Tags:
Film: Aenigma
Year: 1987
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writers: Lucio Fulci and Giorgio Mariuzzo
Starring: Jared Martin, Lara Lamberti and Ulli Reinthaler
Review:
This was a film that I didn’t know about until getting into horror movie podcasts. I knew of Lucio Fulci, our co-writer and director, from films like Zombie and City of the Living Dead. This film is one that went on a list to see. For Italian Horror Month, Fulci is a director that I’m working through his deeper cuts and this was the most popular that I hadn’t seen yet.
Synopsis: the spirit of a comatose teenage girl possesses the body of a newcomer to her girls’ boarding school to enact bloody revenge against the elitist, lingerie-clad coeds responsible for her condition.
We start this off with a cheesy, but fun song while Kathy (Milijana Zirojevic) gets ready for a date. Kim Wilkins (Sophie d’Aulan) and her boyfriend, Tom (Dragen Bjelogrlic) are helping her. She goes out with Fred Vernon (Riccardo Acerbi). What is weird, which we’ll learn later, is that he is a teacher at the school. This turns out to be a prank. Kathy is chased to the road, where she is hit by a car.
She ends up in a hospital. The doctor in charge is Robert Anderson (Jared Martin). We see the monitor scanning for brain function go level. There is something odd that starts happening though.
We get an interesting shot as we rise from the hospital and move over to the school, which is St. Mary’s College. Eva Gordon (Lara Lamberti) arrives. She is shown around by a nun who informs her that they’re making a special case for her, since they don’t normally allow students to enroll in the middle of the year. Eva is freshly out of a mental hospital where she has a breakdown. She is shown to her room and she shares it with Jenny Clark (Ulli Reinthaler).
We then get to know Eva a bit more. In class, she flirts with Fred, showing up at his door later that day. He doesn’t answer. We see the reason is that he’s attacked by a doppelgänger. Eva reveals her past which is inconsistent. One moment she claims to be from New Orleans, then denying it later. The head housekeeper at the school is Mary (Dusica Zegarac), Kathy's mother. As strange events escalate, Robert becomes increasingly involved in solving the mystery and getting too familiar with the students.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is by saying that this feels like Fulci and co-writer Giorgio Mariuzzo were inspired by the film, Patrick. Both have a young person, confined to a hospital bed and using telekinesis to influence things. This is slightly different where Kathy is possessing Eva. I’m not fully sure why that is the case though. There are just some inconsistencies.
Now that I’ve set that up, let me start with the things that were good. The plot—a young woman is pranked, falls into a coma, and seeks revenge—feels like a mix of Carrie and Patrick. Her possession of Eva is a good element, especially since she’s coming off a mental break. The possession itself is unclear; she may need a body to perceive things before influencing. Fulci's use of nightmare logic explains the lack of detail, but I wanted a bit more clarity.
Then having Kathy getting her revenge on those that wronged her is good. This starts with Fred, then moving to others like Tom, Kim, Grace O’Neal (Jennifer Naud) and Virginia Williams (Kathi Wise). It is through these that she plays on things that scare them or just using good set pieces. Now there is something odd that happens late in this film. It reveals that Robert is a scumbag. Why Jenny is being targeted doesn’t fully make sense to me.
That is all I want to delve into for the story, let’s take this over to filmmaking. There is good stuff here. I think they do interesting things with the cinematography and framing. An example is showing us something that might not be real, playing with reality and the surreal. There’s a great scene in a museum where a painting is bleeding. The effects here are fine. Not as strong as other Fulci films, but they do interesting things there, playing on fears. I do think that for the most part the soundtrack is solid as well. It does help build the atmosphere and credit to the theme song.
All that is left then would be the acting performances. What is interesting is that we truly don’t meet our lead, Dr. Anderson, until close to the midway point. He first seems like a minor character. Martin’s performance is fine. My issues are more with how his character is written. Lamberti and Reinthaler round out the main characters. Both are attractive, along with the group of mean girls: d’Aulan, Naud and Wise. Acerbi and Bjelogrlic are also solid. Zirojevic as this bedridden specter works. Zegarac and the rest of the cast also rounded this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, despite narrative flaws and an abrupt character reveal, this is an enjoyable, stylish Italian horror film. Clearly influenced by Patrick and Carrie, the plot centers on a comatose girl who uses telekinesis to enact revenge through a new student. Director Fulci delivers on atmosphere with striking cinematography, surreal imagery (like the bleeding painting), and a strong soundtrack. Serviceable acting grounds the horrific scenes. For Fulci fans, this lesser-known work offers suitably unsettling, vengeful horror thrills.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10