Phenomena (1985)
Is Phenomena the weirdest movie Argento ever made? Consider the evidence, starting with the fact that it’s the only movie he ever made in which Donald Pleasence (Halloween) plays a forensic entomologist living in a house full of bugs with Inga, his assistant, who also happens to be a chimpanzee. A Labyrinth-era Jennifer Connelly stars as the daughter of a movie star who’s sent to a Swiss boarding school, where she’s ostracized for being a bit unusual (she can communicate with insects) and pursued by an equally unusual killer who’s stalking the countryside. The supporting cast includes Nicolodi and another Argento regular-slash-protégé, Michele Soavi, who went on to direct cult films like Cemetery Man and Stage Fright.
