Movies - Inferno

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	Movies - Inferno

:This article is about the 1980 film. For the 1953 3D film, see Inferno (1953 film)

Inferno is a 1980 supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento. A thematic sequel to Suspiria
(1977), the film is the second part of Argento’s proposed “Three Mothers” trilogy. The film stars Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Daria Nicolodi, and Alida Valli.

Plot

Rose Elliot (Miracle), a poet who lives alone in an apartment in New York City, discovers an ancient book called The Three Mothers, which tells of the existence of a trio of evil sisters who rule the world with misery and horror. According to the book, the three dwell inside separate homes that had been specially designed and built for them by an insane architect in Rome, Freiburg, and New York. Rose comes to believe that she is living in one of these buildings. She writes to her brother Mark (McCloskey), who is studying music in Rome, and urgently asks him to come visit her. Mark begins to read the letter in the middle of class but is disturbed by a beautiful student (Ania Pieroni) who stares at him. Befuddled, he suddenly departs and leaves the letter behind. His girlfriend Sara (Eleonara Giorgi) reads the letter instead and is horrified by its contents. She takes a taxi to a library and locates a copy of The Three Mothers. Later that night, she is murdered by a monstrous figure.

Rose investigates some clues that seem to indicate her building is in fact one of the evil residences. She searches the dusty, cobweb filled cellar and discovers a hidden floor underneath, completely filled with water. After she accidentally drops her keys into the hole that leads through to the floor, she enters the water to retrieve them. She swims beneath the surface and finds a massive ballroom. On the walls the word “Tenebrae” is written repeatedly. She finally locates and grabs the keys, but a hideously putrefied corpse suddenly rises from the dark lower depths and attacks her. She manages to barely escape its grasp and makes her way back to the presumed safety of her apartment. However, she is attacked and brutally killed by a clawed assailant.

Mark arrives in New York and discovers that his sister has disappeared. One of Rose’s neighbors, Countess Elise (Nicolodi), tells Mark that Rose had been acting erratically in the days leading up to her disappearance. He naturally becomes concerned, and investigates by talking with some of the other neighbors and maintenance staff, all of whom seem disturbingly odd. The atmosphere of the building is strange and powerful. Mark’s search intensifies, and he finds himself endlessly prowling the structure’s darkened corridors and multiple hidden passages. Ultimately, Mark finds a hidden lair that serves as the home of one of the demonic sisters, known as Mater Tenebrarum. In human form, she explains to him with growing intensity exactly who she is, and why all men fear her. She suddenly reveals herself to Mark as Death incarnate. But by that time, a fire started previously has now consumed most of the building, and parts of the structure come crashing down on the demonic fiend, destroying her. Mark manages to escape out onto the street while the giant house burns to the ground.

Production

Suspiria had been an unexpectedly big commercial success for Twentieth-Century Fox. When Argento proposed a sequel of sorts to that film, Fox agreed to finance the production. The filming of Inferno took place mainly on interior studio sets but approximately a week was set aside for location shooting in New York, including Central Park. Argento invited his mentor, Mario Bava, to help assist in some of the special effects work for the film. (Various theories abound as to which specific sequence Bava was involved in; Maitland McDonagh believes he helped shoot the celebrated watery ballroom scene, whereas Tim Lucas has suggested it was the final confrontation between Mark and Mater Tenebrarum that bears Bava’s stamp.) Despite their remarkably effective and thunderous musical score for Suspiria, Goblin was bypassed and it was prog rocker Keith Emerson who performed the soundtrack duties this time around.

Response

For reasons never specified, Fox did not commit to a theatrical release of Inferno in the United States. The movie sat on the shelf for five years and was released straight to videotape in 1985 via the studio’s Key Video subsidiary. Worldwide, the film only had a very abbreviated and minimal theatrical release. Consequently, Inferno was not a commercial success at the time.

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Movies - Inferno

Plot

Production

Response

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