Inferno (1980)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Dario Argento

Writer:

Dario Argento (story)

Release Date:

2 April 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Terror that's hotter than hell!

Plot:

Semi-sequal to 'Suspiria' has a American college student in Rome, and his sister in New York investigating a series of killings in both locations where their resident addresses are the domain of two covens of witches.

Plot Keywords:

New York | House | Evil | Murder | Rome

Cast

Leigh McCloskey	...	Mark Elliot
Irene Miracle	...	Rose Elliot
Eleonora Giorgi	...	Sara
Daria Nicolodi	...	Elise Stallone Van Adler
Sacha Pitoëff	...	Kazanian (as Sacha Pitoeff)
Alida Valli	...	Carol, the caretaker
Veronica Lazar	...	The Nurse
Gabriele Lavia	...	Carlo
Feodor Chaliapin Jr.	...	Professor Arnold / Dr. Varelli (as Feodor Chaliapin)
Leopoldo Mastelloni	...	John, the Butler
Ania Pieroni	...	Musical Student
James Fleetwood	...	Cook
Rosario Rigutini	...	Man
Ryan Hilliard	...	Shadow
Paolo Paoloni	...	Music Teacher

Also Known As:

Dario Argento's Inferno

Runtime:

107 min | Germany:106 min | Sweden:102 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 (cut) | France:-12 | France:-16 (original rating) | Italy:VM14 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 (heavily cut) | USA:R | West Germany:18 | UK:18 (cut) | UK:X (cut) | Finland:K-18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Elios Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Produzioni Intersound

Trivia:

Legendary Italian horror director Mario Bava assisted with the making of the special effects on this film. Bava passed away shortly before its release.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Kazanian is investigating a noise in his shop, he is shown reaching towards the table closest to him. As he's reaching down, his right crutch falls from under his arm. However, in the next mid-shot of him backing towards the bookshelf behind him, the right crutch is just starting to fall from under his arm.

Quotes:

Sara: Have you ever heard of the Three Sisters?
Carlo: You mean those black singers?
Sara: No, I'm talking about mythology.
Carlo: Hold on, if you're talking about spooks and stuff, I don't believe in any of that.
Sara: How can you be so sure?
Carlo: I don't believe in such things, that's all, and without any philosophical discussion.
Sara: Then what do you believe in?
Carlo: In whatever I can see and touch.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Wicker Man (2006)

Soundtrack:

Va' pensiero...

The most beautiful of horror movies

Inferno is Dario Argento's masterpiece. For once, he abandoned the idea of a coherent storyline altogether and made a movie that is simply a series of beautifully made setpieces. Many people have criticized Inferno's plot; such people are completely missing the point. Inferno is no more concerned with plot than Luis Bunuel was with movies such as The Phantom of Liberty; where Bunuel was concentrating on images and ideas, Argento is concentrating on images and emotion, specifically fear.

Each scene features a character or characters running afoul of the Three Mothers, entities introduced obliquely in Argento's previous movie, Suspiria, and developed considerably here. The third movie in the Three Mothers trilogy remains unmade. Each scene is carefully coded by judicious use of colour and sound. All the best setpieces in the movie feature no dialogue whatsoever (most notably the scenes in the underwater chamber and the lecture theatre). Much of the most significant dialogue is whispered offscreen by unseen persons.

Inferno is that rarest of breeds: pure cinema. Not only could it not have succeeded in any other medium, it cannot be adequately described in words. Anyone who is seriously concerned with artistic cinema must see this movie, as should most horror fans. Anyone who has trouble getting their head around movies that push beyond the conventional three-act storyline will almost certainly hate it.