Phenomenais a brand-new release on Netflix, and we have a feeling that this story of a trio of paranormal investigators may be breaking its way into the streamer’s top 10 films very soon. The premise is nothing new, but the characters are rich, complex, and completely engaged in this Spanish dark comedy based on the real-life group called the Hepta Group that investigated the unnatural. It starsEmilio Gutierrez Cabaas 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 that are causing great discord for their Madrid-based clients. The women on his team include Gloria (Toni Acosta), who is a two-pack-a-day smoker who happens to be a gifted spiritual medium, Sagrario (Belen Rueda), a psychic and widow who is trying desperately to move on with her life despite the calls from beyond the grave from her late husband, and Paz (Gracia Olayo), a whiz with the camera and recorder tasked with documenting the group’s bizarre encounters with the dead. They are a celebrated group in Spanish society (likeGhostbustersbut without the proton packs and jumpsuits) and have been working together for years when a particularly troubling case unfolds in 1998 that the chain-smoking, dyspeptic ghost hunters set out to solve.
The ‘Phenomena’ Group Has a Terrific Dynamic
Within the first few minutes of the film, directorCarlos Theronhas the group on the trail of an entity that has critically injured Father Pilon as he is following up on a lead of a potential poltergeist at a local antique shop. A young college scientist named Pablo accompanies them and is there as a skeptic, intent on rationally disproving their unexplainable logic. Sagrario, Gloria, and Paz have a dynamic relationship that sounds very much like three women who have been working together for way too long. They take potshots at each other mostly in jest, but their dialogue is crisp and snappy and keeps you engaged as they track down whatever or whoever is responsible for attacking Father Giron. As they make their way through the old antique shop, strange things are afoot, including spinning chandeliers, mysteriously moving pieces of furniture, flying objects, and flickering lights. All the while our three paranormal investigators are proposing and exchanging theories., only to be explained away by the 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.
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What Are They Fighting Against?
Once they are all fully convinced that they are dealing with something they don’t understand, things take a dark turn and the spirit inhabiting the antique shop starts to flex its muscle. There are several pretty solid jump scares as the lights go out that might catch you by surprise given the light tone with which the film opens up. And one of the more peculiar and creepier aspects of the film is the motif of the song, “Time in a Bottle” byJim Croce,playing on its own at random times throughout on an antique record player and Paz’s sound recorder. The jokes become less frequent, and the mood much darker as they come closer to facing the spirit behind Father Pilon’s mysterious injuries. The group is able to leave the house unharmed that evening, but Paz leaves her camera rolling in the shop while the women grab a drink and discuss strategy, and smoke cigarettes (did we mention that they all smoke…a lot?).
Why is Susanita Important?
When the trio first encounters what they believe to be a poltergeist being manifested at an antique shop, they believe that it is the shop’s overwhelming fear that is giving the poltergeist the power to manifest itself in different ways and communicate with them through the Ouija board. But they later stumble upon a woman and her daughter, Susanita (Maria Gil), that live next door to the shop and Sagrario decides to stop in and talk to Susanita alone pretending to interview her for an upcoming television show. While speaking with the abused and troubled little girl, she determines that something far more sinister is at work. The spirit is using the girl’s mother as a vessel to carry out a darker plan that has nothing to do with the antique shop or its owner. Paz corroborates it when she watches the footage on the camera from overnight that shows the mother mercilessly kicking and abusing Susanita. It is the angst and pain of Susanita that gives the spirit its power creating a hospitable host in her mother. It also explains why they learn the name “Quimi” on the Ouija board as it is an actor that Susanita secretly admires from across the street from her apartment. At that point, they are sure that 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 a strange feeling she had. When they hear a loud scream, they quickly go back in to find her and expose a secret passage that leads to a very old ceremonial chamber in the basement of the apartment building. A hard rain has been falling all night and the chamber begins to flood as they come across a hooded Gloria who is fully possessed by the evil witch-hunting spirit. They see skulls and bones that indicate that the spirit has been inhabiting 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 warped voice as she tries to free her body of the possessor. She has visions of their friend and mentor Father Pilon, who tells her to fight the spirit. The demon can present itself as whoever it wants. It first speaks like Father Pilon and then appeals to Sangraria in the voice of her late husband who she can’t let go. Gloria battles the spirit within her own mind while it tries to kill Gloria’s body, and she can’t break free of its grasp. Finally, bleeding and concussed, Gloria awakes and is free of the demon that possessed her. She ends up being powerful enough to repel the spirit after all. She then immediately asks for a cigarette.
The Final Scene Explained
We find out that Father Pilon has succumbed to his injuries, and the “Phenomena” are sharing a whiskey in his honor. There, it is revealed the mysterious spirit belonged to the cruel Sarmiento, a priest mentioned briefly 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 prior. He had been relegated to a smaller parish by the archdiocese and was banned from witch hunting, but continued to hunt women he deemed to be witches and killed them because he was obsessed with surpassing the notorious Pierre de Lancre, a French serial killer who had murdered 81 women centuries ago. During one of his “clandestine trials” there was a fire, and he burned to death. The skulls and bones in the basement chamber belonged to the 79 women he had killed. It was Sarmiento that was the spirit that embodied Gloria, the antique shop owner, and Susanita’s mother. It needed to kill three more witches to surpass de Lancre. Thus, his exclamation to them in the basement chamber, “I only need three.” The Epilogue explains how Father Jose Maria Pilon formed the real-life “phenomena” known as the Hepta, which consisted of three women. They have been in existence 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, Jesus (Antonio Paguda), is closing his pub and is startled when the glasses start to move and fall one by one smashing onto the floor. At first, he is confused and a little frightened, but his fear gives way to a slight resignation suggesting that the Sarmiento is still present. The credits begin to roll again to Steve Miller’s ’80s hit, “Abracadabra.”
