SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Leofwine_draca When Italian gore-man Lucio Fulci directed his infamous quartet of zombie movies (ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS, THE BEYOND, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, and HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY), he got something right. Something clicked and these films became classics to the sweaty collector of video nasties, even if they were classics for all the wrong reasons, but of course there is always something irresistible about watching actors covered in flour eating people.However, ever since then, Fulci churned out bad film after bad film, and the magic just wasn't there anymore. AENIGMA is one of Fulci's lesser items, a diabolical mixture of the then current slasher trend (something we now view with contempt) with some vague, insubstantial supernatural overtones. AENIGMA begins predictably, with a school prank going wrong (bringing to mind Cropsy's accidental burning in, er, THE BURNING), leaving a strange, bug-eyed girl in a coma. Forget CARRIE, this girl is seriously weird! Just her appearance is enough to send shivers down my spine. From the hospital bed she directs violence (think PATRICK) to those all around her, possessing a 'beautiful' girl and then murdering off the perpetrators of the prank one by one in a string of absurd death scenes. The plot also manages to drag in the setting of SUSPIRIA too, although the girl's school here lacks the atmospheric terror that filled Argento's movie. While Argento filled his school with frightening claustrophobia and nightmarish suspense, Fulci fills his with bad hairdos and horrendous dialogue.Bookended by bad pop songs (although there is a small bit of nice organ music), full of incredibly cheesy clichéd dialogue of the "what a hunk" kind (all delivered straight-faced, and all the more funny for it) and a prime example of bad film-making - in one instance the screen goes black for more than five seconds in between different scenes, which gives you some idea of the general incompetence all round. The acting is uniformly bad, and nobody, nobody registers on the sympathy scale (always a bad sign, I mean there aren't even any animals to sympathise with here). The only amusing person is the 'retarded' cleaner who bears an uncanny similarity to Martha from THE BEYOND, although I'm sure that's only coincidental. One ageing bloke is apparently irresistible to the girls, once again distancing this film from reality as far as possible.As usual with these kind of bad pictures, the variety of death scenes is the only reason worth watching this film for. Well, that is if you have to watch it, as it's an experience I wouldn't recommend unless you're a really big fan of horror films and you know what to expect with this one. A gym instructor is killed when his reflection comes out of the mirror in a startlingly original moment (although this brings back horrifying memories of the previous year's AEROBICIDE, and was actually done better in EVIL DEAD 2), while another bloke goes THE BOGEY MAN route of being decapitated by a window (a sight that always cracks me up - seeing an actor with his head stuck through a window, and then the next second a bouncing, rubbery thing which is supposed to be that same guy's bonce bouncing around outside!). A girl falls a short distance and apparently breaks her body, while a doctor has a dream about having sex with a young girl, and then being bitten and scratched to death by her in probably the most hard to stomach moment of the film (literally encapsulating the mix of sex and violence prevalent in the modern horror movie).In another dream sequence, a girl finds her dorm full of decapitated corpses, while in the most artistic moment of the entire thing, a lost girl in a museum is strangled by a statue which comes to life. Before this, we see a priceless painting bleeding, and this moment is the one, true, creative image in the whole film. The standout death this time around though (obviously inspired by the spider attack in THE BEYOND) is death by snails, totally ludicrous of course, but definitely a first. A girl, asleep on her bed, is enveloped by the sticky slimy snails, and there is something deeply unpleasant with this attack, as it pushes much the same buttons as SQUIRM and SLUGS. Unfortunately, this is the one so-bad-it's-good moment in a mediocre, below average movie. If you want a good Fulci film then go for a zombie one - after all, at least he was liberal with those guys. And don't ask me what the hell the title means either - I have absolutely no idea!

VinnieRattolle I love bad movies and foreign films and I can find redeeming qualities in nearly ANY movie... I'm always critical of people who proclaim that a film is 'the worst movie ever made,' but this one is almost deserving of being on a 'worst movies' list. The camera-work and acting rescues it from that fate... just barely. Admittedly, on a scene-by-scene basis, there were a few effective moments -- but it feels like the script was written in a single afternoon. Style without substance.In a very CARRIE-like opening sequence, Kathy (Dragan Bjelogrlic) is transformed from ugly duckling to... 1930s prostitute. She's soon humiliated by her peers and winds up in an accident that results in her becoming a permanent vegetable. She then leaves her body and possesses Eva (Lara Naszinsky), a new student with daddy issues who helps (?) get revenge on the people who scorned Kathy.Though Fulci has his patented visual flair, the film screams turkey and seems rife for a MST3K treatment. I'm not usually one to mock the screen, but I couldn't help myself with this movie. The biggest problem is that the story and dialogue (or at least the English dubbing) are laughably absurd, yet the actors are playing it straight. It reminds me of an Ed Wood film that's completely oblivious to its own badness. My condolences to the cast, who made the best of what they were given. The film is set in the USA (posters of Tom Cruise, Sly Stallone, Yoda and Snoopy adorn dorm walls), but little care was put into researching American dorm life, and absolutely no care was put into researching medical facilities and jargon. The effects are terrible almost across the board. The three exceptions are a creepy mirror scene, an erotic sex scene that takes a nasty turn and a death-by-snail sequence that's uncomfortably well played (though still ridiculous). Unfortunately, a later scene with a menacing snake wasn't as effective -- we cut from silly reaction shots to inserts of a snake slithering across the floor. Ooga-booga. Then this scene goes from dopey to unintentionally hilarious. To top it all off, it's unclear WHY Kathy possesses Eva. Eva doesn't actually kill anyone (unless she did during one of the numerous times when my mind started wandering) and Kathy never actively takes over her body. I could've choked down a specter-like out of body experience, but the possession seems completely pointless.There are only three instances when I'd recommend this film. First, if you're gonna have a big party and are looking for a film to mock while you and your friends get hammered. Second, if you're looking for a textbook example of how NOT to write a story. And third, if you're a die-hard Fulci fan. If you're looking for a scary movie or under any other circumstances, beware. Get one of Fulci's earlier horror movies instead.

Coventry Judging by the amount of other user-comments and their content around here, this "Aenigma" (love the alternate spelling!) is a lesser known and thoroughly hated Lucio Fulci film. Well sure, it's not a patch on his earlier work but still it remains a remotely enjoyable bloodbath with some inventive killings (the snails!!) and an appealing cast of young & sexy schoolgirls. The story, although highly unoriginal, is easy to follow, unpretentious and fast-paced. Black sheep of Catholic girl's dorm Kathy is involved in a near-fatal car accident after a prank with the school's gym teacher. Shortly after, a new and extrovert girl makes her entry in the dorm but her mind seems controlled by the comatose Kathy. Through Eva Gordon, Kathy and her spiritual mother see a chance for revenge, starting with the death of the insufferable macho gym teacher. Fulci keeps the gore under control this time and focuses more on the brooding atmosphere. "Aenigma" features some beautiful camera-work, although admittedly, the same camera angles are often re-used several times. The girls' acting is extremely hammy and it's a good thing they all all look so cute, otherwise it would have been a lot more difficult to struggle yourself through the movie. Nothing spectacular or special, but it certainly isn't terrible, neither.

pasolini20 OH MY GOD !! ***************Kathy is a poor Carrie-like who gets humiliated by her "friends" and had a car accident. Her spirit possessed a new schoolgirl and gets his revenge of the bad guys !The first 10 minutes are hilarious (especially the song "Head over Meels"...with that "Dream come true...")... The rest of the film is like a TV movie, quite boring and absolutely not scary... Don't miss the appearance of the ghost on a Tom Cruise poster... Anyway, it's a great film to watch with friends, beer, pizzas...The french dubbing sounds to be made very quickly, Kathy's voice sounds like a man !!! love it...