Salt Lake Film Society Summer Showdown: Phenomena vs The Last Unicorn

Fantasy movies of the 80s have a level of intrigue and engrossment that I find hard to replicate in today’s cinema landscape. As much as I love Peter Jackson‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy, I can’t help but pontificate on the notion that it may have led to the degradation of quality in current fantasy films. Not because the trilogy is subpar — far from it — but because it was such a huge sensation that every fantasy movie after it tried to aim for the same heights of success and forgot to establish their own identity. High-fantasy films that come out today attempt to replicate the sense of scale and epicness of those films, but they forget to capture a sense of imagination.

When I think of great fantasy movies outside of the Lord of the Rings, I find that smaller, more personal stories contain this sense of whimsy and magic that I crave — stories that focus on a character’s journey within the fantastical and how the fantastical affects them. This week’s Summer Showdown pits two very different, and still very fantastical, movies against each other: Dario Argento’s Phenomena (1985) and Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.’s The Last Unicorn (1982).

Phenomena is a supernatural giallo that follows Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly), the daughter of a famous actor, who is sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. Jennifer possesses an innate and strange connection to insects that surface during her stay. She soon befriends forensic entomologist John McGregor (Donald Pleasance) and his chimpanzee, Inga, who help her after they find her sleepwalking. Jennifer learns that there is a serial killer and, through her connection with insects, decides to unmask them. 

The Last Unicorn is the animated tale of the titular last unicorn (Mia Farrow) and her journey to find where and why all the unicorns have vanished. After learning about a Red Bull that chased away all the unicorns, she sets out to learn the truth.Throughout her adventure, she befriends a blundering sorcerer named Schmendrick (Alan Arkin) and Molly Grue (Tammy Grimes). Together they venture to the joyless King Haggard’s (Christopher Lee) castle to find where the Red Bull drove the unicorns off to. 

While both films explore fantasy and even connections to nature, they couldn’t be more different. Phenomena is a classic giallo through and through: over-the-top bloody kills, terrible dubbing and a stellar progressive-rock soundtrack composed by Goblin, with Iron Maiden’s “Flash of the Blade” blaring throughout the film. It is a truly bizarre experience. The Last Unicorn, on the other hand, is an animated movie aimed at children that actually features a talented and notable voice cast like Farrow, Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges and so on. The film is bright and colorful with music by folk rock band America and indulges in the more adventurous side of fantasy. 

As a pure giallo, I enjoyed Phenomena; Connelly gave a great performance especially in the scenes where she was paired with Pleasance. There is a certain dreamlike quality in the film’s limited color palette of white, black and violet that gives it a sinister atmosphere throughout. However, I couldn’t help but yearn for the more intense and eye-catching use of colorful lighting in Argento’s other films like Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980). I also found that the beginning two-thirds of the movie tends to drag, but the third act ramps the energy up so high that it practically saves the movie. I also can’t help but acknowledge that Inga should get the award for best monkey. Still, I feel that a better double feature for this movie should have been Labyrinth (1986) — and not just because Connelly is in that one too — or The Dark Crystal (1982).

The Last Unicorn is a film I feel would have had a profound effect on me if I had watched it when I was younger. The backgrounds are reminiscent of the art style used in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959) with detailed textures on the forest and vivid green and blue hues. Simply looking at a still image of the film, you feel a sense of wonder and imagination come through. I also found myself moved by the themes this film tackles and how it approaches the differing perspectives of fantastical creatures and mortals — the ideas of morality, love and regret and how those experiences can change our core; along with how belief is a powerful tool. It is profound, albeit stifled by the nature of it being a film for children. And while I praise the story, I can admit that while better paced than Phenomena, it felt somewhat incomplete in developing its characters and their relationships with one another, often seeming to truncate much of the characters’ development in musical numbers or montages, which is a shame considering that these characters are rather likable and seem to have a level of depth that is just barely touched on.

Phenomena and The Last Unicorn are imaginative films that explore different aspects of fantasy. Phenomena is grotesque and bizarre, and while entertaining, I could only recommend it to an Argento completionist. For all of its flaws, I find The Last Unicorn to be the most compelling of the two films and this week’s Summer Showdown winner. —Angela Garcia 

Read more about this year’s SLFS Summer Showdowns:
Salt Lake Film Society Summer Showdown: Hedwig and the Angry Inch vs Velvet Goldmine
Salt Lake Film Society Summer Showdown: Blade Runner 2049 vs V for Vendetta

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