Inferno (1980)

Director Dario Argento strikes gold with his film Inferno, released in 1980. His trademarks; superb set design, and hypnotic lighting, are prominent here. The story and screenplay were also Argento's work, with the latter really bringing this piece to life.

Inferno opens with a young poet; Rose(Irene Miracle), reading a passage from a book called 'The Three Mothers', written by an architect named Virelli. The passage describes three sisters who rule different cities around the world using sorrow, tears, and darkness. It also explains that Virelli has built the houses these sisters dwell in, and where to find the 'keys' to unlock their mystery. This launches her and her brother, Mark(Leigh McCloskey), on a quest to solve this mystery.

Without divulging too much more, the story is fairly straightforward from there. The way in which it is told and paced, however, is captivating. It jumps between the characters of Rose, Mark, and Mark's friend Sara(Eleonora Giorgi), explaining just enough about each characters motivations to drive the story forward, but leaving their back story a mystery. Some people may see this as a downfall, but I think it was the right choice as it leaves more screen time to develop the core elements of the story. Irene Miracle gives a solid performance, and the supporting cast are all solid as well. However Leigh McCloskey and Eleonora Giorgi, definitely leave something to be desired.

Argento's films are best known for their visual style, and Inferno is no exception. This movie is candy for the eyes. Almost every scene has saturated colors, mainly blues and reds, cascading along set pieces and faces. These colored lights emanate from an unknown source that's always off screen, adding to the feeling of mystery. The set pieces are great; An oddly lit, oddly painted apartment building where much of the movie takes place, projects the sense that there is something wrong there. A library in the first act of the movie, is one of the most gorgeous set pieces I have ever seen. The entrance to this library through a set of red velvet curtains, is sure to cement the moment in your mind.

The scares and kills in this movie are well done and fairly creative. Although this is more of a mystery, the horror elements are executed masterfully, with a good balance between tension and jump scares.

Keith Emerson of the band 'Emerson, Lake and Palmer' was responsible for the entire score and soundtrack of this film. It is one of the best ever composed.

In short, Inferno is one of the best films I have seen in my life. Other than some strange choices in editing, and a pair of less than desirable performances, there is nothing wrong with this movie. A must see for horror and mystery fans alike.

Verdict: 9/10

Fmovies: Definitely a Dario Argento film here. No question about it. The film's plot concerns a young girl ,having read a book about three "mothers" who live in France, Germany, and her hotel in New York, investigating the place she lives in for a key. The girl contacts her brother going to school in Rome - anyone buy Leigh McCloskey as a student of musicology? - asking for help. The three mothers are...well, if you know you are a step ahead of me.

This Argento film is very problematic. On the one hand its genius cannot be denied when it comes to visual artistry and suspense building. Argento paints a scene like no other film maker I know, with the exception perhaps of Mario Bava(who worked on this film...his last). The vibrant colors used throughout the film are surreal, and some of the scenes are lessons in scene building. The underwater sequence is an awesome scene, yet its has virtually no place in the film's plot. Another scene involves a crippled man falling in water and slowly being devoured by rats. His cries reach a diner cook working late, who runs outside to stick a knife in the poor man's throat. His character or an explanation never come. How about the key? Never mentioned again. Visual brilliance cannot make this a good film, though it really works hard at it. I found myself not really understanding what was going on yet loving the scenery. As with most of Argento's work, we get plenty of bloody deaths, particularly young girls and crippled older men. Inferno is not a bad film nor is it a great film. It has many qualities found in Suspiria, but that film made a great deal more sense and had some actors that had a bit more talent than those involved with this. McCloskey's stage presence is akin to driftwood. He is a very poor lead. Alida Valli is back as a permed hotel manager. She gives a good performance though her part has almost no real significance in the film. I guess my gripe is that how can a director with so much obvious talent like Argento just cross the line too much between reality and imagination. If your audience doesn't have SOME guidance then how are they going to know what you are trying to achieve. Some reviewers say you need to watch this film many times to get its point. Balderdash! I could watch it ten more times and still would not be able to make the aforementioned connections in the plot. I could easily sit through the film again though, because of Argento's style of using film as a canvas. If Inferno had a better constructed plot, something along the lines of Suspiria, this very well could be a minor masterpiece. It is definitely worth a look; however, though it pales in comparison to Suspiria in every way.

One thing that has always bugged me enormously about Mr. Argentos films, are his blatant disregard for decent scripts and good actors, preferring to focus solely on visual and auditory extravaganza. Considering the latter aspect, I can not help but to applaud the man for being somewhat of a master when it comes to creating a sinister atmosphere. Few can match him here. I think my favourite films penned by him have to be Suspiria, Phenomena, and Trauma. Of course, as all his films are ultimately marred by bad script and acting, the aforementioned films are sadly no exception. But what these films have going for them, (unlike his lesser films) ,especially Suspiria, are a twisted and dark atmosphere that tends to overshadow the fact that the lines delivered often seem to be spoken by robots. I really enjoyed Suspiria, and in my opinion, it is probably one of the most atmospheric horror-flicks out there, in addition, the murders are delightfully inventive here.

So what to say then about Inferno, the follow up to Suspiria? One thing is certain; I refuse to join the choir of appraisal, for the sole reason that, compared to the brilliance of Suspiria, this is really nothing special at all. Sure, he creates some striking visuals yet again, and I absolutely love the many times mentioned underwater-scene. But all in all, this is quite an forgettable film, with forgettable murders, shitty acting, and with an ultimately forgettable atmosphere. One thing that I fail to grasp though, is the fact that many seem to view this film as confusing, which, in my opinion it is not. Quite easy to understand, if you ask me. I think this film would have been much better, if Argento dropped all the dialogue, and created a lot more tension and more sinister visuals( ala the underwater scene). As it stand now though, it is a boring experience. Plain and simple.

Inferno fmovies. Out of all of the horror films I have seen, there have one been a few that I found truely frightening. Suspiria and Inferno were among the few. The Cinematagraphy and the music in these films is extraordinary. I know a lot of regular film goers, people who take courses on analyzing films, I do by the way, and they love Argento's work. I see some reviews here bad mouthing the plot and the poor acting in Inferno. While I admit the actors are not spectacular the plot is there, it is simply not what you normally see. This is NOT a Hollywood film, this is not a plot driven film, like a lot of Argento films, this film's plot is more like the plot of a Nightmare. This IS a horror film and it IS very frightening and very well made. I am getting sick of all the Hollywood remakes myself, like this recent film "Decoys", while I have not seen this film, it looks like a Hollywood version of David Cronenberg's Rabid. But that's another subject. I recommend any Argento film to anyone also sick of the Hollywood films.

'Inferno' is the kind of movie - like Gilliams 'Brazil' - where a few of us will leave the theater enriched by the experience, but there's also the sour-faced crowd dismissing it as the worst crap ever.

I came upon Argento's movies just recently, looking for good horror films. Now I've enjoyed Suspiria, Tenebre and Inferno. At first his original style came as a shock. I can understand those that, accustomed to hollywoodian narrative, find his movies to be full of faults. I wouldn't even recommend them if you're looking for 'ordinary', mainstream horror.

'Suspiria' reminded me of the 1933 'Vampyr' by danish director Carl Dreyer. 'Inferno' has echoes of German director Fritz Lang, for instance his 1933 The 'Testament of Doctor Mabuse'. Much of the Argento way of doing things has a silent movie era feel to it. The acting is visually exaggerated, and the dialogue is often wooden - the awful dubbing of english voices in the versions I saw added to this effect.

Argento makes different choices. The music, for instance, is not adding atmosphere as a soundtrack - it is a full frontal assault, meant to be noticed and impossible to ignore. The cinematic choices of camera angles, lightning and so on are stylish and unique in their unrelenting artistic ambition. I can't even begin to describe the style. Even if I mentioned Dreyer and Lang, Argento is more expressionist than impressionist, but for lack of good words I'll shut my mouth about this subject.

I have to defend Argento against the claims that 'Inferno' has an incoherent plot. It simply doesn't - the story is fairly straight and linear. The evil depicted is not rational, and we are often left in the dark as to the acts and motives of the evil forces. But this is part of the horror and suspense. I won't go into more details about the plot, as there are many excellent user comments here, and this is not really a review, just some comments.

Some parts of 'Inferno' are pure beauty - exact scenes, feeling more like a storyboard coming to life in the imagination than as a real movie. The design of the house of the second Mother is fascinating - modern and medieval at the same time.

Finally, some individual scenes are truly scaring, which is rare in horror movies - especially the underwater scene.

Dario Argento is a master of his genre, no doubt about that, but his script here is pure hokum. The film has a number of striking images (the mysterious beauty that appears out of nowhere in the classroom; the drapes being slowly ripped apart by the nails of a stabbed-to-death woman; the close-up of Daria Nicolodi's lips; the pursuer at the library's basement, whose face remains in the dark, but whose hands are clearly not human), and a very peculiar architectural design, with secret passages leading to all sorts of hidden rooms to other passages to other rooms....However, as many others have said, the film is best approached as a dream, because the plot is incoherent and there are several scenes that run on too long. It does get better on the second viewing. (**)