Inferno

Name: Inferno
Genre: Horror
Released: April 2, 1980
Duration: 106 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Alida Valli, Daria Nicolodi, Eleonora Giorgi, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Gabriele Lavia

1980

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Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Ratings

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7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Ratings

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Inferno

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Movie Details & Credits

20th Century Fox | Release Date: April 2, 1980 | Not Rated

Starring: Alida Valli, Daria Nicolodi, Eleonora Giorgi, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Gabriele Lavia, Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Leopoldo Mastelloni, Sacha Pitoëff, Veronica Lazar

Summary: An American college student in Rome and his sister in New York investigate a series of killings in both locations where their resident addresses are the domain of two covens of witches.

Director: Dario Argento

Genre(s): Horror

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 106 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Empire Kim Newman

The kind of film that starts off with a climax and builds to a plateau of surrealist delirium that, one way or another, will have you shrieking. Read full review

Keith Phipps

For all its nonsensical qualities, it also contains some of Argento's most hallucinatory images and unforgettable setpieces, as always reason enough to watch even when the usual reasons are nowhere to be found. Read full review

Almar Haflidason

There are some outstanding sequences in this movie that are truly chilling Read full review

Scott Tobias

The writing is clumsy, with information packed crudely into the dialogue, and his attention to the performances is inversely proportional to his attention to style. Yet his “New York” has an eerie, deserted, otherworldly quality—much as Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut would later—and some of the individual setpieces are spectacularly vibrant. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Although not as powerful, impressive, or exciting as Suspiria, Inferno is still intriguing, effective, and stylish enough to make the narrative unimportant. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

A much more conventional and unexciting piece of work. Read full review

Nina Darnton

The movie's distinguishing feature is not the number or variety of horrible murders, but the length of time it takes for the victims to die. This is a technique that may have been borrowed from Italian opera, but without the music, it loses some of its panache. Read full review

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User Reviews

Panchogul

Feb 27, 2021

Infinitamente mejor que Suspiria, el único punto débil es la banda sonora, la cual suena demasiado anticlimática en la película.

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TheQuietGamer

Jul 3, 2021

Inferno -the second entry in Argento's Three Mothers trilogy- does feel like a direct continuation of Suspiria in terms of style and atmosphere. Dario once again bathes each scene in beautiful shades of red and other colors while providing a soundtrack from Keith Emerson that really makesInferno -the second entry in Argento's Three Mothers trilogy- does feel like a direct continuation of Suspiria in terms of style and atmosphere. Dario once again bathes each scene in beautiful shades of red and other colors while providing a soundtrack from Keith Emerson that really makes certain moments standout, despite not being as prominent or memorable as Goblin's overall. While it nails the tone, the movie isn't able to recapture that same magic as the writing is much weaker.

Inferno is often criticized for not making any sense. Personally, I had no trouble following what was going on, but was very aware of the various plot holes and random or downright nonsensical events that really would have benefited from some form of explanation. For instance, if the mysterious cult of witch followers didn't want people to read the book about the three mothers then why did they leave a copy of it in the local library just above their alchemy lab?

As far as the more random stuff goes, there's a scene early on in the movie where the protagonist has a bizarre encounter with a girl who is clearly out of place in his music class. It's implied that she's the main witch in the movie, but she only shows up once after that for like a split second and isn't seen again. Argento later revealed that this is actually the third sister and antagonist of his much later film The Mother of Tears, but how on earth were we supposed to figure that out? She shows up like once in a scene so far detatched from the action at hand it's easy to dismiss her as a bit of unimportant weirdness. Which I suppose is all her inclusion really is anyways.

There's also the part where the antique shop owner tries to drown a bag of cats only to end up murdered by a random hotdog vender. His demise isn't even related to the "Mother of Darkness." Why wasn't the character killed off in a way that tied into the main story rather than some odd side excursion? It's not even like he was some unimportant supporting character. He had relevancy in the main thread.

One other thing that kind of bugged me is that it was implied that hotel staff worked for witch in the same manner the faculty of the dance academy did in Suspiria, but it's never fleshed out. They even add another plot hole to the mix by killing everyone looking into the three mothers other than the protagonist. They even go out of their way to save him. That whole "heart medicine" scene was weird. Also what was up with Varelli?

Writing woes aside, there's a lot I like about this movie. It's a bizarre descent into the macabre to be sure, but its eccentric flourishes and oddball characters are actually quite charming. It's like the intention was to remake Suspiria with a higher body count, only the people involved sort of forgot about the script somewhere along the way. The frequent kills are quite gruesome even with the cheap ketchup blood.

I feel like a really good job was done establishing this middle chapter (and Suspiria by extension) as part of a shared, ongoing story. Probably one of the few things other than the visuals that was handled with real elegance. As much as I've crapped on the script, I will say that it very natural for the protagonist to never fully grasp what's happening. It makes sense for him to walk into the final confrontation almost completely clueless as to what's going on given how he never had access to the full puzzle or witnessed any of the murders occurring around him. A nice touch that proves even the writing isn't all bad.

8.1/10… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

marcmyworks

Jun 10, 2020

The sequel to 'Suspiria' is one that was problematic to make, not only was the director ill during production and could not oversee scenes filmed in NYC, but the distribution company shut down when it was meant to be released and it waited years before hitting theatres. The overall film isThe sequel to 'Suspiria' is one that was problematic to make, not only was the director ill during production and could not oversee scenes filmed in NYC, but the distribution company shut down when it was meant to be released and it waited years before hitting theatres. The overall film is good, but suffers from elements similar to the original.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Giugi

Oct 3, 2022

The Italian horror master Argento does something slightly below his standard with this film, the film is largely forgettable and not too scary, however it has a rather disturbing atmosphere and while watching the film entertains in an acceptable way.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Boggiebamph123

Oct 9, 2022

The follow up to Suspiria. The second film of Argento's Three mother's trilogy. Very similar to Suspiria visually and in mood. Unfortunately just like Suspiria I find the story lacking. I Don't mind the cliche Italian horror movies illogical plots that Many Italian horror films have inThe follow up to Suspiria. The second film of Argento's Three mother's trilogy. Very similar to Suspiria visually and in mood. Unfortunately just like Suspiria I find the story lacking. I Don't mind the cliche Italian horror movies illogical plots that Many Italian horror films have in common. I enjoy the dreamlike qualities that many of them invoke. Inferno just like Suspiria suffers from story that is sometimes just bland and boring. Still worth a watch. It's not a bad film. Its just a bit forgettable.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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