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phenomena is a brand new release on Netflix, and we have a feeling this tale of a trio of paranormal investigators will make its way into the streamer’s top 10 movies very soon. The premise is nothing new, but the characters are rich, complex, and fully immersed in this Spanish dark comedy based on the real-life group investigating the unnatural called the Hepta Group. It’s playing Emilio Gutierrez Caba as Father Pilon, a priest who recruits three women to unite, each with a slightly different specialty in the field of tracking and communicating with the dead, to wage war with untold spirits and things from mysterious other planes of existence, the great discord cause their Madrid-based customers. Among the women on his team are Gloria (Tony Acosta), who smokes two packs a day and happens to be a gifted spiritual medium, Sagrario (Belen Rueda), a psychic and widow who is desperate to move on with her life despite calls from beyond the grave of her late husband, and Paz (Grace Olayo), a genius with a camera and recorder tasked with documenting the group’s bizarre encounters with the dead. They are a celebrated group in Spanish society (like ghostbusters but without the proton packs and jumpsuits) and have been working together for years until a particularly disturbing case unfolds in 1998 that the chain-smoking, dyspeptic Ghostbusters were trying to solve.
The Phenomena group has great dynamics
In the first minutes of the film, director Carlo Theron The group has been on the trail of a creature that has fatally injured Father Pilon while following up a lead on a potential poltergeist at a local antique shop. Accompanying them is a young college scientist named Pablo, a skeptic intent on rationally disproving their inexplicable logic. Sagrario, Gloria and Paz have a dynamic relationship that sounds a lot like three women who have been working together for far too long. Mostly in jest, they shoot at each other, but their dialogue is crisp and scathing, keeping you on your toes as they track down what or whoever is responsible for the attack on Father Giron. Strange things are afoot as they make their way through the old antique shop, including spinning chandeliers, mysteriously moving pieces of furniture, flying objects and flickering lights. All the while, our three paranormal investigators are proposing and swapping theories, only to be explained away by doubting young scientist Pablo. So it’s time to break out the Ouija board and get down to business so Gloria can open a dialogue with the entity from beyond.
What are they fighting against?
Once they’re all firmly convinced they’re dealing with something they don’t understand, things take a dark turn and the ghost inhabiting the antique shop begins to flex its muscles. There are several pretty solid jump scares when the lights go out that might surprise you given the bright tone the film opens with. And one of the weirder and scarier aspects of the film is the theme of the song “Time in a Bottle” by jim croce, played alone at random times on an antique record player and Paz’s sound recorder. The jokes become rarer and the mood much darker as they get closer to the spirit behind Father Pilon’s mysterious injuries. The group is able to leave the house unharmed that night, but Paz keeps her camera rolling inside the store while the women get drinks, discuss strategies, and smoke cigarettes (did we mention they all smoke…a lot?).
Why is Susanita important?
When the trio first encounter a poltergeist manifesting in an antique shop, they believe it is the store’s overwhelming fear that gives the poltergeist the power to manifest in various ways and across the Ouija board with them to communicate with them. But they later stumble upon a woman and her daughter Susanita (Maria Gil) who live next door to the store, and Sagrario decides to stop by and talk to Susanita alone, pretending to be interviewing her for an upcoming TV show. As she speaks to the abused and troubled little girl, she realizes that something far sinister is at work. The ghost uses the girl’s mother as a vessel to carry out a darker plan unrelated to the antique shop or its owner. Paz confirms this as she watches footage on camera overnight of the mother mercilessly kicking and abusing Susanita. It is Susanita’s fear and pain that gives strength to the spirit and creates in her mother a hospitable host. It also explains why they learn the name “Quimi” on the Ouija board, since it’s about an actor that Susanita secretly admires across the street from her apartment. At this point, they’re sure the problem is something they don’t fully understand until the final scenes.
Encountering the demon spirit
After Gloria returns to save Sagrario and Paz from the possessed mother, she goes back into the building to confirm an odd feeling she was having. Hearing a loud scream, they quickly go back inside to find her, uncovering a secret passage that leads to a very old ceremonial chamber in the basement of the residence. Heavy rain has been falling all night and the chamber is beginning to flood when they encounter a hooded Gloria completely possessed by the witch hunt’s evil spirit. You see skulls and bones that indicate the spirit has inhabited the area for a very long time. The demon spirit is much more powerful than Gloria, who speaks to the other two in a deep and distorted voice as she tries to free her body from the owner. She has visions of her friend and mentor, Father Pilon, telling her to fight the spirit. The demon can present itself however it wants. It first speaks like Father Pilon and then appeals to Sangraria in the voice of her late husband, whom she cannot let go. Gloria fights the spirit in her own mind as it tries to kill Gloria’s body and she is unable to break free from its grip. Eventually, Gloria awakens bleeding and with a concussion, freed from the demon that possessed her. In the end, she’s powerful enough to ward off the ghost. She then immediately asks for a cigarette.
The last scene explained
We learn that Father Pilon has succumbed to his injuries and the “Phenomena” are sharing a whiskey in his honor. There it is revealed that the mysterious spirit belonged to the cruel Sarmiento, a priest briefly mentioned earlier in the film who was also a witch hunter. He lived in a rectory that burned down hundreds of years ago and was transferred to the Vergara Palace where he lived and the three women had investigated a case there many years ago. He had been banished to a smaller parish by the archdiocese and barred from witch hunts, but continued to hunt down women he believed to be witches and, because of his obsession, killed them, the notorious Pierre de Lancre, a French serial killer who murdered him, surpassing 81 women centuries ago. During one of his “secret trials” there was a fire and he was burned to death. The skulls and bones in the basement belonged to the 79 women he killed. Sarmiento was the spirit impersonating Gloria, the antique shop owner and Susanita’s mother. It had to kill three more witches to surpass de Lancre. So his exclamation to her in the basement: “I only need three.” The epilogue explains how Father Jose Maria Pilon formed the real-life “phenomenon” known as Hepta, composed of three women. They have existed since 1987 and continue their quest to explain the paranormal more than 30 years later.
Post-credits scene
In the post-credits scene, the bar manager is Jesus (Antonio Paguda), closes his bar and is startled when the glasses start to move and fall to the floor one by one. At first he is confused and a little scared, but his fear gives way to a slight resignation that suggests the Sarmiento is still present. The credits start again with Steve Miller’s 80’s hit “Abracadabra”.