Jennifer Connelly: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Jennifer Corvino - Phenomena (1985)

When Black Swan was released four years ago, many critics made the connection with the films of Italian horror director Dario Argento; Mark Kermode, who really liked the film, even described the last 20 minutes as being like "Dario Argento on crack". But while Aronofsky can claim to have been inspired by the giallo maestro, Connelly actually worked with him, in a creepy if confusing work called Phenomena (released as Creepers in the USA). Like many of Argento's films, Phenomena begins with a young girl arriving at a prestigious school, in this case the Richard Wagner Academy for Girls in Switzerland. While sleepwalking out on the roof at night, Jennifer witnesses the murder of another student, and ends up being rescued by entomologist John McGregor (Donald Pleasance). Seeing how she interacts with the insects in his laboratory, McGregor deduces that Jennifer may have telepathic or telekinetic abilities - abilities which may aid her in catching the killer. Phenomena is a lesser, more derivative Argento work: it borrows heavily from Carrie and The Fury while also reworking many elements of Argento's own films like Suspiria and Inferno. But as with Labyrinth it is sustained and made believable - just - by its central performances, and as before Connelly goes toe-to-toe with an established talent, in this case Pleasance. While much of the plot is confusing and ridiculous, Connelly is a convincing young heroine with a surprising amount of screen presence.