Movies
Dario Argento’s ‘Phenomena’ Getting a TV Series Adaptation from Italian Company
Dario Argento’s Italian horror classic Phenomena (also known as Creepers) is headed to the small screen, with Variety reporting that Italy’s Titanus Production is behind the series.
Phenomena: The Series is said to “reimagine” the world of Dario Argento’s 1985 horror movie, delivering “a unique blend of supernatural intrigue and high-stakes drama.”
From writers and creators Nicola Guaglianone and Menotti, the series “follows Jennifer Corvino, an American student at a fencing academy in the glamorous Dolomites, who harbors a secret psychic link with insects. As Jennifer navigates the challenges of being the new girl at school, she must also confront a series of brutal murders.
“With her unique abilities, Jennifer must learn to harness her power to stop the killer, save her comrades, and survive.”
It was future Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly who played Jennifer Corvino in Argento’s movie, with the film’s cast also including Donald Pleasence, Daria Nicolodi, and Patrick Bauchau.
“We have reimagined the visionary world of Dario Argento’s iconic film, bringing it to life with a fresh twist that blends the sinister undertone with the pop aesthetic,” the show’s producers said in a statement shared by Variety this morning. “With the work of successful writers, Nicola Guaglianone and Menotti, our goal is to make a compelling series, with a bold, state-of-the-art aesthetic, honoring the original but speaking to a new generation.”
The series project is currently being pitched to prospective partners and broadcasters.
Meagan Navarro wrote of Argento’s original movie here on Bloody Disgusting back in 2021, “Dario Argento combined both Giallo and supernatural horror with this bonkers ‘80s gem.”
It’s been eight years since Ari Aster came onto the scene and helped usher in a new wave of horror with Hereditary, one of the rare horror movies from the past ten years that still seems to come up in conversation every single week. And it’s back in the conversation this week, with Ari Aster revealing at an event that he’s already written a prequel to Hereditary!
Ari Aster was on hand at the American Cinematheque for Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair last week, a Los Angeles festival that screened all of Aster’s movies to date. The website Gold Derby reports that Aster revealed the Hereditary prequel script during a Q&A at the event, and you can watch the full Q&A conversation below for confirmation on the website’s report.
“I wrote a prequel to this,” Aster told the crowd, referring to Hereditary. “It never feels like the right time to do it. It’s a prequel, not a sequel so I don’t know where this goes.”
Would a potential Hereditary prequel dig deeper into the mythology of demon king Paimon? Unfortunately, Aster provides no further details on his prequel approach at this time.
Aster said of Hereditary during the same Q&A, “I was just trying to make a really good horror movie.” I think most horror fans would agree that he more than accomplished that goal, and the past eight years have proven that Hereditary is an enduring classic of its generation.
We celebrated the fifth anniversary of Hereditary here on BD back in 2023.
Ron Breton wrote, “Hereditary offers a similar emotional resonance to this new generation of horror – my generation of horror– as movie-goers in the seventies when they first saw Exorcist. Much like Aster’s film, we see the incomprehensible evil wear the face of a young girl; the victim of a raw deal she had no say in, as it tears a family to its core. Sure, both films offer so many terrifying visuals that can make the hair stand up on anyone’s neck – but it also depicts intense relationships and emotions that are tangible. Real. Familiar.”
“In that familiarity lies the uncanny, ready to rear its ugly head and force us to confront thoughts and horrors laying dormant and clawing at our psyche,” Breton continued his 5th anniversary celebration of Hereditary. “And it doesn’t matter if it’s been five or fifty years. These horrors are always there, as we become pawns in its horrible, hopeless machine.”
Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Ann Dowd, and Milly Shapiro star in Hereditary. In the film, “A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.”
That’s putting it mildly, eh?!
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