Inferno

Name: Inferno
Genre: Horror
Released: 1980-02-07
Duration: 1 h 46 min
Rating: 6.5
Cast: Leigh McCloskey, Irene Miracle, Eleonora Giorgi

1980
M18
1h 46m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

25K

YOUR RATING

Slasher Horror Witch Horror Horror

An American student investigates the disappearance of his sister and the death of a friend, both connected from New York to Rome by an old alchemy book.An American student investigates the disappearance of his sister and the death of a friend, both connected from New York to Rome by an old alchemy book.An American student investigates the disappearance of his sister and the death of a friend, both connected from New York to Rome by an old alchemy book.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

25K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
All of the murderer's hands in the movie wereDario Argento's.

Goofs
During the cat attack, a human hand can be seen throwing some cats at the actress.

Quotes
Narrator:The Three Mothers rule the world with sorrow, tears and darkness. Mater Suspiriorum, the Mother of Sighs, and the oldest of the three, lives in Freiburg. Mater Lachrymarum, the Mother of Tears, and the most beautiful of the sisters, holds rule in Rome. Mater Tenebrarum, the Mother of Darkness, who is the youngest and cruelest of the three, controls New York.

Crazy credits
The 20th Century Fox logo that appears on American prints does not have the fanfare.

Alternate versions
For its UK cinema release cuts were made to shots of a cat eating a live mouse. The Fox video was cut by 20 secs with the same cinema cut plus an additional edit to a closeup of a cat's head being hit against a chair. The cuts were fully waived for the 2010 Arrow DVD.

Connections
Edited intoManiac(1980)

Soundtracks
Va' pensiero...
(from opera "Nabucco" )
Music byGiuseppe Verdi'
Libretto byTemistocle Solera(uncredited)
Performed byOrchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai(as Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus of Rome Radio Televisione Italiana)
Chorus master byGaetano Riccitelli
Conducted byFernando Previtali
Courtesy of Fonit Cetra

User reviews192

Review

Featured review

7/10

Inferno (1980)

Dario Argento is a filmmaker whose work is stunning and memorable. Suspiria is a beautiful vibrant work that encapsulates what an Italian horror is. In the same way Phenomena is an enthralling effort with a monumental soundtrack and horrifically beautiful visual display. I wanted to check out the rest of The Three Mothers trilogy and Inferno was the next on cue. I knew what type of film to expect and while this isn't his best film, I did enjoy experiencing it.

The film starts with a story in a book about The legend of the Three Mothers who are three evil sisters and how they live in different houses in different places. From there we immediately follow different characters as they start meeting their gruesome demise at the hands of a concealed figure. Mark is the main focus of the film, as he travels out to New York to get in touch with his missing sister. He soon learns about the legend of the Three Mothers and the violence that is occurring around him.

This is no Suspiria (or Phenomena). The characters are one dimensional, give ordinary performances. You don't have a young Jennifer Connelly or Jessica Harper to boot. The film gets a little muddled in its Three Mothers mystery. For a long time there isn't much going on besides watching different characters getting killed off slowly. I know that Argento is known for his shots and his vivid imagination of colors on screen but he is technically more style than substance. This film is the prime example of that.

With all that said I still really enjoyed this. its a joy to behold. Its pure Argento; the set pieces, the framing of the scenes, the gruesome but beautiful violence, and the pure suspense of what will happen. its quite good. It doesn't have the strength of a powerful soundtrack or a notable character but there's still beauty in it yet. I am probably going to watch the final film in the trilogy soon. I'm not expecting much because modern day Argento isn't all that (see Dracula 3D).

7/10