Maitland Favorites: Phenomena

Latest in an occasional series of recommended classics, PLUS AN EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH DARIO ARGENTO

First understand that Dario Argento’s Phenomena (Italy, 1985), about a girl and her killer insects, was retitled Creepers for its initial U.S. release. And so when I met Dario for the first time, in distributor New Line Cinema’s New York City office, his first words to me were: "You have the Creepers sneakers!” Which I did — a pair of white high-tops coincidentally printed with all manner of insects (and a sole, which he did not see, imprinted with the bones of the human foot).

Dario was not only charming but impressively sanguine, given that the enigmatically titled Phenomena had been given a new name here, presumably motivated by concern that a ten-dollar word like “phenomena” might not bring in the crowds as well as something that at least hinted at the fact that it was about creepy crawlies. Lots and lots of them, a la, yes, Them! and Empire of the Ants (1954/1977, giant mutant ants), The Swarm (1978, seriously pissed-off bees), Bug (1975, giant mutated pyro cockroaches), Mimic (1997, freakier mutated cockroaches) and even Blue Monkey (1986) which, title notwithstanding, is not about a mutant monkey but, yes, yet another big, bad bastard of a bug. Remember, we have the guns but they’ve got the numbers.

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