Inferno

Rating:
Summary: Immensely enjoyable Argento fare
Review: "Inferno" finds Dario Argento at his technical best. The film itself looks like a moving mosaic of gorgeous gel lighting and fluid, expert camera movement. The film is also joyfully nonlinear, lending an unorthodox approach to horror that demands subsequent viewings. In fact, this film, more than any other Argento film, benefits the most from repeated viewings. Upon my first viewing, I wasn't too impressed. I found the storyline poor and incoherant, and the acting rather dull, and horribly dubbed, at that. But upon a second and THIRD viewing, the film put me under its spell. I realized once again that the storyline and acting doesn't matter in an Argento film. The atmosphere and beautiful murders more than make up for it. The film is immensely effective as being a dreamy, subconscious mural of colors and vibrant lighting, juxtaposed against very savage and brutal murders. Even though the film is the second in the "Three Mothers" trilogy, its impact is wholy different than its precursor- "Suspiria". To enjoy this film, you must not compare it to "Suspiria". "Suspiria" is equally excellent, but very different. It is more savage but less magical, and not filled with as much wonder as "Inferno". As a result, "Inferno" may not be as shocking, but is more fascinating and dreamy, with many astonishing sequences (especially the "underwater" scene in the beginning. Don't pass up "Inferno", it is a fascinating experience.

Rating:
Summary: Narrative goes up in flames in Inferno . . .
Review: . . . and that's just as it should be. I disagree with those who say the plot is hard to follow. It's more that there is no plot, just a series of events, some more understandably connected than others. This film is close to being an exercise in pure surrealism. It's as if Argento threw up his hands and said, "Screw it. I usually have a hard time managing a coherent storyline, so this time I'm not even going to worry about it. I'm just going to construct a vague framework and go nuts with the nightmare imagery that is my forte and have a great time." Which of course would have been disastrous if it wasn't for the fact that Argento is a brilliantly imaginative visual stylist. To paraphrase Pauline Kael's review of David Lynch's The Elephant Man, this is not the usual movie where narrative is the glue that holds everything together; here, imagery is all. Argento holds you rapt with one entrancing, eerie and dreamlike scene after another. There's also one inspired moment of black humor when a man being attacked by rats--well, I don't want to give it away. Suffice to say it's a great joke that very wittily subverts your movie-watching expectations and (it seems to me) makes a satirical comment about New York at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Infer-NOOO!
Review: ... Inferno is not-definately not an enjoyable movie. Ihonestly wanted to give the film a higher rating than 2 starsconsidering the massive signature Argento stylistic input but theplot/storyline is just completely unbearable. The slow pace and nonsensicle structure is unforgiving and the film leaves you drained after watching it considering all of the questions you'll ask yourself about the movie. Unfortunately the film never-NEVER EXPLAINS THE "PLOT" FULLY. While this is a known factor of Argento films, the plot in Inferno is unacceptable! It's the absolute most annoying Argento has ever conjured up!... Still, Inferno features some nice visuals and the dubbing is really cheesy-but in a stylistic atmospheric way. Inferno is a work of art but definately not a good movie. See to only admire the visuals (or become bored to death) *2stars!* END

Rating:
Summary: would the real Dario Argento please stand up...
Review: ...and hang his head in shame for this subpar horror movie. Maybe I should have taken a cue from the brief introduction by Argento before "Inferno" started where he mildly praised the movie that I was in for a bumpy ride, because in a previous interview (at the end of "Deep Red," actually) he claimed he "didn't keep" any of his films. I thought, "Oh great, he's trying to butter me up for what's ahead."

So, after seeing "Suspiria," "Tenebrae," and "Deep Red," I was expecting something on the level of those horrors but instead got a terribly incoherent supernatural thriller (I guess). To some degree, it can be said that Lucio Fulci did a little ribbing on "Inferno" to make "The Beyond," but at least that movie was big, overblown horror fun that didn't wallow in the pompousity of its own artsiness.

The "plot" has something to do with the legend of "The Three Mothers" and an American music student who's searching for his sister but finds death instead. The movie is basically set up in the opening credits, and even if you can follow that brief expelling of information, you'll still wind up confused...and more likely frustrated...by everything that goes on.

Argento, who made some of the best Italian horrors of the 1970s, seems curiously defanged here. Even the maestro's usually eye-opening set pieces lack the urgency of his previous films. Any fans of Italian horror will want to see this, at least once, but this is hardly Argento's best work.

Rating:
Summary: Style over Substance
Review: A combination of alchemy, witchcraft, architecture and horror, director Dario Argento's Inferno is a pulsing thriller filled
with murder, supernatural mayhem and atmosphere so thick you could slash through it with a knife. 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. If you listen closely, you can hear the identity of the first mother, who's domain was visited in the previous Argento film SUSPIRIA. Rose's brother and Sara's boyfriend is Mark (Leigh McCloskey--remember him from Dallas and Just One of the Guys?), 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, Argento's girlfriend), 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 book-seller named Kazanian (Sacha Pitoeff), 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.

This is considered to be the sequel to Suspiria, although it's never really quite clearly stated as such.....one of the problems with this film is it's lack of explanations for some of the murders (and several other situations...)....I guess you are supposed to think that everyone is under the control of the Three Mothers? As usual, Argento's style reigns over substance. The color, the camera angles, the overall pace and storytelling, the viscousness of the murders. The mythos of the Three Mothers is very interesting..I think it could have been explored more. The third Mother, a beautiful brunette stroking a cat and whispering spells, appears as Mark read's his sister's letter in Rome...could she be the subject of the last of the proposed trilogy? Hopefully someday.There are some great effects in the film too....particularly at the end when the identity of the third mother is revealed. Extras on the DVD include the usual trailers and an interview with Argento. The booklet has an interview with Leigh McCloskey.

All in all, I really liked this film, but I couldn't really recommend it for everyone......you need to be a fan of Argento's style and have a certain amount of patience and acceptance to enjoy it fully!

Rating:
Summary: Esoteric even for Argento
Review: After seeing Dario Argento's "Inferno," I have moved into the final phases of seeing his entire body of work. It was easy to claim ignorance of many of this Italian director's films until a few years ago because it was difficult to find them anywhere, let alone in an uncut form. Fortunately, DVD arrived on the scene and eager film fans with dollars to spend inspired numerous companies to start churning out any movie they could get their hands on. It wasn't too long before practically every Argento film arrived on store shelves, many of them in uncut, unrated formats. Unfortunately, most viewers have likely never heard of Dario Argento. These days more people know about the director's beautiful daughter Asia than the horror maestro himself. What a shame. Argento's films, at least the ones I have seen, are masterpieces of style injected with truly cringe inducing violence. For a brief period of time, Argento drifted away from the tried and true giallo format to indulge in what would become known as his "Three Mothers' Trilogy." The first entry is "Suspiria," the second "Inferno." The third, unfortunately, has never arrived on the scene. After watching "Inferno," I must say that I prefer his giallo films.

That's not to say "Inferno" is a bad film--far from it. The movie introduces the viewer to a young woman living in a most mysterious house. According to a book she finds entitled "Three Mothers," written by a long dead alchemist named E. Varelli, the building she currently resides in may well be one of the three structures the aforementioned alchemist built for these three mothers. Who are they? Mater Tenebrarum (the mother of darkness), Mater Suspiriorum (the mother of sighs), and Mater Lachrymarum (mother of tears) rule the world from their three abodes, effectively controlling the destinies of everyone on the planet. One of the houses sits in Freiburg, Germany, another in Rome, and the last in New York City. And wouldn't you know it? Rose (Irene Miracle), the young lady who found the book, definitely lives in an eerie building in the Big Apple. We learn most of this within the first ten minutes of the film. Unfortunately, these scenes form the only coherent segment of the movie. All bets are off after Rose learns she's probably living in the middle of an ancient, horrible evil. From this point forward, "Inferno" lurches from one nonsensical plot thread to another. Some of them are interesting, some of them aren't, and some fall somewhere in between.

The movie suddenly shifts focus to Rose's brother Mark (Leigh McCloskey), a student studying music in Europe. He receives an odd letter from Rose describing her suspicions about the house, so he decides to leave immediately for New York in order to lend a helping hand. Before he goes, Mark witnesses a few bizarre scenes. For instance, while listening to a piece of music in a lecture hall, he sees a beautiful young woman a few rows down staring at him. Why? Who knows, but the credits identify this woman as one of the three mothers. Too, in a short subplot that really goes nowhere, one of Mark's acquaintances that saw the letter investigates the Varelli book much to her everlasting detriment. Anyway, Mark arrives in New York only to discover his sister is missing. He thus moves into the building determined to find out exactly what is going on. In the course of his investigations, he meets up with the oddball bookseller next door, a flighty neighbor (played by Daria Nicolodi), and a few of the other stern yet creepy tenants. Rose's brother soon makes an interesting discovery, alluded to in the Varelli book, that leads him smack dab into yet another confusing series of events involving an architect with a weird talking device implanted in his throat and the Mater herself.

"Inferno" is probably the only film I haven't worried about spoiling when writing a review. In order to spoil a film for someone, you have to know what the movie is about. I have NO IDEA what Argento tried to do here. The film eschews any conventional narrative in favor of one highly stylistic scene after another. And "Inferno" delves into style in a way few horror films ever achieve. You need look no further than the underwater scene at the beginning of the movie, or the cartoonishly lit interiors of the Mater's lair, or the revelatory denouement to realize this picture revels in artistically structured set pieces and situations. The flair for color and setting eclipses more than the narrative: the actors, the performances, and even the famous Argento kills disappear into the background. Sure, a couple of the characters meet their end at the claws of cats and rats, and a few knifings show up to keep you on your toes, but the main reason to watch "Inferno" involves enjoying the scenery and trying not to ask too many pesky questions about motivation or plot development. The movie concerns witchcraft and alchemy, two massively confusing topics, so who are we to demand answers to such supremely complicated subjects?

I liked the extras on the DVD. A nice behind the scenes documentary explains the technical difficulties behind the film. Apparently, tossing cats on Daria Nicolodi isn't as easy as it sounds, nor was the underwater scene a piece of cake. Probably the best thing about "Inferno" for this fan was the inclusion of a Keith Emerson soundtrack. As a huge Emerson, Lake, and Palmer aficionado, I instantly bonded with the organ/synthesizer score. Heck, a few of the songs would have fit in perfectly on a 1970's ELP album. All Argento completists will want to own "Inferno," but newcomers to the man's work should probably fortify themselves with his better known (and just plain better) gialli work before diving in here.


Rating:
Summary: A beautiful film by a truly gifted film maker.
Review: Anchor Bay have done the most amazing job bringing Argento's films back to his fans. Inferno is probably the best transfer I have seen so far.

Inferno was not as widely embraced as Argento's other films but it is a beautiful and haunting film. I have seen this film 10 or 15 times and each time I find myself being absolutely fascinated. It's a crime that there is no director's commentary on this dvd and on Deep Red, but there is enough quality in this DVD to keep any fan happy.

Bring on the DVD release of Suspiria!

Rating:
Summary: The Funk Was Flamin' Outta Control
Review: Argento's back in the house. This time it's a semi-sequel to Suspiria. Argento's trademarks are all back in full swing: Fantastically orchestrated murder scenes, cool music, red and blue lighting for no apparent reason, killers in need of a manicure, dream-like structure. Everyone seems to think this film doesn't make any sense, but I don't think that statement is entirely true. There actually is a thin plot running through all of the weirdness. This is established right from the beginning. There are indeed strange goings on, but you've been told from the start what's going on, so you can chalk it all up to supernatural mumbo jumbo. This isn't Lost Highway where there's no rhyme or reason for anything, you just have to remember that the witches are running the show here, so naturally things are gonna be messed up. And I tell ya, I don't think I've ever laughed harder in my life than I did in the scene with the guy at the hot dog stand. I can only hope Argento wanted that to be funny. I'd recommend this highly.

Rating:
Summary: watch this movie at night
Review: Because if you see it during the afternoon you will laugh hysterically. This is not to say that horror was not meant to be watched during the day. King Kong terrified me as did every version of the Mummy ever made (except the Indiana Jones one with B.F. that came out not too long ago).
Argento's "Inferno", if viewed late night however, is a force to be reckoned with. The story line sort of picks up where Susperia left off. Don't try to read too much into it, because the more you try to understand it, the more frustrated you will be with some of the odd characters who appear maybe once or twice and then vanish with no explanation as to identity or motive what so ever.
But, I rated this movie four stars!-as to where it succeeds, it does so brilliantly in where Argento's dialog and characters leave off. He says more with one image of an empty hotel room under water (and makes more sense at that) than the paragraphs of exposition he devotes to explaining the Three Sisters. The real horror is in the architecture, not as an active menace, but as a latent malevolent force. Argento's set designs are flawless; I loved his spartan use of color against the many shades of darkness throughout the film's mostly gloomy sets.
As for one of the sisters who finally manifests herself, well . . . we'll just have to wait until the third installment to see if more sense can be made of this mythology-if and when Argento ever crafts one.

Rating:
Summary: Beutifully Photographed Garbage
Review: Being very glad, now that I didn't buy all those Anchor Bay reissues of Dario Argento's nightmarish classics on DVD, as they have been doing a superb job on the Hammer Films horror classics.
There is very little plot (maybe seeing Suspira may have helped as this is supposedly a sequal) and totally unable to stand alone as an interesting feature film, save the cinematography and sets. Very much akin to "Rosemary's Baby" without Rosemary or the Baby. A delicious old New York apartment house with creepy tenants and hidden surprises behind every door, is however not The Dakota, and Ruth Gordon, sadly, never makes a jingly-wrist appearance.

The plot follows a young American music student in Rome returning to New York to search for his missing writer sister,
to lives in said creepy house, and borrows old books from the
antique dealer next door. The one book who gets the poor dear in deep trouble is "The Three Mothers". The book is comprised of
diaries written by the creepy building's architect / resident occultist, and it's opening passage reveals three "clues". The
first clue leads this curious cat into the basement, and there
she discovers a trickling stream leading to a fabulous underwater
lair. The BEST scene in the film.

It's all downhill from here, and speaking of cats, the film is full of 'em. Animal lovers will not appreciate the scene where
the antique dealer drowns a sack of them in a rat infested pond, but he receives a rightful PETA ending in the same scene.

Many unexplained characters, just decorations I suppose, or vehicles for gratuitous blood-letting. Leigh McCloskey stars
as our American brother but has little dialogue and pretty much lack-luster, not his fault though. I blame Argento for burdening his audience is trying to make sense out of this mess.

The only hint of an "Inferno" is in the final scene, but
does connect a bit to Dante's vision of Virgil's trip to the netherworld.

Watch this only if force-fed.