Inferno

Inferno (1980)

Note: for this review I watched the new Blu-Ray release from Blue Underground.

This movie is the 2nd film in Argento’s 3 mother’ trilogy about a coven of powerful witches. It is preceded by Suspiria and followed by Mother of Tears. In this movie a woman living in a building in NYC that was or maybe still is home to a powerful witch starts to unravel the mysterious goings on there with the help of an antique book. After strange things begin to happen Rose (the sister) sends desperate note to her brother Mark who is studying in Rome. The note doesn’t get to him but is instead intercepted by a friend of his. She goes looking for a copy of the same book that Rose has been reading. This gets her killed and gets Mark’s attention. He finds the note and heads out to check on Rose, who is now missing. Mark continues poking around where his sister did and gets the attention of the same people that have done away with her. Will he survive the experience or end up like the rest?

You know a lot of Argento fans really don’t like this movie that much. I honestly don’t understand that at all. Now I can agree that Inferno has a very weak plot that tends to jump around and never explains itself. I mean the inclusion of the antiques dealer and his eventual demise make for some cool visuals, but not much sense. I mean what is up with the hot dog vendor? I guess he is maybe a big fan of cats or something. It also makes no sense why the group tolerates the brother poking around as long as they do, when they have no issues getting rid of everyone else. So yeah the story makes no sense at all.

But then when I sat down to watch Inferno I didn’t really expect that much of a plot anyway. What I was looking for was a movie that would give me a ton of interesting visuals that would keep my attention. Right from the start when Rose decides to take her swim in the basement of the building Inferno has a surreal feel to it. Even more so than in Suspiria, which I think gets a bad rap and has a decent narrative. Inferno really feels like a nightmare that keeps you on your toes. The big in the library with the alchemist and Mark’s friend is shot brilliantly and again is just creepy as hell. Argento uses these beautiful blues and reds to light many of the scenes, which again give the movie a dreamlike feel to it that I just dig. There are also many shots that are framed with doorways, stairwells, and a beautiful stone arch that were killer.

Now of course the 300-pound gorilla in the room is that Inferno is a sequel to Suspiria. I think that is why fans are so hard on this movie. Compared to Suspiria I would agree that Inferno is inferior. But then I can’t imagine many movies that I would hold up there with Suspiria as it’s equal. That includes the rest of Argento’s catalogue. But I think if you judge Inferno on it’s own it really isn’t that bad of an effort. It has flaws and forget about trying to understand the story, just sit back and enjoy what you are seeing. I think that people will be surprised if they give it a chance.

The Blu-Ray is chocked full of some cool special features. There is a nice special feature called Art and Alchemy with one of the stars of the movie Leigh McCloskey. He talks about getting cast in the movie, working with Argento, and how he got into the acting business. I found his description of the language barrier between he and the director to be interesting. At 15 minutes this one is worth spending your time on. There is also a 14 minute long feature called Reflection of Rose with actress Irene Miracle. I have to say she might have the most interesting path to becoming an actress that I’ve ever heard and has worked on some really great movies in addition to Inferno. She also has an interesting opinion of Dario Argento from her time working with him. Finally there is an old 8 minute long conversation with Argento and Lamberto Bavaabout the making of the movie. This was on the old DVD and isn’t new to the Blu-Ray release. Other then some good information about how Lamberto’s father Mario was brought on to do some of the visual effects this isn’t that interesting. Overall I thought the special features were an excellent addition to the disc.

This is a great movie and a great Blu-Ray. For more information on this check out the Blue Underground website at http://www.blue-underground.com/

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer