Frau Brückner

This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. Note: Content classification services hold no influence over the template's criteria and usage. Only the content itself matters.

Evil-doer
Full Name	Frau (first name unknown) Brückner
Alias	Brückner Mrs. Brückner The Killer
Origin	Phenomena
Occupation	Legal guardian of Jennifer Corvino (formerly) Serial killer
Powers / Skills	Murder methods Manipulation Charisma
Goals	Continue killing people to protect her son. Kill Jennifer to avenge her son (all failed).
Crimes	Serial murder Mutilation Breaking and entering Unlawful imprisonment Kidnapping Torture
Type of Villain	Protective Serial Killer

“	I don't live alone. I have a small son. He's very sick. I cover the mirrors for his sake. He doesn't want to see his reflection. I worry about him very much. He's changed my life completely. Sometimes, I think he's driving me crazy. [...] These are things that can happen in a woman's life.	„
	~ Frau Brückner to Jennifer Corvino about her son.

“	He was diseased... but he was my son! And you have... Why didn't I kill you before?! I killed that inspector, and your professor friend... to protect him! And now... I'm going to kill you to avenge him! Why don't you call your INSECTS!!! GO ON!!! CALL!!! CALL!!!	„
	~ Frau Brückner's vengeful breakdown in an attempt to kill Jennifer and also her last words shortly before being killed by Inga.

Frau Brückner is the main antagonist of the 1985 Italian horror film Phenomena by Dario Argento.

She is the mother of deformed serial killer Patau Brückner and the legal guardian and chaperone of Jennifer Corvino, the daughter of a famous actor.

She was portrayed by the late Daria Nicolodi.

Biography

Past

Brückner's scar

Fifteen years before the events of Phenomena, Brückner worked at a mental institute in Basel. One of the inmates in the high security ward grabbed her and raped her through the bars of his cell, leaving her with a vertical scar on her chest. She later relocated to a cottage in an area known as the "Swiss Transylvania", where the local föhn winds were said to cause madness. There, she gave birth to a deformed son, Patau, whom she kept chained up.

Brückner while putting on her public façade

During her absence, Patau managed to escape and murder a young girl, prompting Brückner to move with her son to a lakeside villa in Zurich, where she enabled her son's perversions by allowing him to store his victim's bodies in the cellar, and installed security screens on the windows to prevent escape.

Brückner was subsequently employed by the Richard Wagner Academy for Girls, adopting a demure, softly-spoken persona whilst Patau began a killing spree which included several of the Academy's students.

Present

Eight months after her son's first murder, Brückner acts as the chaperone of Jennifer Corvino, the daughter of Hollywood actor Paul Corvino. After discovering that Jennifer has witnessed one of Patau's murders, she reads her private letters, learning that the girl is collaborating with entomologist Dr John McGregor in an attempt to track her son down.

Brückner later infiltrates McGregor's house, locking out his tame chimpanzee, Inga. She then murders the entomologist and drives away, narrowly avoiding having Inga break through her windscreen. The next day, she is contacted by Mark Shapiro, Paul Corvino's lawyer, who asks her to take in Jennifer at her home while he is on his way to take her back to the United States.

Upon taking Jennifer to her villa, Brückner briefly talks about how her son's sickness has impacted her life, and becomes increasingly erratic, insisting that Jennifer take pills which the girl regurgitates after discovering they are poisoned.

Brückner trying to kill Jennifer

Brückner's attempts to subdue Jennifer are interrupted by the arrival of Inspector Rudolf Geiger of the Kantonspolizei, who has been investigating the killings and has learned of her past rape, as well as her residence in the cottage where the first murder took place. Brückner lures the inspector into the basement, where she overpowers him and tortures him.

She reappears when Jennifer's attempt to escape lead her to the basement, where she falls into Patau's pool of corpses. Brückner sadistically torments Jennifer, until Geiger breaks free from his bonds and attacks her, allowing Jennifer to escape.

Brückner overcomes and kills Geiger, only to discover that her son has been killed in his pursuit of Jennifer. Wielding a piece of sheet metal, Brückner decapitates Morris Shapiro upon his arrival, and pins Jennifer to the ground with the metal at her throat. Her attempt to avenge her son is thwarted when Inga hamstrings her with a straight razor and cuts her throat.

Gallery

Daria Nicolodi with her husband and Phenomena director Dario Argento on-set. The two would later become estranged due to Nicolodi's objection to the film's themes.

Brückner watching Jennifer summoning a swarm of flies.

Brückner further losing her sanity by torturing Jennifer.

Brückner's psychopathic stare.

Trivia

• Daria Nicolodi revealed in an interview that during her character's death scene, the hand wielding the razor was in fact the chimpanzee's, and although it was blunted, it still left scars.
• After Phenomena was released, Daria Nicolodi repudiated the film and said that she would refuse to work with her husband Dario Argento any longer if he continued directing similar movies, stating: "The basis of the film is unacceptable and reactionary: the heroes are rich and good-looking, the villains are poor and ugly, and the murders are perpetrated by a handicapped person and his crazy mother. Such a screenplay has my total disapproval, it goes completely against my worldview".
• Dario Argento stated in a 1986 interview that he imagined Phenomena taking place in a world where Nazism had prevailed during the Second World War. Therefore, considering Nazi eugenics policies, Brückner would have had an ulterior motive in concealing her son, whether he committed murder or not.
• As many elements of the 1995 horror game Clock Tower were primarily inspired by Phenomena, Brückner was likely the basis for Mary Barrows, much as her son Patau was confirmed to have been the inspiration behind Bobby Barrows.
• In the Phenomena novelization by Lugi Cozzi, which was released as part of the 1997 horror anthology Terrore profondo, Brückner's rape is never mentioned, and she is described as seeming humble, yet prematurely aged, sexless and icy. Her eventual killer is also changed from a chimpanzee to a guenon.