HF: Wait. Did Jennifer stand on a pier in Phenomena, too?

PHENOMENA

(Dario Argento, 1985)

Hard to believe, but Jennifer Connelly would have just been shy of 14 when she filmed this Giallo from Argento. She plays an American teen attending a boarding school in Switzerland where a serial killer is killing young women. Oh, and she has a telepathic connection to insects. And there's a monkey that uses a razor to get revenge. And Donald Pleasance is also there. It's all a bit goofy, but it works. I was shocked to realize this is only the second Argento I've seen. Better get cracking. GRADE: B

PREVENGE 

(Alice Lowe, 2017)

A pregnant woman begins hearing her unborn child urging her to murder in this horror/dark comedy mashup. Lowe wrote, directed and stars; she's a true talent, one I hope gets more vehicles in the future. The film does occasionally suffer from being uneven, it's a hugely ambitious debut and one with a unique voice behind it. I think it's probably the rare film to depict a female killer from her perspective. The Witch's Kate Dickie also appears. GRADE: B

RABID

(David Cronenberg, 1977)

Early Cronenberg in which adult film actress Marilyn Chambers plays a woman injured in a motorcycle accident. After an experimental surgery, she develops a stinger-type thing (with pretty obvious symbolism) in her underarm that feeds on people and causes a zombie outbreak. Despite being over forty years old, Rabid has remained a genuine original - a take on both the zombie and body horror genres that really pulls you in as it continues. Low budget and rough around the edges in all the right ways. I get the feeling this one will grow in esteem for me with future viewings. GRADE: B+

STONEHEARST ASYLUM

(Brad Anderson, 2014)

An impressive cast leads this gothic chiller, a mediocre adaptation of the short story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" by Edgar Allen Poe. A young alienist (Jim Sturgess) is brought to an insane asylum where the inmates are running the...well, you get it. Given the clever spin Anderson put on the mental institution thriller in Session 9, I was disappointed this one didn't offer anything new. Kate Beckinsale, Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Brendan Gleeson and David Thewlis round out the cast. GRADE: C

UNHINGED

(Derrick Borte, 2020)

A single mother (Caren Pistorius, a Daisy Ridley doppelganger) battling some personal and financial problems gets a vicious taste of road rage from a fellow driver (Russell Crowe) in this thriller. Crowe has put on significant weight in the past several years, and that actually helps him in this role playing a bloated sociopath with nothing to lose. (I don't mean for this to sound mean at all!) The film thankfully wholly embraces its B-movie mechanisms, though it doesn't quite hit the highs of films like Joy Ride and Breakdown. GRADE: B