It’s time for the Inferno blu-ray review, this is the Dario Argento film. Halloween’s been and gone for another year but I still intend to bring a few chilling film reviews and hopefully recommendations to your attention.
I’ve been going through all the readily available Dario Argento films that are currently on Blu-ray. Time for another, here is my .
Oh just to be clear, this is not the Dan Brown Inferno directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks!
- Inferno (1980)
- Genre: Supernatural Horror
- Directed By Dario Argento
- Written By Dario Argento & Daria Nicolodi
- Music By Keith Emerson & Dario Argento
- Cinematography By Romano Albani
- UK Rating 18
- Released By Arrow Video
- Starring Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, Alida Valli
Plot
Poet Rose Elliott stumbles across an old book titled The Three Mothers whilst living alone in New York. She finds the book in an antique shop near her apartment building.
Intrigued by the story of The Three Mothers she believes it not to be fiction and a story about real events. The author of the book is an architect named Varelli. He reveals that within three buildings he built, one in Rome, one in Freiburg (Germany) and one in New York the Three Mothers reside.
Rose thinks her apartment in one of these buildings. Following the so called clues from the book she ends up going down into the cellar. In the cellar she finds a hole in the floor filled with water.
She can see something and leans over and puts her hand into the water, in doing so she loses her keys. She ends up diving down to retrieve her keys but a horror lies beneath the surface.
In Rome Rose’s brother Mark, a music student receives a letter from her talking about The Three Mothers. He starts to read it but is distracted by a strange woman during a music class.
He leaves the letter but his friend Sara picks it up with the intention of returning it to Mark.
She ends up reading it and decides to go to the library to find the book. Having found it she decide to take it but loses her way out of the building running into someone who doesn’t want her to have it.
Terrified she makes her way back to her apartment. Now so scared she even asks a stranger in the lift back to the apartment. She has ever right to be scared as she finds out to her cost.
Mark speaks to Rose on the phone who asks him to come to New York immediately. He arrives in New York at her apartment but she is nowhere to be found. Furthermore there are signs of a struggle or worse, with blood and a broken door handle.
Plot Summary
So to sum up three buildings and three mothers allegedly reside there. Who or what they are I’ll leave you to discover for yourself.
The plot is not the strongest in all fairness, that said the film gets away with it to a large degree. By the end of the film you will probably think it’s not a bad plot. It’s more that it’s delivered in a slightly confusing manner on first viewing.
By the films conclusion the main plot is clearer even if there are plenty of unanswered questions.
Style / Direction
Another very stylish looking film similar in many ways to Suspiria. Again Argento use of the colour red is a prominent feature.
Inferno is not as quickly paced as some of his other films. Some nice camera work make for another visually stunning effort.
Never content with a standard murder Argento devises yet more bizarre and gruesome deaths as the victim count steadily rises. They are all excellently conceived and executed (see what I did there!)
Top marks for the look of the film.
Music / Audio Effects
The music is pretty good, but not in the same league as say Suspiria, one standout piece with the rest more functional.
Acting / Characters
Decent performances all-round allow the film to shine well enough. I wouldn’t there are any standout performances though.
Conclusion: Inferno (1980) Film Review
Inferno is a visually stunning piece of filmmaking, beautifully shot. Dario Argento follows on from his previous work taking many of the visual techniques and in employing in Inferno.
So it’s another masterpiece? Not quite, the music is nowhere near as unnerving as say the music in Suspiria and the plot is definitely not as filled out or polished as it could have been.
However by the conclusion of the film you are left mostly satisfied by the plot. If you are just after the murders you will be more than satisfied with the various methods devised.
It’s with Inferno that Argento decided to turn Suspiria into part of a trilogy of films although it was not concluded until 2007 with Mother of Tears.
In the end Inferno delivers on the horror aspect pretty well but falls a little bit short in plot department and music wise.
That said I’d still strongly recommend watching and my rating as you will see still means the Inferno is a cracking supernatural horror film.
If you’re a fan of Dario Argento take a look at these reviews:
Conclusion: Inferno Blu-ray Review
Inferno Blu-ray Review (1980) – Inferno really does look outstanding on blu-ray and if you are a fan of Dario Argento or just curious as to what all the fuss surrounding his films is all about, I recommend that you only see the Blu-ray version.
Sound and picture quality are simply excellent, with virtually no speckles of dirt, I can’t remember any. It’s a sharp crisp and clean print. Well done to those charged with restoring it.
Popcorn Cinema Rating: Inferno (1980)
MOVIE RATING: MUST SEE
BLU-RAY RATING: EXCELLENT
EXTRAS: EXCELLENT
POPCORN CINEMA: RECOMMENDED
Inferno (1980) blu-ray is available now from Amazon.
Inferno (1980) Film Trailer
For those of you yet to see the film I’ll leave you with a little taster with a trailer…
Inferno Blu-ray Review is part of my Dario Argento season, missed any click here
Summary: Inferno (1980) Blu-ray Review
Movie title: Inferno (1980)
Duration: 107 mins
Director(s): Dario Argento
Actor(s): Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, Alida Valli
Genre: Horror
- Movie Rating
- Blu-ray Rating
- Extras
Summary
Another visually striking horror film by director Dario Argento.
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