mm camera with his mother’s secretive permission, he recreates it with his train set that he received for Hanukkah, and this gives Sammy the confidence to start shooting films involving friends and his three younger sisters.

Years later, Sammy is much older and now portrayed by Gabriel LaBelle. His father is offered a better job, and this takes them to Phoenix, AZ along with Burt’s friend and business associate Benny Loewy (played endearingly by Seth Rogen). Sammy shoots footage of them all on a camping trip, including a headlight-illuminated dance performed by his mother in her nightgown, which makes a deep impression on Benny. Following Mitzi’s mother’s passing and her subsequent sadness, Burt urges Sammy to create a little film of the camping trip to cheer her up, which he does begrudgingly while he is shooting a film with his fellow Boy Scouts. In the film’s most inspired moment, the family’s Uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch in a wonderful performance) briefly visits, giving Sammy a spirited monologue about the discord between art and familial responsibility. The turning point in the film comes when Sammy sorts through the campfire footage, only to discover that “Uncle” Benny is showing more than a passing interest in Mitzi: they are caught holding hands and getting too close for comfort in the background images. Sammy is shellshocked. After more strife, the family is uprooted yet again, this time to Southern California, where he encounters both severe antisemitism at the hands of two school bullies and experiences first love with a devoutly Christian girl who puts Jesus first. More turmoil ensues, and Sammy ultimately learns to use his natural gift for filmmaking to deal with personal traumas and bending others to his will.

Steven Spielberg is my favorite director, and he shares the number one spot for me in a tie with Stanley Kubrick. Both men have made extraordinarily entertaining and mind-bending films. It was a constant joy to watch The Fablemans as it gives the audience a window into the person who would go on to become the creative genius who not only makes great movies but is also and deservedly financially successful at it.

I met Leah Adler in November 2008 when I was getting ready to come home from a horror film convention. She owned a restaurant called Milky Way, which opened in 1977, and when I walked in, she was there to greet me. I began gushing about her son, how CE3K was the first film of his that I saw and how it blew me away, what Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. meant to me, etc. She guided me over to a table and listened intently to my rambling, and when I thanked her for encouraging Steven to become a filmmaker, she paused and simply said, “I don’t know where the hell he came from.” This made me burst out laughing as I have always thought of her son as the best friend I never met (not entirely true: I waited outside the Ziegfeld Theater in June 2005 for eight hours the day of the War of the Worlds premiere and managed to get his autograph and snap a few photos of him). If he and I grew up together, we would have been inseparable – watching movies, talking about movies, making movies, you name it. My own parents were not movie fanatics by any means, and they could just as easily have said the same thing about me! The few times that my family went on vacation, I was enlisted to shoot the home movies. When I was fourteen on vacation in Florida, I began shooting our home movies from a cinematic perspective. This is due to Steven Spielberg.

Todd Garbarini with Leah Adler, November, 2008. (Photo: Todd Garbarini).

The new 4K UHD Blu-ray and standard Blu-ray combo is now available from Valentine’s Day, appropriate as this film is a Valentine to Mr. Spielberg’s parents. It comes with some extras, and I had my fingers crossed that the director would have provided an audio commentary (something that he flatly refuses to do as he wants his films to speak for themselves and feels that it’s a way to lifting a curtain behind the magic), however he has stuck to his guns and I must respect his decision. It does feature some nice extras:

The first piece is called The Fabelmans: A Personal Journey and runs 11:00. It focuses on comments by producer Kristie Macosko Kriger, who is on board with the director for the ninth time; co-writer Tony Kushner, and how the film came about, the product of a conversation while the director was shooting Munich in Malta in 2005.

The second piece is named Family Dynamics and runs 15:28. Much of the cast of the film discusses their feelings and interpretations of the real-life people they portray in the film.

The third and final extra is called Crafting the World of The Fabelmans and runs 22:04. This is a bit more in-depth with input from Production Designer Rick Carter; Costume Designer Mark Bridges; Directory of Photography Januz Kaminski; Property Master Andrew M. Siegel; Editors Michael Khan (on his 30^th film with the director) and Sarah Broshar; Actress Chloe East; Actors Sam Rechner and Oakes Fegley; and Maestro/Composer John Williams.

The set also includes a digital version for streaming.

While the film is a no-brainer for Spielberg completists, being one is not a prerequisite as it can be enjoyed as a work of fiction for those who do not idolize the subject of the film.

The Fabelmans is an example of life not only imitating art, but art imitating life as well.

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