Phenomena

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders

A young Jennifer Connelly plays Jennifer Carvino, a fragile-looking waif whose unusual power to control insects comes in handy when she is psychologically brutalized in a nightmarish Swiss boarding school.

Two vicious teachers and students who constantly taunt her out of jealousy (her father is a famous movie star), make Jennifer’s life at school a nightmare. But when she calls on her insect friends for help, the stakes even out and her enemies are swarmed by flies and such. But serious evil is afoot in the mountains: some sort of monster is murdering young girls and the only one who seems even close to catching the killer is a wheelchair-bound scientist (Donald Pleasance) who specializes, coincidentally enough, in insects.

Jennifer also befriends a chimp who during the production actually bit her finger off (it was surgically reattached). Layer in swaths of Argento dream logic replete with many head-scratching moments, and you’ve got yourself a damned entertaining piece of mid-80s popcorn fun.