Aenigma (1987)
By: CJ on September 29, 2006.
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| Image (USA). All Regions, NTSC. 1.85:1 (Non-anamorphic). English DD 1.0. 85 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Lucio Fulci
Starring: Jared Martin,
Lara Naszinski, Ulli Reinthaler, Sophie d'Aulan,
Jennifer Naud, Milijana Zirojevic
Screenplay: Lucio Fulci,
Giorgio Mariuzzo
Country: Italy
AKA: Ænigma |
Another of Fulci's lesser-known films finds
it way onto DVD via this Image disc, as part of
their Euroshock Collection. The story is pretty
basic and is about a young girl called Cathy (Milijana
Zirojevic) who has a prank played on her by the
other students at the College she attends. In fleeing
from her tormentors she is knocked down by a car
and in hospital subsequently falls into a deep coma.
Deep in her comatose state she finds that she
is able to transcend her physical body and possesses
at will a new student at the school, Eva (Lara
Naszinsky). Through Eva she is able to exact malevolent
supernatural revenge upon those who tormented
her. Through this premise Fulci is able to stage
grisly and inventive set pieces, the most bizarre
being death by snails. In fact, to be honest,
this is probably the most bizarre death scene
of any of Fulci's films, and earns the movie
some novelty points on this set piece alone.
Throughout all this grisly mayhem there is also
a sub-plot whereby Cathy by proxy through Eva
falls in love with Dr Robert Anderson (did you
follow that?) who also happens to be the doctor
who is tending to Cathy in hospital. But he soon
realises something is wrong and breaks off with
her and starts seeing another girl from the College
(what's wrong with this picture…middle
aged man dating schoolgirls, and no-one bats an
eyelid..?) which infuriates Cathy/Eva and precipitates
her into trying to kill the doctor's new
love. Of course she fails with the valiant doctor
defending his new sweetheart, but it is ultimately
Cathy's own mother who puts an end to her
murderousness by pulling the plug on her life
support machine. With mothers like that, who needs
enemies..?
This is not one of Fulci's better efforts,
not by a long chalk, but there is still plenty
here to recommend it. There are some highly inventive
death scenes and Fulci manages to direct just
about well enough to pull the whole thing off
reasonably effectively. Although cited as being
a homage to Carrie, I felt it
was closer to Patrick in tone
and theme. Whichever movie it may draw its influence
from, it certainly isn't an original idea
and Fulci doesn't really direct with his
usual enthusiasm. In fact his style here is more
languid and fluid rather than the 'in your
face' rapidity of films such as New
York Ripper or The Beyond. Aenigma certainly isn't
a bad film (definitely better than I expected
it to be) but it's no masterpiece either.
If you're a fan of Fulci or Italian horror
cinema in general, then this is definitely worth
picking up. However, if you're expecting
over-the-top gore and splatter you'll be
sorely disappointed. |
| Video |
| Considering some of the stellar Fulci releases
by Anchor Bay, this is a fairly poor offering from
Image. The start of the film looks a bit scratchy
and grainy but it does improve and becomes just
about acceptable. The image is fairly sharp and
vibrant but the colour balance is variable, it seems
to lack consistency – and the image does tend
to look a bit smeary. One does get the feeling that
more care and attention could have been paid to
restoring this film for DVD. |
| Audio |
| The sound is okay, but that's about it.
Certainly no audio fireworks here. However, the
music comes over well enough and the dialogue is
crisp and clear for the most part. As mono tracks
go this is about par for the course. |
| Extra Features |
| Extras? What extras? Image have done this
disc a great disservice by not even providing
the most basic of extra features, even a trailer
would have been something. No marks for Image
in this department whatsoever. There isn't
even a main menu screen – when you put the
DVD in the film simply starts playing and when
it finishes you have a scene select screen. That's
it. |
| The Verdict |
| As nice as it is to see this little-seen film
on DVD it's a shame that so little care and
attention has been paid to it. This seems to be
Image just creating a shelf filler and caring very
little for the actual quality of the disc. However,
for Fulci fans it's an essential purchase
and the transfer is just about acceptable. It's
an enjoyable film though - and not nearly as bad
as its reputation would suggest. That's only
my opinion though, of course. |
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