uk phenomena dvd review

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PHENOMENA
DACFILM ; ITALY

dvd specification
original year of release: 1984
approximate running time: 111 minutes
aspect ratio: widescreen 1.66:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: UK 18
sound: english dolby digital 2.0
dvd release: divid 2000
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
interview with Dario Argento
interview with Claudio Simonetti
behind the scenes featurette
music video

[video][sound][extras][conclusion]

Jennifer Corvino (Connelly) arrives at an exclusive girls school in Switzerland, populated by a stern, beautiful headmistress, taunting classmates and a psychotic killer stabbing young girls and keeping parts of their bodies. However, Jennifer has an unusual gift and can communicate with and befriend insects. This and the fact that she has a habit of sleep walking lead her to an entomologist John McGregor (Pleasance) with whom she at last has a common interest. Together they start to try and solve the recent killings, with the help of insects (actually the Great Sarcophocus fly which feeds exclusively on human remains) , until Pleasance is killed and then its all down to Jennifer.

video
This dvd has the best quality video transfer I have seen of this film. There are no signs of video induced grain or pixelation and the image is nice and sharp. The blacks are nice and dark and contrast is fine. The transfer has been taken from a French print or at least, the credits are in French. It seems to be correctly framed at 1.66:1 however compared to my Anchor Bay dvd there is a little picture loss top and bottom.

This also appears to be the same version as the Anchor Bay release e.g. not the cut CREEPERS that was previously released in the UK on video or the extra long 'integral' version that is available on dvd in Japan.

sound
This is where things go wrong. The soundtrack is only mono! I didn't really expect a 5.1 remix but I thought at least it would be in stereo surround. As far as it goes this is clear and crackle free but is a major let down.

extras
Once again a UK disc doesn't come up with the extras that were promised. There is no commentary with Simonetti that I can access either from the menu or via my remote during play. The extra's that do exist are pretty lame. The 'interviews' with Dario and Simonetti are only about 1.5 minutes long each and hardly worth it and the behind the scenes segment has been directly lifted from World of Horror! What a waste of time.

conclusion
I really hope Divid get their act together for the other two Argento dvd's they are releasing as this is just not good enough.

reviewed by NJD

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