Inferno (1980)

Director:

Dario Argento

Writer:

Dario Argento (story)

Release Date:

2 April 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Terror that's hotter than hell!

Plot:

Semi-sequal to 'Suspiria' has a American college student in Rome, and his sister in New York investigating a series of killings in both locations where their resident addresses are the domain of two covens of witches.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | New York City | Book | Evil | House

Cast

Leigh McCloskey	...	Mark Elliot
Irene Miracle	...	Rose Elliot
Eleonora Giorgi	...	Sara
Daria Nicolodi	...	Elise Stallone Van Adler
Sacha Pitoëff	...	Kazanian (as Sacha Pitoeff)
Alida Valli	...	Carol, the caretaker
Veronica Lazar	...	The Nurse
Gabriele Lavia	...	Carlo
Feodor Chaliapin Jr.	...	Professor Arnold / Dr. Varelli (as Feodor Chaliapin)
Leopoldo Mastelloni	...	John, the Butler
Ania Pieroni	...	Musical Student
James Fleetwood	...	Cook
Rosario Rigutini	...	Man
Ryan Hilliard	...	Shadow
Paolo Paoloni	...	Music Teacher

Also Known As:

Dario Argento's Inferno

Runtime:

107 min | Germany:106 min | Sweden:102 min (heavily cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 (cut) | France:-16 | Italy:VM14 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 (heavily cut) | USA:R | West Germany:18 | UK:18 (cut) | UK:X (cut) | Finland:K-18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Elios Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Produzioni Intersound

Trivia:

According to 'Leigh McCloskey', Dario Argento's brother Claudio Argento spoke better English than Dario so often he would have to translate Dario's direction to the cast.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the cat attack, a human hand can be seen throwing some cats at the actress.

Quotes:

Mark: She writes poetry.
Nurse: A pastime especially suited for women.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Head for Horror: Lamberto Bava on 'Macabre' (2001) (V)

Soundtrack:

Va' pensiero...

The most beautiful of horror movies

Inferno is Dario Argento's masterpiece. For once, he abandoned the idea of a coherent storyline altogether and made a movie that is simply a series of beautifully made setpieces. Many people have criticized Inferno's plot; such people are completely missing the point. Inferno is no more concerned with plot than Luis Bunuel was with movies such as The Phantom of Liberty; where Bunuel was concentrating on images and ideas, Argento is concentrating on images and emotion, specifically fear.

Each scene features a character or characters running afoul of the Three Mothers, entities introduced obliquely in Argento's previous movie, Suspiria, and developed considerably here. The third movie in the Three Mothers trilogy remains unmade. Each scene is carefully coded by judicious use of colour and sound. All the best setpieces in the movie feature no dialogue whatsoever (most notably the scenes in the underwater chamber and the lecture theatre). Much of the most significant dialogue is whispered offscreen by unseen persons.

Inferno is that rarest of breeds: pure cinema. Not only could it not have succeeded in any other medium, it cannot be adequately described in words. Anyone who is seriously concerned with artistic cinema must see this movie, as should most horror fans. Anyone who has trouble getting their head around movies that push beyond the conventional three-act storyline will almost certainly hate it.