[Phenomena Review Netflix]Copied the concept of The Conjuring but still did well in its own way (no spoilers)

Phenomena A Spanish horror movie on Netflix, telling the story of three middle-aged women who investigate supernatural events. They are put to the test when their leader, Father Pello, falls into danger from an evil spirit, inspired by a true story.

Note: This article has been translated from Thai to English, I apologize if there are any mistakes/errors.

Phenomena Review

A horror movie that closely follows the formula of The Conjuring, using the story of the Hepta group founded in the 90s to investigate supernatural events. Led by a monk and a group of middle-aged women with different skills, including a medium, a video technician, a media communicator, as well as a physics intern using retro ghost detection tools. The story takes important events of the group and adapts them into a ghost movie, embellished as a story of the ultimate battle against evil spirits. The plot is designed to expand into a universe similar to The Conjuring.

Although the concept of the movie seems to be a direct copy of The Conjuring, the storyline still manages to have interesting differences. The main character is a middle-aged woman with her own life story, work, and some troubles that make all three main characters involved with each other in a way that cannot be separated. As the movie is led by a female protagonist, there are many scenes of dialogue and banter between women that give a humorous tone that does not quite fit with the horror atmosphere that the movie is trying to create. This is especially evident in the first half hour before encountering the numerous ghosts that are inserted in the movie, which might confuse the audience and make them think that the movie is not worth watching.

However, when the ghosts appeared in the second half of the movie, the atmosphere shifted to a truly scary horror film. The film included scenes of haunted houses, possessed bodies, Poltergeist phenomena, and continuous scares. Although there were no particularly innovative ghost scenes, the scares were effective and the sound effects added to the overall sense of fear.

What sets this movie apart from The Conjuring is that the plot isn’t solely about ghostly hauntings. There are also criminal cases and family violence that interject between the ghostly chases. It’s like a pause between the ghostly scenes before the climax, but it’s still frightening and has a logical connection to the main event that happens in the climax.

During the climax of the film, there were a lot of intense ghost scenes, including a ghost trickery scene that linked to the subplot of the main character, which had been hinted at earlier and was used effectively in the final situation. This made the story more compelling, added more dimensions to the relationships between the characters, and helped resolve the lingering issues of the main character. It also paved the way for a potential sequel (as there was an end credit scene at the end of the film).

Overall, the movie is a horror film that, despite borrowing ideas from “The Conjuring,” manages to differentiate itself with its own narrative approach. Although the scenes with three bickering female characters can be a bit tedious due to the excessive amount of dialogue, it doesn’t detract too much from the overall story. When it comes to the scenes with ghosts, they are quite frightening and memorable, with the ghost scenes being quite lengthy and suspensefulEven though the ghost scare scenes are not fresh/new, it manages to deliver a satisfying horror experience.

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