Enigma do Pesadelo

I am not surprised to see mostly negative reviews for Fulci's 1987 "Carrie" inspired "Aenigma". It does not stand up to his late 70's/early 80's gore epics that you all are familiar with. But wait, let's remember that Fulci is still visually inventive in 87, with lots of great camera moves and flair. The man knew how to tell a story, folks. He may have been a jerk to his colleagues, but what a great craftsman. He was trying to make a US style teenager quasi slasher popcorn movie here, a lighter less horrifying type of deal. I think it should also be said that this was well cast. The beautiful college girls each play their roles with unique personalities, something you won't find in most US films of this type. The geeky girl in the red dress is a hoot, and so is the famous snail scene. Best of all is the English new wave/pop sappy romance song that sets up the audience perfectly. It's an interesting and engaging story, even if it is clearly inspired by Carrie. And unlike so many other horror films, the ending is rewarding, logical AND suspenseful. I still haven't seen a Fulci film that I don't like, and this is no exception...check it out!

The late Lucio Fulci, director of numerous Italian gore classics, obviously deemed gastropods so terrifying that he gave them starring roles as slimy killers in Ænigma, a 1987 clunker that clumsily blended elements of Carrie and Patrick to tell the tale of a comatose girl out to seek revenge on those responsible for her condition.

In the snails' unforgettably daft scene, a girl awakens to find herself smothered by the slow-moving molluscs, who ultimately suffocate the poor lass, covering her from head to foot in slime. It's just one bad moment out of many bad moments in a very bad film.

Ænigma opens with a young woman named Kathy (Milijana Zirojevic) excitedly preparing for a date (with the help of her friends) by selecting a nasty red dress and plastering on her make-up like a clown. Once ready for her night of romance (gold eyelids—check!; red cheeks—check!; hideous hairstyle—check!), the girl rushes to the door to meet her lucky beau.

Later that night, the couple park in a remote spot for a bit of canoodling. Kathy soon gets into the mood, and begins to moan loudly and writhe in pleasure, much to the delight of the small crowd of onlookers hiding in the bushes. Yes, Kathy is the subject of a mean school prank: the guy she is getting all gooey over doesn't really go for the minging clown look; he's only with the poor lass in order to humiliate her in front of his pals.

Realising the truth, Kathy runs away in tears, only to be hit by a car, ultimately ending up in intensive care.

Meanwhile, at the exclusive boarding school where Kathy lived with her mother, new student Eva Gordon (Lara Naszinsky) is getting used to her new environment. However, fitting in with the other girls might not prove to be easy, since Eva is being telepathically controlled by Kathy, who is looking to even the score with her bullies...

I get the distinct feeling that, with this particular film, Fulci was attempting a more stylish approach than usual:Ænigma is rather restrained in the gore department, and the boarding school setting and general ambiance is very reminiscent of the work of giallo genius Dario Argento. Unfortunately, Fulci is not quite in the same league as Argento when it comes to creating stunning visuals and a dreamlike atmosphere, and the result is a rather bland and unmemorable effort that leaves one longing for some yucky eyeball trauma or a bit of messy brain scrunching to spice things up.

The story, a weak mix of elements stolen from several much better films, doesn't make much sense (no explanation is given for how Kathy can conjure up snails and, in one equally silly scene, animate a marble statue), and the majority of the cast is pretty lousy. The only recognisable name in the film (recognisable to fans of low-budget trash, I mean) is B-movie star Jared Martin who is totally wasted in his role as a neurologist (although he does get to roll around naked with a lightly-oiled Naszinsky, which would be a fair enough reason for taking the gig!).

Ænigma is one for Fulci fans who, like me, have seen all of his better known films already and are now just ticking off the other titles from his filmography for the sake of completion.

At a school for wayward girls that would give any British/Australian TV presenter/entertainer from the seventies a stroke, a prank has gone way, way wrong. Cathy, the weirdo daughter of the weirdo cleaner, has been set up on a date with Fred, the gym instructor (more on him later). After being given a horrendous eighties make up job by her two 'friends', to the tune of horrendous eighties song that wouldn't be out of place on a Bowie album from the same era, she sets out with Fred, who puts the moves on her. What Cathy doesn't know is that everyone else at the school, and their boyfriends, are all listening in and shortly chase her around in their cars, causing her to be run over.

Now in a coma and because this is a Fulci film, we get to see Cathy's spirit float above a model town (with some leftover model buildings from The New Gladiators – I wonder if Fulci kept them in the same cupboard as Jared Martin, who stars in both films). She decides to possess the body of new pupil Eva, who's goal in life is to shag as many men as possible. There's about six other actresses playing pupils in this film but for the life of me I can't remember any of their names.

Eva's first port of call is Fred. Now, he's not in the film long, but he's worth a mention. Fred is the gym teacher for the school, and he loves to date the pupils, slap them on the arse, give them leg massages, tell the pupils that they're fat, and inadvertently cause them to get run over by cars. So Eva sets up a date with him but doesn't quite get there as his reflection comes to life and strangles him, as they tend to do.

Basically, Fulci at some point has watched both Carrie and Patrick and thought "Me too!" Cathy is now possessing Eva, and causing the deaths of all involved in her accident. At one point Eva throws a hissy fit which brings her to the attention of Doctor Jared Martin, who of course is also Cathy's doctor, and they hit it off.

So the rest of the film plays out like you'd expect, with those girls all meeting their demises in various surreal ways (death by snail, death by a statue coming to life in an art gallery after a picture comes to life and stabs itself, raining blood on one of the girls, a run of the mill falling out the window gag), until Eva's family show up suddenly and take her home, causing Jared to go out with yet another one of the girls. This doesn't make Cathy a happy camper.

What surprised me after watching Aenigma was how it wasn't a pile of crap at all. In fact, I quite enjoyed it! Judging by how ill Fulci looks when he makes his usual cameo, I'm surprised he managed to make something that has an actual storyline (see Manhattan Baby for the opposite of this). Sure, it's your run of the mill late era Italian horror, but the snails, art gallery bit and completely original storyline if you haven't seen Patrick make it worth a watch. It's got all the visual trademark's of our Lucio, and looks pretty good in general. The fake heads look…faker than usual, but that seems to go with the low budgets. Seriously, see the fake head in Red Monks for a further example of the decline in fake head quality.

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 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. The dubbing is poor as usual ans there's a really REALLY, bad ballad being crooned over the prologue when Kathy is looking forward to her big night out! Even Fulci completists could rest easy without ever watching this one. A real stinker.

I've seen several movies made by Fulci. And this one is the least terrifying and scary among the others I've watched. For me it was much more easier to watch "Aenigma" then, for example, "Black Cat" or "House by the Cemetery" (which are, of course, the must seen ones). Nevertheless it has everything a good horror movie should have. I really like it, especially the ending, which shows brilliant work of camera and music together. This movie is an example of Lucio Fulci remarkable capability generated from his very own vision of reality to create the unique mood and atmosphere.