Inferno

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Cast & Crew

Irene Miracle
Rose Elliot

Leigh McCloskey
Mark Elliot

Eleonora Giorgi
Sara

Sacha Pitoeff
Kazanian

Daria Nicolodi
Elise Stallone Van Adler

Veronica Lazar
The Nurse

Alida Valli
Carol

Gabriele Lavia
Carlo

Dario Argento
Director

Dario Argento
Screenwriter

Claudio Argento
Producer

Dario Argento
Executive Producer

Guglielmo Garroni
Executive Producer

Romano Albani
Cinematographer

Franco Fraticelli
Film Editor

Giuseppe Bassan
Art Director

Keith Emerson
Original Music

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Critic Reviews for Inferno

Audience Reviews for Inferno

• Oct 08, 2011

  Another good mystery from Argento. I want to watch it again, though, I wasn't giving it my full attention. But I did like the movie, it has Argento's style and a good amount of blood and gore.
  Aj V Super Reviewer
• Sep 23, 2011

  A loose sequel to the legendary "Suspiria," Dario Argento's "Inferno" was bound to be a disappointment. And it is. Argento seems more concerned with sustaining his extreme red-and-blue color scheme than writing a cohesive script, and the bland, blow-dried lead actors look like they were plucked from the soap-opera circuit. There is virtually no exposition -- just one reason why the story is hard to follow -- and the stage blood is the wrong color and consistency besides. So much for the gore being scary. The plot builds on the premise of "Suspiria" -- that a mythic "Three Mothers" (the Lady of Sighs, the Lady of Tears, the Lady of Darkness) secretly engineer all the world's sorrows. "Suspiria" portrayed the Lady of Sighs, while "Inferno" profiles the Lady of Darkness. Here, the main story concerns a music student (Leigh McCloskey) exploring an ominous New York building where this evil woman may reside. A missing sister and an occult book written by one "E. Varelli" have aroused his suspicion. Bear these few details in mind and don't think too much. Just follow the colors, the violent sights and the endless, suspenseful footsteps. One creepy underwater scene and a fiery climax are fine set pieces but, in between, we're offered two lame, unconvincing deaths via swarming animals. The victims' deaths are not as inventive as they should be. Prog-rock fans will be eager to hear keyboardist Keith Emerson's first assignment as a film composer, but his score is not as distinctive as one might hope. Opera pieces from Verdi are also used.
  

  Eric B Super Reviewer
• May 09, 2011

  7.1/10 Dario Argento is easily one of my favorite Italian filmmakers, at least when it comes to the genre he is most well-known for working in. Argento, much like those who worked alongside him for most of the 70's, 80's, and earlier (Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci), was a master at crafting nightmarish situations that took a turn for the surreal at any chance they got. These weren't always films that you could make sense of, since their logic was not to everyone's liking, but if you were in the right mind-set and had the capacity to enjoy this genre from time-to-time, then there were certainly qualities to admire. I can't say I like where Argento has gone recently in his career, since he's clearly getting old and should rather retire instead of make more mediocre-to-horrid "original" projects of the modern age. However, when you look back at his earlier filmography (i.e. before the 1990's hit), then there's actually some pretty fascinating and entertaining stuff waiting to be unearthed. One such film is "Inferno". As a director, Argento was good for a few things. If you got together all the "masters of horror" and sat them down at a table, he wouldn't necessarily be the best storyteller of the lot, but you could still view him as a visionary artist with visual spectacle and an artistic vision to boot. I would expect that the man can look at something and see it from a nightmarish, frightening angle. Or at least he used to be able to do so. "Inferno" is one of his better films; a consistently engaging, solidly acted, intelligently plotted, and overall satisfying effort from the filmmaker that blends his two genre stylistic preferences; giallo and the supernatural. It acts as a sequel to the director's earlier (and better) film "Suspiria"; not in characters, but in themes and visual presentation. You'll notice such similarities right away. You might also notice that Argento often has a general fascination for literary illusions in his films. His best films themselves are illusions, I believe; visual experiences waited to be absorbed by the open arms and open minds of cult audiences and horror historians. Here, Argento makes one big literary reference to the somewhat-forgotten novel titled "The Three Mothers". The story, which we are told is a work of non-fiction, tells the story of, you guessed it, the "three mothers". However, these "mothers" are not merely the kind that you expect to be defined by the term; they are three sisters who are nothing more or less than evil, selfish witches prepared to engulf our world in their darkness whenever they are given the chance. It is said that an architect built separate homes in which at least one of the three sisters resides in; and the beginning of the film finds a curious woman named Rose searching for answers, as she believes that she lives in one such building. Her curiosity eventually leads her to dark places and bad situations. An example of one such situation which I am talking about would involve my favorite scene; which takes place underwater, and has the character swimming to recover a necklace that dropped within the depths of an underwater abyss. It is there that she discovers a name, a decaying corpse, and ultimately, her necklace. Some of the plot is fixated on Rose and her exploration of the witch cults and such. The other major part of the film's story is dedicated to Rose's dear brother, a music student, who goes by the name of Mark. His life is shattering to pieces, as a note that his sister had sent him has unintentionally triggered a series of bizarre, random killings involving a few of his close acquaintances. Seeking answers, Mark is soon forced to look into witchcraft and the Three Mothers as well; chasing the legend and the story until all his questions are met with sufficient answers. It isn't always the most intelligent or convincing journey, but to call the tale intellectually insulting would be an assault on intelligence in its own. What I've always admired about Argento is his ability to summon surrealistic logic and visual qualities, seemingly out of thin air. You kind of have to appreciate what he did and what he has done for the genre; he created real, dream-like, genuine horror. He was able to creep you out and send chills down the spine through music, images, and his almost-always worthwhile sense of direction. He knew what he was doing, he knew what movie he wanted to make, and whether we liked it or not was irrelevant. This was how it used to be; and I feel that Argento has changed for the worst not only as a filmmaker, but perhaps as a person too, because we all know that imaginative people can make equally as imaginative films. Argento may always be twisted; but will he always be a mastermind? It's doubtful; but I like what he's done here. I realize that a good portion of you reading will not like "Inferno", and I can certainly understand why. It has characters that aren't necessarily as interesting as they want to be, and the story is fairly simplistic if not a bit muddled. However, as always, the brilliance rests in Argento's artistic influence. As a sequel to "Suspiria", you get what you expect; the same brilliant, multi-color visual schemes, and a screeching rock score (although this time, not courtesy of Goblin, but provided by Keith Emerson, who crafts a rather memorable and haunting score here). I enjoyed the talk of witchcraft and the scenes of atmospheric pleasure. In the end, it's a creepy, messy, imperfect film that gets the job done. Also, it gets bonus points for having a hilariously tasteless scene in which a bookstore owner gets fed up with the neighborhood cats and stuffs them in a bag; intending to send them on their way to kitty afterlife. Poor things.
  Ryan M Super Reviewer
• Apr 14, 2011

  Inferno is Dario Argento's follow up to Suspiria. It's a loose sequel that epitomises both the strengths and weaknesses of its director. It's probably the weirdest film that Argento ever directed. And its one that divides his fans like no other. One thing is certain though - if you require your movies to be plot-driven, coherent and with fully-rounded characters then there is a very good chance you will hate this. The story, such as it is, concerns a couple of evil female entities that hold sway over two apartment blocks in Rome and New York; the 3rd of this trio of 'Three Mothers' was Elena Markos from the previous film, Suspiria. What follows is a series of bizarre, violent and mysterious events that revolve around these evil women. Inferno is, above all, beautiful to look at. It's overflowing with gorgeous widescreen compositions full of the amazing Bavaesque colour design that made Suspiria so memorable. Unnatural primary colours abound here. It really is glorious. And to complement this, the décor is of a brilliant bad-taste gaudy aesthetic that creates an atmosphere all of its own. This ambiance is assisted by the soundtrack provided by Keith Emerson. Again, in line with Argento's previous movies, there is a prog-rock element to proceedings at times but it's when Emerson adopts a more subtle approach that he is most successful. In particular, the piano driven main theme is beautiful. There is some thumping Euro prog-rock also, and although I like it for its cheese factor, I can't help but think that it doesn't fit in very well at times. But overall, Emerson does a fine job on this movie, creating a nice alternative to the more intense Goblin score from Suspiria. One clear weakness in Inferno, however, is the acting. The performances are universally poor. I think the dubbing may be partly to blame though, as it's more noticeably bad in this movie than in any other Argento film. Although it has to be said that the dubbing does create an odd layer of detachment that does make proceedings even weirder than they were already. Nevertheless, Leigh McCloskey is a bland central figure and I can't help but think that the film would be much improved with a better lead. In fairness, no one in this movie is particularly good but I think that it has to be said that the script doesn't help, as it has quite a number of unintentionally silly lines that don't make the actors look too good. Inferno is perhaps the ultimate example of Argento using actors as props. His indifference to them here is entirely blatant. The story is almost non-existent. The plot only serves to link the bravura set-pieces together. There are extremely few exposition scenes; so few that the film does appear incoherent at times. But then, logic is not something that Argento is in the least bit concerned with here; only the logic of nightmares has any relevance in Inferno. That said, some of the bizarre coincidences that happen are a bit overly silly, such as when Sara asks the librarian where the 'Three Mothers' book is, she is told it's right behind her or when Mark knocks a hole in the floor and finds Varelli's scroll immediately below him - these events are probably supposed to be freaky supernatural coincidences but kind of come across as being a little laughable to be honest. But mostly the strangeness of Inferno works a treat. Unlike Argento's later film Phenomena the weirdness is maintained throughout with an admirable commitment. In Phenomena there were many scenes that were set in realistic settings with fairly normal dialogue. This worked to its detriment, making the bizarre aspects look out of place and at times silly. Inferno has no such realistic scenes or settings. It's always surreal. Right from the word go this is a film that throws you off-balance. The scene in the underwater room is a key example. It's incredibly strange and brilliantly done. But really, it's just the start, as no matter where we go in this film things are always very, very odd. Each location, no matter how normal, becomes menacing - the apartment blocks, Kazanian's shop, the music school, the library and Central Park. Evil is everywhere in Inferno and Argento is unrestrained in depicting it in all it's excessive glory. Although there are a couple of graphic deaths, Inferno is really nowhere near as violent as Suspiria, Deep Red or Tenebrae. It's very much more an exercise in style and suspense. For better or for worse Inferno is pure Argento. It's an absolute exercise in horror that does not allow logic to get in the way. This is a film that could only have been made in Italy. It has virtually no plot but is 100% cinema. This could only work in the cinematic medium. So, check-in your sense of logic and surrender yourself to the beautiful madness that is Inferno.
  Cassandra M Super Reviewer

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