"Phenomenal And The Treasure Of Tutankamen" starts with a bang: the title character disposes of a boatful of drug runners with his swift martial arts moves. His full black body suit has one strange impracticality, though - erm, no eyeholes! - but I guess with your hero's face fully hidden it's easier to replace him with a trained stuntman during the more physically demanding scenes and nobody will know the difference. But there is another reason "Phenomenal" keeps his face so completely hidden: the movie doesn't want us to know who he (or she) is until the last 5 minutes! This could have been a killer gimmick if it was treated seriously, but the film's "plot" is so random and lacking in logic that ultimately it doesn't matter who Phenomenal is - it could have been Ruggero Deodato himself and the film wouldn't make any less sense.Of course it's clear that you're not supposed to take any of this seriously, but instead of being wacky fun this film is mostly a tough slog. Redeeming virtues: Lucretia Love, and Bruno Nicolai's supercool music score, which keeps the film going during some painfully slow parts. *1/2 out of 4.

Odd ball superhero film is rather dull. The premise is that Fenominal (as its spelled everywhere but on the DVD case) is out to prevent the theft of Egyptian treasures. Fenominal is a guy in black wearing an eyeless black stocking over his head. Its makes no sense to me either. After an opening sequence on a boat the film shifts to Paris where a robbery occurs and our hero disappears for over a half an hour. What happens at that point isn't really that interesting and more prone to induce sleep as the film seems to want to be a crime drama but has a masked hero shoe horned in. Worth a look only for those who need to see every Euro superhero film.

Some movies are forgotten. I cannot tell you enough how this little gem needs the spotlight. Find it, see it, rave on about it. Phenomenal is cut from the same cloth as Italy's Diabolik. I mean literally. Same-ish mask, same laugh, black clothes, makes fun of the cops, etc. You sort of get a sense of who is behind the eyeless mask wayyyy in the beginning, but who the heck cares? There are thugs, treasures, scantily clad women; this was the sixties, and it was all about the world travel and tiny cars. I rented this on VHS back in the 90's and recently found a keeper copy on eBay. If I put this on my alter for several years, it may pop up on DVD, as Diabolik finally did! If you are a fan of Batman, Bond, Diabolik, Flint, Captain Kirk, please find and enjoy!

With an international cast and Deodato directing this 1967 superhero film it can't possibly go wrong, but it did! The superhero is a laughing dude with wool stocking over his head (I don't know how he could see-thru with a holeless mask!). He laughs like Diabolik, and on the video box, he looks like Superargo, but in reality he comes off as a cat burglar! Bulk of the film consist of not our crime fighter but rather the thieves double crossing each other and killing each other over some king tut mask then our hero solving the crime. Fenomenal appears in the beginning scene (pre credit) battle some drug runners, as that really grabbed my attention more than DIABOLIK's pre-credit sequence, only for him to not appear for more than 30 minutes!! The movie runs so slow that it almost put me to sleep. Catchy pop tune helps, but the fight sequence is lame (save for the pre-credit fight scene). One of the worst ending you'll ever see in a 60's retro-italian film. Look for the late action star Maruzio Melli in a small part. Not recommeneded. Very disapponted.