Reviews & Ratings for
Inferno More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 11:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Index

103 reviews in total

---

49 out of 59 people found the following review useful:
The most beautiful of horror movies, 12 February 2001

Author: Pearce Duncan from Wellington, New Zealand

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.

---

34 out of 40 people found the following review useful:
One of My Favorite Dario Argento's Movies, With an Intriguing and Frightening Story and Great Atmosphere, 5 April 2005

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In New York, the poetess Rose Elliot (Irene Miracle) reads an ancient book called "The Three Mothers" that she bought in the bookseller and antique Kazanian close to her building. The architect and alchemist E. Varelli, who tells that had designed and built three buildings for three mothers,in Rome, New York and Freiburg, wrote an impressive story in London. These threes wicked mothers, called Mater Suspiriorum (the oldest one), Mater Lachrymarum (the most beautiful) and Mater Tenebrarum (the youngest and cruelest), intended to rule the world with sorrow, tears and darkness. In accordance with the book, there are three keys, each one of them hidden in one building. Rose realizes that she lives in one of the buildings, and decides to look for the second hidden key in the cellar. From this moment on, weird things happen to her and she decides to write a letter to her brother Mark Elliot (Leigh McCloskey), a student of musicology in Rome, and asks him to visit her in New York. Mark never meets his sister and finds who the three mothers are indeed.

This is the beginning of "Inferno", one of my favorite Dario Argento's movies, with an intriguing and frightening story and great atmosphere. There are many flaws in the screenplay; the characters are not well developed, so their motives are not clear; and there are lacks of explanations for many events, so the viewer does not understand why the evil mothers attack the characters of the story, but anyway it is a cult Gothic movie. With some improvements in the screenplay, this movie would be a masterpiece classic. I have already seen this scary movie four times in a VHS I have recorded a couple of years ago from cable TV, and unfortunately it has not been released on VHS or DVD in Brazil. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Mansão do Inferno" ("The Mansion of the Hell")

Note: On June 23rd, 2009, I saw this movie for the fifth time in an imported DVD.

---

24 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
The Stuff Of Nightmares, 29 May 2005
Author: Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas

This is a film about witches, ancient alchemy, and death. The atmosphere is Gothic and medieval. But the setting is modern. Most scenes take place in small, stylish interior spaces. For lighting, Argento uses the glow from indirect sources (mostly blue, red, and orange hues), and alternates this with darkness. In combination with the lighting, the film's sound effects, which alternate with silence, are appropriately spooky. And Keith Emerson's soundtrack, with all that organ music, contributes to the Gothic tone. One of the best parts of the entire film is the rock-opera opus from the chorus at the film's end, with that great beat, and lyrics that are indecipherable.

The nightmarish atmosphere, while maybe not quite as stunning as in "Suspiria", is more than adequate to induce suspense, anticipation, and a sense of danger. From out of the darkness and stillness comes "death", in all its horrific cruelty. As a "horror" film, "Inferno" is fairly pure, in that the plot is more or less self-contained. There are only brief references to the "real" world, outside the confines of the story.

The film's plot is indeed thin, and functions really as an excuse for the actors to move from one atmospheric set to the next. The script does not require great acting skills, mercifully, since great acting is nowhere to be found.

Of the various Argento films I have seen, "Inferno" is perhaps my least favorite. It does not have the conviction of Argento's other works. It seems more like a half-hearted sequel, an afterthought, to "Suspiria". Like most sequels, I find it less satisfying than the original, the soundtrack notwithstanding. Still, for Argento fans, "Inferno" is a must-see, if for no other reason than for purposes of comparison.

---

29 out of 40 people found the following review useful:
Oh, Dario, you crazy crazy man., 27 January 2003

Author: theslowwizard from Tampa, FL USA

Okay, here's the deal: If you need a coherent movie with an algebraic plot, skip this one. If you are interested in Dario Argento but haven't seen any of his films, start with something else. If you are a fan of Dario Argento, do yourself a favor and buy this one. Inferno is weird, makes no sense, but is a gorgeous horror film. I loved it.

---

13 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
A Masterpiece of a sequel!, 19 December 2005

Author: AngryChair from Brentwood, USA

Beautiful and chilling follow-up to Argento's classic Suspiria (1977) is an underrated film and one that Argento himself declares to be his 'purest' work!

Music student receives troubling news from his sister and travels to New York, where he discovers sinister evils at work.

Many critics have said that this film lacks sense in the storyline, but it's actually a more coherent story than they would have you think. The story does evoke a dark world of its own, taught with suspense and a touch of the surreal. Naturally, the greatest thing about this film is of course Argento's wonderful style! Agrento again flairs his colorful direction with excellent camera work, lavish uses of color and lighting, unique set pieces, and an atmosphere of sheer terror! Keith Emerson also lends a hand with his dramatic and stunning music score.

The cast is great, attractive leads McCloskey, Miracle, and Giorgi being the best.

For Argento fans, Inferno is everything you could want! It packs all the delightful trademark style we have come to love from this great director. It won't be for all tastes, but genre fans may just find it to be a truly colorful and chilling gem!

**** out of ****

---

19 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
Argento is a Genius, 9 February 2004

Author: Shmra from Canada

Out of all of the horror films I have seen, there have one been a few that I found truely frightening. Suspiria and Inferno were among the few. The Cinematagraphy and the music in these films is extraordinary. I know a lot of regular film goers, people who take courses on analyzing films, I do by the way, and they love Argento's work. I see some reviews here bad mouthing the plot and the poor acting in Inferno. While I admit the actors are not spectacular the plot is there, it is simply not what you normally see. This is NOT a Hollywood film, this is not a plot driven film, like a lot of Argento films, this film's plot is more like the plot of a Nightmare. This IS a horror film and it IS very frightening and very well made. I am getting sick of all the Hollywood remakes myself, like this recent film "Decoys", while I have not seen this film, it looks like a Hollywood version of David Cronenberg's Rabid. But that's another subject. I recommend any Argento film to anyone also sick of the Hollywood films.

---

14 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
One of Argento's most difficult works, 8 July 2004

Author: GroovyDoom from Haddonfield, IL

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Uneven mixture of the brilliant and the inept, this has some inspired imagery and ideas on behalf of our beloved Argento, but unfortunately the execution (no pun intended) botches some of the scenes and brings the film down. Continuing the idea of the "Three Mothers" introduced in his brilliant "Suspiria", Argento places most of the action in similarly cursed dwellings in both New York and Rome, and the expected gruesome deaths begin. Some of the murders are completely uninvolving, and some are downright laughable (like an attack by ordinary cats). The soundtrack doesn't help matters any, with some goofy orchestral motifs complete with actual lyrics ("Mater! Suspiriorum!").

But the weird thing is that what works in "Inferno" is almost unforgettable, for instance when a woman drops her keys into a puddle and discovers that a crack in the floor leads to a vast underground room flooded with water all the way to the ceiling. The house with the secret passageways also will stick with you. Overall the film seems like a project that was rushed through, it's interesting in concept but the end result is limited.

---

20 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
A mixed bag., 12 December 2002

Author: gridoon

Dario Argento is a master of his genre, no doubt about that, but his script here is pure hokum. The film has a number of striking images (the mysterious beauty that appears out of nowhere in the classroom; the drapes being slowly ripped apart by the nails of a stabbed-to-death woman; the close-up of Daria Nicolodi's lips; the pursuer at the library's basement, whose face remains in the dark, but whose hands are clearly not human), and a very peculiar architectural design, with secret passages leading to all sorts of hidden rooms to other passages to other rooms....However, as many others have said, the film is best approached as a dream, because the plot is incoherent and there are several scenes that run on too long. It does get better on the second viewing. (**)

---

19 out of 30 people found the following review useful:
Typical Argento...visually striking, poorly scripted., 9 July 2003

Author: capkronos (capkronos00@hotmail.com) from Ohio, USA

"The Three Mothers" are a trio of nasty, unseen witches/sisters whose rein of terror leaves behind a string of bizarre, grisly murders stretching from Germany to Italy to America. A young woman (Irene Miracle) renting out a room in a multiple-story, Gothic mansion in New York City (also head quarters to the witches) becomes obsessed with a book on the sisters and ends up meeting a gruesome demise for her meddling. Her brother (Leigh McCloskey) receives a distressed letter and returns from musicology studies in Rome to investigate, is thrust into a series of grisly murders and coming face to face with the spirit of death itself!

Argento's follow-up to SUSPIRIA is poorly acted by the leads and often confusing and senseless. However, it's also surreal, beautifully atmospheric, gorgeously photographed and strikingly colorful. Keith Emerson's thundering keyboard score another plus. Beware the Key/20th Century-Fox VHS version that's missing over twenty minutes.

Lamberto Bava was the assistant director. His father, Italian horror stylist Mario Bava, in his last film (he died in 1980), gets credit for both shooting it and FX.

---

25 out of 42 people found the following review useful:
A genuine guideline for horror filmmaking..., 2 March 2003

Author: fando

As I understand by the definition H. P. Lovecraft gives of horror as opposed to other genres that have been mistaken throughout time with it, this is the best movie within the definition, and in my opinion, Dario Argento's undisputable masterpiece. In spain as well as in other spanish speaking countries, this is the movie that is referenced most often from Dario Argento as it seems. It was quite strange for me that most people that comment on Argento's work find Suspiria to be such masterwork as the story is much more plain, and certain elements are thrown in the wrong points of the movie, like the first two murders and the abrupt and seemingly total improvisation of an ending of this movie ( and I am not saying in anyway that Suspiria is bad, is just that it's mistakes are much more evident to me and overall is a weaker film).

It's been said that Mario Bava contributed to the creation of certain sets and special effects for this movie. If so, maybe that's why this movie looks so much like some of his works like " Sei Donne Per L' Assasino", specially when it comes to the murder sequences, and the overall lighting and pace of the film. One thing that makes me wonder what is wrong is that a lot of people say that this film is confusing. Everything is given explanation since the beginning ( the nature of the tree mothers, the relationship between Mark and Rose, and besically what each character is and what's their involvement in the plot) and I don't understand why It doesn't make sense: Mother Tenebrarum, the cruellest of the said " Three sisters" lives in New York,and there are three keys to find the places where they dwell. Rose suspects that one of them lives downstairs and tries to warn his brother of that, considering that one of the sisters lives in Rome as well ( the first one lives in Freiburg, Germany, which would be the only evident link in my opinion to " Suspiria"). From there, the murders start to happen ( all of them, specially the one in the eclipse seen, being the most original and stylish set pieces with this motiff in my humble opinion), as the sisters want to keep their existence very low profile due to their real nature. What is so complicated to that? Isn't it that the way is suppossed to be undesrtood for the most part or did I miss something?

It's just out of my understainding how the ending of this movie would be worst than the one from Suspiria, as it is the most descriptive metaphor I've seen of Death. There is a pretty comparable descrition given in a text by Jose Emilio Pacheco ( " Prosa de la Calavera"), specially regarding the mirrors. The imagery is very universal and " a doc" with human fear: Mice, Cats, Sewers, Cellars, The Shoots of the Moon, Windows being opened by the Wind, ETC...

The music, even though Goblin are the specialists, is far superior than in " Suspiria". There is very nice use of classical music by Verdi, for example ( the arrangement they did of one of the pieces in the Cab scene is great) and the piano melody that adapts to each frame for it's enhancement, and the use of choir a la Carmina Burana during some of the key moments, specially the ending. All of this is reminds me of my childhood fears. Specially because as a Latin American, they used to scare me with " La Bruja" ( The Witch) whenever I would misbehave. So this movie really makes me p*** in my pants every once in a while. Keith Emerson delivers one of his rare contributions to film, and I think Argento and him should get together again, now that he is shooting " Il Cartaio". Emerson fits much better Argento's meticulous style of filmmaking than Goblin. Goblin is pretty good at capturing mood, but after a while they become pretty repetitive.

Overall, this is the real thing when it comes to horror for me. No other movie would equal the impact It had on me, not even the Exorcist (which is said to be the mother of them all). Bido and Argento need to come back.

This is It!

---

---

Page 1 of 11:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Plot synopsis	Amazon.com summary
Ratings	Newsgroup reviews	External reviews
Parents Guide	Plot keywords	Main details
Your user reviews	Your vote history