They take potshots at each other mostly in jest, but their dialogue is crisp and snappy and keeps you engaged as they track down whatever or whoever is responsible for attacking Father Giron. Sagrario, Gloria, and Paz have a dynamic relationship that sounds very much like three women who have been working together for way too long. A young college scientist named Pablo accompanies them and is there as a skeptic, intent on rationally disproving their unexplainable logic. Within the first few minutes of the film, director Carlos Theron has the group on the trail of an entity that has critically injured Father Pilon as he is following up on a lead of a potential poltergeist at a local antique shop. They are a celebrated group in Spanish society (like Ghostbusters but without the proton packs and jumpsuits) and have been working together for years when a particularly troubling case unfolds in 1998 that the chain-smoking, dyspeptic ghost hunters set out to solve. The women on his team include Gloria ( Toni Acosta), who is a two-pack-a-day smoker who happens to be a gifted spiritual medium, Sagrario ( Belen Rueda), a psychic and widow who is trying desperately to move on with her life despite the calls from beyond the grave from her late husband, and Paz ( Gracia Olayo), a whiz with the camera and recorder tasked with documenting the group's bizarre encounters with the dead. It stars Emilio Gutierrez Caba as Father Pilon, a priest who recruits three women to unite, each with a slightly different specialty in the field of tracking and communicating with the dead, to wage war with untold spirits and things from mysterious other planes of existence that are causing great discord for their Madrid-based clients. The premise is nothing new, but the characters are rich, complex, and completely engaged in this Spanish dark comedy based on the real-life group called the Hepta Group that investigated the unnatural. ![]() ![]() HIGHLIGHT: The plot becomes more and more freakishly surreal until Connelly finds herself, first, in an underground tunnel, following the extension cord of a telephone (a scene reminiscent of Alice in a seriously frightening Wonderland), and, later, in a filthy pool full of human bones and maggots.Phenomena is a brand-new release on Netflix, and we have a feeling that this story of a trio of paranormal investigators may be breaking its way into the streamer's top 10 films very soon. Also stars Daria Nicolodi in a more wicked role than usual and Patrick Bauchau as a police detective. Argento's never been a great writer of dialogue, so some of the lines seem pretty stilted, and you also have to put up with some so-so acting from a good majority of the cast (also, unfortunately, typical of a lot of Argento's movies), but these things are easy to overlook in the midst of the nightmarish beauty and creepy atmosphere on display here. ![]() As in Argento's "Opera," some of the use of annoying late ∘0s metal bands (like Iron Maiden and Motorhead) doesn't work half as well as the ominously beautiful score composed by Claudio Simonetti. It's like a twisted fairy tale, with heroic flies, disfigured killer midgets, and vengeful chimpanzees with straight razors. This movie may be short on sense and logic, but it more than makes up for it with outrageous style and bizarre uniqueness. Helping Connelly find the murderer are crippled Donald Pleasance, his intelligent primate assistant, and the entire insect world, with which Connelly has an unexplainable psychic connection. ![]() (****1/2 out of *****) My personal favorite Argento picture, this stars a young Jennifer Connelly (who would later go on to win a best supporting actress oscar for "A Beautiful Mind") as an American student in a snobby Swiss boarding school that is being terrorized by a brutal serial killer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |