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Inferno

Actor(s): Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, Alida Valli
Director(s): Dario Argento
7

Movie Details

MPAA Rating: R
Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Not For Children, Gore
Movie Release: 1980
DVD Release: 04/25/2000
Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
Edition: Special Collection
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: English
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 1 hrs 46 mins
Studio: Anchor Bay
Members Wishing: 15
Genres: Horror, Supernatural Horror
See Also: Inferno

DVD Synopsis

A combination of alchemy, architecture, and horror, director Dario Argento's Inferno is a pulsing thriller filled with murder and supernatural mayhem. The peculiar proceedings are set into motion in both New York and Rome when two young women, Sara (Eleonora Giorgi) and Rose (Irene Miracle), find a book called The Three Mothers, a tome of alchemy written by an architect named Varelli. According to the book, Varelli built a trio of resting places for the Three Mothers, an evil trio whose identities remain at the core of the film's mystery. Rose's brother and Sara's boyfriend is Mark (Leigh McCloskey), a music student in Rome who jets to New York after Sara is murdered and Rose disappears. He follows up Rose's research on The Three Mothers and, with the help of his sister's neighbor, Elise (Daria Nicolodi), comes to the realization that the building they are in is one of Varelli's. Along the way, Mark encounters a variety of quirky characters including Elise's butler (Leopoldo Mastelloni), the building's maid (Alida Valli), a cat-hating bookseller named Kazanian (Sacha Pitoeff), and the infirm Professor Arnold (Feodor Chaliapin) and his nurse (Veronica Lazar). After a series of murders and a revelation that the butler and the maid have been plotting to steal Elise's jewels, Mark discovers a secret series of passages within the building. They lead him to its core where he finds the wheelchair-bound Professor Arnold, who explains that he is really the architect Varelli. After a violent struggle, the dying old man confesses to Mark that he is merely a servant to the Mothers. The building begins to burn out of control, but before Mark can escape, he discovers the shocking identity of the Three Mothers. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Actors

Irene Miracle - Rose Elliot
Leigh McCloskey - Mark Elliot
Eleonora Giorgi - Sara
Daria Nicolodi - Countess Elise
Alida Valli - Carol

Editorial Review of DVD

Notorious for its troubled production history and difficult translation from concept to final product, Dario Argento's second installment in his yet unfinished Three Mothers trilogy receives its uncut and uncensored stateside debut courtesy of Anchor Bay's Dario Argento Collection.
Presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs, the image is as beautiful and colorful as an Argento-phile could hope for, remaining crisp, clear, and sharp while providing marked depth to enhance the film's lush and garish visuals. Bearing no mentionable signs of artifacting, excessive film grain, or debris, the transfer is clean and pristine. Presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1, the audio provides the perfect accompaniment to the video in creating the ominous, discomforting, deep rumble in the more suspenseful scenes and the ringing in Keith Emerson's jarring score. Whipping winds and the inhuman groans of cats put the surround channels to good use by effectively enveloping the viewer in the film's terrifying universe.
Anchor Bay has consistently provided compelling extra features for their discs, and while this entry may seem slightly lacking on first look, the features are actually in-depth and enjoyable. An interview with Argento traces the film's trying production and offers insight into Argento's first and only collaboration with another pivotal figure in Italian horror, Mario Bava. From handling cats to rats to filming underwater, viewers will get some amusing anecdotes from assistant director Lamberto Bava and a glimpse into Argento's insistence that he alone wear the notorious black leather gloves that have sealed the horrible fates of so many characters in his lurid films. With an eerie theatrical trailer, still gallery, and talent bios rounding out the disc, =Inferno provides the chills Argento fans know and love, providing a notable addition to their DVD collections. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Member Movie Reviews

Jefferson N. from BLAIRSVILLE, GA wrote on 9/16/2009...

Inferno is the second chapter in Dario Argento's "Three Mother's Trilogy". The first was Suspiria and the concluding chapter is the newer Mother of Tears. In this movie, a young woman living in a strange building in New York City buys a book on alchemy. Shortly, she has the feeling she is being stalked and finds a sunken mauseleum in her buildings basement. She contacts her brother in Italy, who is also having strange visions and encounters. Soon, a plague of murders begins and Mark, the brother, goes to New York to talk to his missing sister. When he arrives at the building he is drawn into the intrigues that surround the edifice of corruption.

While it's predecesor is widely praised as being one of Argento's masterpieces for it's oddd, jangling music and surreal film quality, I find this one is overlooked unjustly. This entire movie has a dreamy, claustrophobic feeling that is more oppressive in my estimation than Suspiria had. And the surreal sunken room sequence (orchestrated by Mario Bava, by the way) has to be one of the best scenes in any Argento film.

The next section may have some spoilers, so if you're not interested, don't read any further...

This episode of the Mother's trilogy focues on Mother Tenebrarum, the Mother of Darkeness. The imprisoned Suspiriorum escaped at the conclusion of Suspiria, and now Tenebrarum wants to make her exit as well. And she is far more brutal that Mater Suspiriorum. Where as Mater Suspiriorum only wreaks havoc on a scale large enough to effect her escape and focuses on the witches who use her, Tenebrarum is hostile to start with and will kill anyone who falls in her path. I'm not sure where the story goes from here, but the ending left it open for a final confrontation with the hero, Mark, Mater Lacrymarum, and the alchemists who imprisoned the Three Mothers to start with.

If you have seen and liked any of Argento's 1970/1980's masterpieces, you'll love this one as well.