starring: Jennifer Connelly, Donald Pleasence, Daria Nicolodi and Patrick Bauchau
written and directed by: Dario Argento

the plot: Jennifer Corvino (Connelly) is the daughter of an internationally famous actor. While her dad’s working on his latest movie, she’s sent away to a prestigious Swiss boarding school. But all is not right at the school. A serial killer haunts the area, with the latest victim’s severed head turning up days before Jennifer’s arrival in town. Police inspector Geiger (Bauchau) is stumped and enlists the help of Prof. John McGregor (Pleasence), an entomologist who specializes in identifying insects that consume decayed flesh. During Jennifer’s first night at school, she sleepwalks and witnesses a horrifying murder. When she next awakens, she’s at McGregor’s home. Jennifer quickly befriends the professor and his helper monkey and discovers that she can communicate with insects. When Jennifer’s roommate falls victim to the killer, she pledges to help the professor find the murderer no matter what. But the school’s domineering headmistress and her assistant, Frau Bruckner (Nicolodi), are intent on keeping Jennifer under lock and key—whether at the school or in a nearby insane asylum.

why it’s good: Can you go wrong with a movie that stars both Jennifer Connelly and a monkey? The answer, of course, is absolutely not, especially when Donald Pleasance and Dario Argento are involved. “Phenomena” (released in America initially as “Creepers”) is a fun mishmash of 1980s horror clichés—an isolated boarding school, a stalking serial killer, a supernatural adolescent—that works really well, despite being all over the map. Argento puts Connelly through the wringer here, making her the object of taunts and harassment at the boarding school and the target of a sadistic killer outside the school (though it’s not nearly as bad as the hell Connelly’s character goes through in “Requiem for a Dream”). The plot is a little scattershot, and lots of things happen without reason or explanation, though most everything is chalked up to Connelly’s awesome bug superpowers. Argento works some stylish murders and decapitations in with the insect action, but the film drags a little in places as Argento mixes supernatural elements with standard giallo scenes. Pleasence is great in his small role as a grizzled, wheelchair-bound entomologist, but he’s not in the film nearly enough, and that cute monkey steals all his scenes, anyway. The killer’s reveal at the end is kind of silly, but Argento makes up for it with an awesome, bloody climax that involves a swarm of insects, some fiery explosions and a well-timed monkey appearance. Monkeys—is there anything they can’t do?

why you should own it: Come on, it’s Jennifer Connelly and a monkey! How could you not own it? Along with “Suspiria” and “Tenebrae,” “Phenomena” is one of Argento’s most accessible films and deserves a place in your home library. Anchor Bay’s disc contains the full 110-minute version of the film, restoring many of the scenes that were cut from its initial release (when it was titled “Creepers”)