Tag Line : Terror that's hotter than Hell.

Filmed hot on the heels of Suspiria, Inferno picks up on the same theme started in that film about a witches coven. The setting this time is a high rise apartment block, where one of the tenants, Rose Elliot (Irene Miracle) has made the discovery that all is not as it seems.

Her first clue that something is amiss follows after she buys an old book from a nearby second hand shop about a group of witches called "The Three Mothers", which was apparently written by an old architect who built there houses. As she reads on, she discovers that her apartment block is one of the buildings being described in the book (another being the German Dance Academy in Suspiria).

It turns out that the block of flats is the secret residence of Mater Tenebrarum (Mother of Darkness). Rose writes off to her brother Mark (Leigh McCrosky) who is studying at a music school in Rome asking him to urgently visit her as she believes her life is in now danger as a result of her discovery. But before Mark can arrive in New York, Rose is murdered by an unseen killer.

Meanwhile, Marks classmate Sara (Eleonora Giorgi) happens to read the letter his sister sent him, and decides to do a bit of investigating herself. It turns out that the music school in Rome they are studying at is the residence of the THIRD of the Three Mothers, Mater Lacrimarum. But before she can contact Mark about this she is also killed.

Mark starts to investigate his sisters disappearance, only to discover for himself the evil that is lurking within the building. Knife wielding killers, hidden passageways, and sub-terrainian basements are thrown into the mix of murder, mayhem, magic and alchemy to produce a horror film that is even more bizarre and surreal than Suspiria, but equally as enjoyable.

Overall Marks : 7/10.

Other Information.

• Daria Nicoladi (former Mrs Argento) helped co-write the film as well as star in it. Fellow Italian director Mario Bava (A Bay of Blood) also worked with Argento the picture. This was sadly the last feature he worked on before his death in 1980.

• The films budget was $3,000,000

• Leigh McClosky, who plays Mark, is a regular in US TV shows. He's probably best remembered for his role as Mitch Cooper in the cult 80's show "Dallas", but has also starred in "General Hospital", "Santa Barbara" and "The Young and the Restless". His notable film roles include the cult 1989 pic "Cameron's Closet" in which he played Detective Groom.

• The UK cinema version was cut to remove a scene showing a cat eating a mouse, but the original UK video release back in the early 80's was of the full uncut version. However, this got listed on the Governments "Video Nasties" hitlist and so was withdrawn. The current UK release by 20th Century Fox was cut by about 20 seconds. This was similar to the old cinema version, which comprised of a 2s cut removing a cat being beaten against the side of a chair and the 18 second shot of the cat eating a mouse (doesn't that happen in real life?).

• James Woods was originally chosen for the lead role, but had to decline as he was busy filming David Cronenberg's "Videodrome".

• Irene Miracle, who plays Rose, starred in another video nasty title, "Late Night Trains" (aka Don't ride on Late Night Trains, Night Train Murders), she went onto star in "Midnight Express" which was made just prior to Inferno. Her other credits include "Puppet Master" and "Watchers 2".

• Several actors/actresses from other Argento pics make appearances in the film. Most notably Daria Nicoladi (a regular in his 80's feature films), along with Alidi Valli (from Suspiria), Veronica Lazar and Ania Pieroni (from Tenebrae) and Gabriella Lavia (from Deep Red).

• Whereas the music for Suspiria was by Argento regulars "The Goblins", the job of scoring this film was was given to Keith Emerson (from Emerson, Lake and Palmer), which in my view made the soundtrack sound like a 70's concept album.

• The original Australian and U.S. video versions through 20th Century Fox were cut by about 25 minutes. However, the version re-released on Fox Video in Australia in 1985 seems completely uncut at 103 minutes, although the original Italian version of Inferno is supposed to be 107 minutes (could just be a disparity in running times between formats though). The current US release by Anchor Bay is the most complete version with all known footage intact.

Cast & Crew.

Buy the US DVD (uncut).

Notes on affiliate sites.
 

Other Argento films

Reviews A-Z.

Reviews index. Home. Menu.