Ænigma (1988)

OK, so Lucio Fulci's "Aenigma" - sometimes stylized "Ænigma" - is basically a retread of "Carrie", but it is one enjoyable movie. It's got just the atmosphere that one would expect in a 1980s Italian horror flick. And that one shot of Lara Lamberti! That gal must have had to beat boys off with a stick in high school! I notice that unlike the notable slashers from the US, Euro-horror movies of the '70s and '80s didn't spawn sequels (and there haven't been remakes/reboots). One might say that they stayed unique. Whatever the case, these are among the most fun that you'll ever have watching a movie. Another movie with a similar plot was Dario Argento's "Phenomena" (aka "Creepers"), starring a young Jennifer Connelly as a girl at a Swiss boarding school who develops the ability to communicate with insects amid a series of murders.Yeah, I wish that English had retained the Æ. I've always found it to be a neat letter.

Bizarre, corny, but reasonable entertaining Fulci rip on "Carrie" takes the premise one step further. The unfortunate victim of a college prank gone terribly wrong when those who humiliated her caused poor Kathy(Mijlijana Zirojevic)to walk out in front of a moving car, she lies brain-dead in Intensive care on life-support. But, even in these terrible conditions, the need for revenge drives Kathy's vengeful spirit to possess the host of nervous-breakdown beauty, Eva Gordon(the simply gorgeous Lara Naszinsky who I wished would never leave the screen she's so easy on the eyes)into eliminating those who caused her harm. When each murder is about to be set-up and executed, Kathy experiences violent emotion which bewilders Dr. Robert Anderson(Jared Martin, who many might remember from the short-lived, but great, "War of the Worlds" series)whose in charge of her care. Kathy should not be experiencing anything in her worsening state, so when she, all of a sudden, shows signs of aggression after such states of silence it doesn't make sense in a clinical way. Meanwhile, we come to understand that the methods used against each victim stems from their own dreams, with unusual results. The gym instructor's own reflection attacks(he's quite an egomaniac for whom Kathy adored and the major culprit in the dirty prank that went awry)him, one student is attacked by snails(!), one girl is attacked by a Greek statue(!), another girl can not escape a room where the vision of her boyfriend beheaded remains on the bed(she falls to her doom in a state of panic from the dormroom window), and Dr. Anderson himself experiences a grisly dream where his new lover, student Eva, chews chunks of flesh from his torso and mouth.When Eva is sent away after too many violent temper tantrums and rebellious-type behavior(said to perhaps effect the other female students, in a negative was, that attend the St. Mary's Boston college), her lover Anderson starts a relationship with Jenny(Ulli Reinthaler). The doc sure loves the student body..yuk, yuk. So we see the wrath of Eva/Kathy, who escapes from her asylum home, as she confronts Jenny attempting to find Anderson's office. Will Jenny escape where others failed? While I'll be the first to admit that this flick makes little sense whatsoever, it sure has the same visual energy Fulci had a talent for expressing even with the hokiest of story-lines. The bizarre nature of the crimes against the victims is enough(..although most aren't that gory)to warrant at least one viewing. Good electronic score. Hilarious dated foot-note..you'll notice lots of posters featuring popular heroes and movies at that time(Tom Cruise/Top Gun poster, Sly Stallone/Rocky III poster, etc)in the 80's, I'm guessing Fulci added to give his Italian flick a more "American feel." Kathy's mother, the maid of St. Mary's, seems to have a red glow in her eyes and she plays a heavy role in either stopping the carnage or letting it continue. Either way, she understands that her beloved daughter is on the rampage.

...ehr, nevermind, I guess I'm a sick puppy. And it seems that I like tormenting myself too, 'cause last night a strange urge encouraged me to re-watch AENIGMA. I first saw it 6 years ago, or so, and thought it was rather bad. And now, 6 years later, guess what? It's still bad. From the moment the opening credits come on you know it can't be good: very bad 80's pop music and a girl that's putting make-up which makes her look even more ugly. Anyway, the story isn't exactly original: Ugly girl gets to be the victim of a prank by fellow-students and ends up in a coma. But her soul roams free, occasionally possessing the new girl in school and killing all the ones involved in the accident.Welcome to the 80's world of college-cuties: smoking in dorm-rooms with Sylvester Stallone & Tom Cruise-posters on the wall. The acting's really bad all the time and the sound editing's rather sloppy too. But the directing isn't really too bad. There are a few nice camera-moves and two fine top-shots of the school and the hospital (which do look like miniatures, by the way, but still nice). Are there any more reasons to watch this flick? Well, ehr... maybe: the death-by-snails-scene (kinda gross), the museum-sequence, a decapitation, and... a bizarre sex-scene in a dream with our leading-girl biting chunks out of the love-doctor.But there isn't much gore actually, considering Lucio Fulci made this. The movie itself never gets really boring due to the deaths and frequently intercut freaky shots of the creepy girl in a coma, but the ending seemed like they just (literally) pulled the plug on this movie. It really hurts me a lot to flunk a Fulci-movie, 'cause I'm a fan of some of his movies. Can't bring myself to give AENIGMA less than 4 stars though, because it still feels like a Fulci-movie. If you're only an average horror-fan, you should avoid this movie 'cause this is for Fulci-fans only.

OH MY GOD !! ***************Kathy is a poor Carrie-like who gets humiliated by her "friends" and had a car accident. Her spirit possessed a new schoolgirl and gets his revenge of the bad guys !The first 10 minutes are hilarious (especially the song "Head over Meels"...with that "Dream come true...")... The rest of the film is like a TV movie, quite boring and absolutely not scary... Don't miss the appearance of the ghost on a Tom Cruise poster... Anyway, it's a great film to watch with friends, beer, pizzas...The french dubbing sounds to be made very quickly, Kathy's voice sounds like a man !!! love it...