Aenigma (1987)

The spirit of a comatose teenage girl possesses the body of a newcomer to her girls boarding school to enact bloody revenge against the elitist, lingerie-clad coeds responsible for her condition.

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Lucio Fulci (screenplay), Giorgio Mariuzzo (screenplay)

Stars:

Jared Martin, Lara Lamberti, Ulli Reinthaler

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jared Martin	...	Dr. Robert Anderson
Lara Lamberti	...	Eva Gordon (as Lara Naszinski)
Ulli Reinthaler	...	Jenny Clark
Sophie d'Aulan	...	Kim
Jennifer Naud	...	Grace O'Neal
Riccardo Acerbi	...	Fred Vernon
Kathi Wise	...	Virginia Williams
Milijana Zirojevic	...	Kathy (as Mijlijana Zirojevic)
Dragan Bjelogrlic	...	Tom (as Dragan Ejelogrlic)
Ljiljana Blagojevic	...	Ms. Jones (as Lijlijana Blagojevic)
Franciska Spahic	...	Joanne
Dusica Zegarac	...	Mary
Zorica Lesic	...	Miss James
Zoran Lesic
Rade Colovic	...	Tom

Storyline

Kathy is an outcast at an elite New England boarding school whom lands in a coma resulting from accidentally being hit by a car during a cruel practical joke against her by several car loads of her tormentors. A little later, Eva, a new arrival to the school, takes over Kathy's old room and begins socializing with some of the girls responsible for Kathy's condition. It turns out that Eva is a pawn under the control of the comatose Kathy from her hospital bed in seeing revenge against those whom did her wrong, while Kathy's physician, meets and begins dating Eva whom also targets his latest girlfriend.

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Plot Keywords:

tank top | falling to one's death | sex scene | psychological | hairy chested man | 

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Taglines:

All her enemies will be eliminated... but first they will suffer! [Canada]

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lucio Fulci: A police detective at the crime scene of Fred Vernon's death.

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Goofs

Doctor Anderson's car has European license plates instead of U.S. plates or more specifically, Massachusetts Plates.

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Quotes

Eva Gordon: Let's get one thing straight! A successful semester to me means making out with as many cute boys as possible. Let's put it this way: anything in pants!

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Alternate Versions

The version released by Image Entertainment as part of their "EuroShock Collection" is missing some minor bits of dialogue throughout, and is also missing a 5-second flashback sequence when Eva is sitting on the bench. This version runs 86 minutes, while the original Italian version is approximately 90 minutes.

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Connections

References Patrick (1978)

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Soundtracks

Head Over Heels
(misspelled as "Head Over Meels")
Written by Douglas Meakin (as A.D. Meakin) and Carlo Maria Cordio (as C.M. Cordio)
Sung by Douglas Meakin
Published by Giuliana & Schmidl s.r.l.

User Reviews

Ugly duckling becomes ravishing slayer.

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.

Details

Country:

Italy Yugoslavia

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

1 September 1988 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Ænigma

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

A.M. Trading International S.r.l., Sutjeska Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1