Aenigma

Starring:Riccardo Acerbi, Sophie d' Aulan, Dragan Bjelogrlic, Ljiljana Blagojevic, Rade Colovic, Zoran Lesic, Zorica Lesic, Jared Martin, Lara Naszinsky, Jennifer Naud, Ulli Reinthaler, Sabrina Siani, Franciska Spahic, Kathi Wise, Dusica Zegarac, Milijana Zirojevic
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Description

After her snobby schoolmates accidentally send her into a coma, poor little Kathy has only one way to get even--with her mind! Eva, another schoolgirl, falls under the spell of Kathy's vengeful psyche, which is capable of horrible destruction using telekinesis and even killer snails to do her bidding. Soon the hallways at St. Mary's School are filled with screaming, and there's no way to escape. In the tradition of Carrie, this psychic shocker from legendary Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci, the man behind such outrageous cult favorites as The Beyond and Zombie, is filled with the visual style and gruesome madness his fans have come to expect. Available for the first time in America, this eerie look at the dark side of adolescence proves that girls might be made of sugar and spice, but they're not always nice!

Customer Reviews:

Fulci falls on his face with this .......2007-05-12

No figure in the horror film genre is as divisive as Lucio Fulci. After watching his films, viewers tend to move into one of two camps. One side hails Fulci as a master of terror, a man who upped the gore quotient in his films while creating wonderfully atmospheric pictures. For these people, Fulci is up there with the likes of Dario Argento as one of the best Italian horror directors. The other camp sneers at these claims, pointing to the plodding pace of his films, the use of extreme gore to camouflage plot holes, and the director's inability to draw good performances out of his cast as evidence of mediocrity. Initially, I enjoyed Fulci's films, specifically "Zombie," "City of the Living Dead," and "The New York Ripper" because I did not know any better. When I came on the scene, you went to Fulci to feed your gore cravings. What a difference a few years exploring the genre makes! While I will not go so far as to remove Lucio from my play list, I have seen enough of his films to realize he is not a cinematic genius. He is at best a competent director, at worst an abysmal one, and there are plenty of examples of bad filmmaking in this director's filmography. Come on down, "Aenigma"!

And yes, I've used this introduction for nearly every Fulci review I've done.

"Aenigma" arrived near the end of Fulci's storied film career. Anyone who knows anything about Uncle Lucio knows what this means. Yep, that's right. He's clearly running out of steam. What we have with "Aenigma" is a "Carrie" knock off with little in the way of gory carnage or real scares. Unlike "City of the Living Dead," "The Beyond," or "Zombie," this movie simply won't do much for the diehard gore fan. Here's the story. Kathy (Milijana Zirojevic) ranks near the bottom of the social scale at St. Mary's College in Boston. A constant litany of cruel jokes, smarmy wisecracks, and sneers from her classmates virtually assures us that she'll seek bloody revenge against her tormentors. Sure enough, that's exactly what happens after a particularly vicious prank leads to an accident that leaves Kathy in a coma at the hospital. How can Kathy seek vengeance when she's supine in a hospital bed with lots of wires running from her head to cheesy, beeping machines? That's a good question. An excellent question, in fact, even though it isn't one I'm especially interested in answering. Why should I? Fulci sure as heck didn't care about explaining this clunker to the audience.

Anyway, it turns out that Kathy has somehow gained the ability to take over the mind of another girl, Eva Gordon (Lara Naszinsky), and send her into St. Mary's as a sort of Charles Bronson with [...]. Eva befriends all of the girls involved in Kathy's accident, as well as the beefy gym instructor Fred Vernon (Riccardo Acerbi), a man whose own guilt in the accident Fulci clearly establishes earlier. Eva acts sort of tarty, claiming that her goal at St. Mary's involves sucking face with as many boys as possible. She's also a troublemaker in other areas, drawing the wrath of the administration. What happens next? Blah, blah, blah. The girls start noticing weird things about Eva, little facts that don't match up with things she said earlier. Blah, blah, blah. Fred Vernon perishes in an extremely humorous manner. Blah, blah, blah. Who's that weird maid? I'll bet she's important to the plot! Blah, blah, blah. Look! Death by slugs! Blah, blah, blah. Look! Jared Martin paying the rent as Dr. Robert Anderson! Blah, blah, blah. Tom Cruise? What in the heck? Blah, blah, blah. If you haven't picked up on the sarcasm, I found "Aenigma" to be...well...pretty darn blah.

It isn't difficult to see where Fulci went wrong with this movie. Pretty much everything fails on nearly every level. A lack of serious gore effects we've come to know and love from Uncle Lucio effectively kills the film. Sure, the slug scene works well, and a couple of lame decapitations certainly spices things up here and there, but it's all rather restrained and surprisingly banal. A dream sequence promises carnage but doesn't really deliver the goods. It's sad, really, that Fulci would go to all this trouble to make a horror movie and then fail to ratchet up the grue. You're known for buckets of blood, man, so c'mon and DELIVER! Other elements of the film fail as well, especially the eardrum bursting, bad 1980s pseudo pop songs popping up all over the place. Watching the movie is like being stuck in an elevator for ninety minutes. And what's up with the Slavic actors and actresses in this thing? I'm looking at the names of people involved in this mess and I'm not sure whether I'm reading a cast list or reading roll call for a class at Kosovo Community College. All right, enough with the wisecracking. In short, "Aenigma" is a waste of time and space.

Image Entertainment released "Aenigma" on DVD over here in the states, and I have to say it's a very sad affair. Not as sad as the movie, mind you, but sad nonetheless considering "Aenigma" is a Fulci flick. The picture and audio quality aren't that good at all, I thought. Then there's the lack of extras on the disc. I'm the first person to say that I would NOT want to listen to a commentary track or sit through some long featurette explaining every aspect of this film's production, but Fulci fans do deserve something more than a bare bones presentation. Fulci completists will certainly want to pick up a copy of the disc. For casual viewers and uncommitted Lucio lovers, I would recommend going the rental route. "Aenigma" really isn't worth spending more than a couple of bucks at the local brick and mortar video store.

aenigma.......2002-07-05

i've seen a lot of lucio fulci's films and this is easily one of the worst! might be cause he does have a lot of great films but this one just gets ridiculous halfway through the movie. maybe worth a rent but definitely not a buy. stick to movies like City of the living dead, the beyond, new york ripper and other great italian films. this one's not very entertaining and does slow down in parts. only recommend if you are a very big lucio fan

Confusing and derivative.......2002-01-15

One of Fulci's lesser efforts, Aenigma is a blatant [copy] of so many other films, it's hard to count them all. Set in a school, it involves a misunderstood loner called Kathy who is cruelly taunted by her classmates, but takes revenge by means of psychic powers. So far, so "Carrie". But here, the cruel prank puts the victim into a coma, and it's from here that she wreaks havoc, which echoes "Patrick". She somehow manages to possess another student, who goes through the school leaving a trail of destruction and death on Kathy's behalf. Sounds great for Fulci fans, but don't hold your breath. The various revenge murders are all very unimpressive and often ridiculous, including a death by being scared of a museum and death by being confronted with a boyfriend's corpse! What's wrong with these people!? The film has no highlights of gore whatsoever, which is a major shortcoming in a Fulci film. Even it's set piece murder, a "death by snails" sequence will probably leave you laughing (how exactly do snails manage to overpower someone??). This, along with the film's title, makes me think that Fulci is actually trying to emulate Argento's far superior "Phenomeona". The film is generally pretty confusing, as Kathy's power, and her hold over the possessed girl are never properly explained. The acting is awful, the lead character (the possessed student) wanders around looking totally bored, so you won't really care about any of the characters. It's also ugly and dull to look at, even though Fulci tries to ape Argento yet again by bathing many shots in lurid coloured lighting, mostly a tiresome bright blue, but it just doesn't add up to anything coherent. Even Fulci completists could rest easy without ever watching this one.
A real stinker.

Pretty Good.......2001-12-05

An innocent girl gets a date with the boy she likes- only to find it was a joke. An accident sends her into a coma. The people responsible go to a girl's school, where a girl is possessed to take revenge on the perpetrators. The ending just kinda leaves you hanging. A pretty decent horror flick, but this is mainly for diehard Lucio Fulci fans. The story is a spinoff on Carrie in that it is a revenge film, but otherwise has no resemblance. However, it lacks the excessive gore that charcterise his most poular works: Zombie, Gates of Hell, The Beyond, House by the Cemetery, and New York Ripper. Still worth a look though.

Completely overpriced!.......2001-10-02

The movie itself would have deserved between 3 and 4 stars.
It is a fairly well directed version of the "Carrie" story.
Its blue tone and setting in a girl's boarding school are
reminiscent of Dario Argento's "Phenomena". It features some
macabre and bizarre deaths in the Fulci style.

Image's release is, unfortunately, rather meager ....
On the positive side, there is the transfer. Apart from occasional variations in color, it is sharp and colorful.
The first disappointment is the sound. Only a poor, monaural
english track is featured. No subtitles at all. This is
complemented by the total absence of bonus material. There are not even any interesting liner notes. ....

Customer Reviews:

Fulci falls on his face with this .......2007-05-12

aenigma.......2002-07-05

Confusing and derivative.......2002-01-15

Pretty Good.......2001-12-05

Completely overpriced!.......2001-10-02

Customer Reviews:

Fulci falls on his face with this .......2007-05-12

aenigma.......2002-07-05

Confusing and derivative.......2002-01-15

Pretty Good.......2001-12-05

Completely overpriced!.......2001-10-02

If "Aenigma" is the last item missing in your Fulci collection,
you may wish to go for this release, otherwise I recommend you
to check out some of the more interesting releases of Fulci
titles.

DVD:

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