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Inferno: A Beautiful Wreck

You know the guy who made Suspiria? The writing quality may not have improved, but damn if he doesn't make a pretty flick

By Delise FantomePublished 4 years ago 9 min read
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The aesthetic . . . ugh.

Dario Argento, whatever you might say of him, makes some visually appealing movies. One in particular I greatly enjoy? Inferno.

It came out in 1980, a mere three years after Suspiria, and (according to IMDb) rates at about 7 out of 10 stars. Objectively, it's a little hard for me to believe the movie earns a score this decent. Ignoring little things like premise, musical score, and acting ability though? Damn if I wasn't utterly compelled by this movie. I really don't know how to explain it succinctly. This movie just kept me invested in it despite all nonsensical points to the contrary . . . and what exactly kept me invested?

Some aesthetically pleasing red and blue lights.

No, seriously. Do you know the summary provided by Amazon Prime for this movie? Verbatim: "The tenents of a Manhattan apartment are terrorized by deadly spirits. They are decapitated, clawed to death by cats, burned, and attacked by a knife-wielding killer." Excuse me? There was just something about the bald phrasing of it, and the utter lack of enticing language used; the summary was just such a "you get what you pay for" kind of thing and, I don't know why, but I was curious to see what else there could be to a movie with such a dry explanation. As I would discover, no, there really wasn't much else to it (do be prepared, spoilers are incoming from this point on).

We begin the movie with a book of The Three Mothers, and a bomb French manicure. I mean, that hand is pristine I-

The Three Mothers are: Mater Suspiriorum, the Mother of Sighs, the oldest and wisest of the three; Mater Lacrimarum, the Mother of Tears, the most beautiful and powerful; and Mater Tenebrarum, the youngest and cruelest of them all. The sisters are steeped in arcane arts, witches of the darkest creed, and live in three distinct cites. Respectively those cities are Freiburg, Rome, and New York City (which seemingly has a ton of cats . . . more on that later). You can find them by looking for land surrounding a residence that is filled with death and pestilence, a bittersweet smell in the air surrounding the house, and the final key will lie beneath the soles of your feet.

Which brings us to our first "protagonist" and the wielder of the exceptional manicure, Rose (played by the lovely Irene Miracle) who lives in a luxurious apartment building and has a strange fondness for antique books. Concerned by the story of the Three Mothers and the clues that seem to be obvious in their leaning, Rose finds herself compelled to confront the shopkeeper who sold her the book . . . the shopkeeper whose shop is conveniently right next door to her apartment building. Her silhouette boldly highlighted by the deep blue and blush colored lights of whoever decided the city of New York needed some mood lighting. So you get a sense of what kind of protagonist Rose is almost immediately, a cool and direct woman who doggedly goes after her goal no matter the challenge.

Nothing highlights this more than when she jumps into an underground pool in the cellar of her apartment building without even a whimper.

First of all.

. . . I- what? Why would, you don't even know what's in that water. To bring context to this, Rose gets a hunch and sneaks into the closed off section of her apartment building, at the very bottom of it where it's clear no one has been there in probably decades. Broken fixtures, torn furniture and wayward pipe obstructions that are a clear safety hazard that should ward anyone away. Well, dear old Rose isn't just anyone is she? Carefully stepping through the debris, and helped along with the now beautifully dual combination of crimson and cerulean illumination (who is New York hiring and why), she seeks answers to figure out the mystery of The Sisters. Unfortunately, while pondering over the existence of a "pool" in the cellar, her keys drop in, and we realize together that the pool is so much deeper than any jagged edged hole in the ground has a right to be.

In the end it showed her what she needed to see, proving that her own home was the house of Tenebrarum. Along with a bunch of other things but I won't be explaining the movie in minute detail . . .

Anyway! She knows that this is much more serious than she can handle alone, and so sends her brother Mark a letter. Mark, is currently attending University in Rome. Mark then has his own encounter with one of the Sisters, though he does not realize it . . . he met Lacrimarum; Most beautiful sister indeed. He doesn't realize much at all is happening until the death of one of his classmates who saw his letter and investigated a little too closely for Lacrimarum's liking. I did feel bad for the poor thing too, unsuspecting Sara, but . . . for Gods' sake why did she think talking to a guy in a room full of bubbling cauldrons who never looked at her was a good idea?! With only one last phone call from his sister, the connection weak and eventually broken, he journeys back to New York to try and meet with Rose. Only, he'll never get a chance to see Rose again. Rose caught the attention of those who wish to keep the Sisters hidden, and was summarily dealt with in a pretty bloody and painful fashion.

Do you have any idea how freaking mad I was? Rose had, by this point in the movie seriously impressed me with her guts and steadiness. Every jump scare they put before her she dismissed in short order, and she tried so hard to evade the evil! She merely jumped, maybe gasped a time or two. For her to die like she did . . . oh, I was furious. She was so cool!

By this point my favorite character was dead and I had to ask myself why I wished to continue this movie. If not for Rose, and left only with her seemingly blockhead brother . . . what was the point? The answer was quick and easy to admit to myself, even if a bit disappointing if you were looking for a more sophisticated answer. The set design. I said before I loved the red and blue combination lighting. I really, truly loved it! For me, the lights were signals of dark omens, or death approaching. The lighting in general, even beyond that wonderful combination, was superb. A huge thank you to Art Director Giuseppe Bassan, and the talented duo on Set Decoration: Francesco Cuppini and Maurizio Garrone. Especially for the apartments, oh, don't even get me started on those. Lavishly decorated, and just so utterly beautiful they could be the subject of thousands of Pinterest boards. Each room you were shown felt like one beautiful little piece in a mansion. I'd never felt so poor in my life.

So, I carried on to honor Rose's memory, but that only left us with Mark as our protagonist (hence why, earlier in the article I'd put quotations around the title in regards to Rose and ooh I am steaming-). Mark . . . was a disappointment from the get-go. Just, confused and seemingly pitied by the sisters judging by all the times they could have killed him but didn't. Why Rose didn't get the same considerations I'll-

Man I have to chill about Rose.

More characters surrounding the mystery and connected to Rose before her demise also meet their own strange and gruesome ends. Well, gruesome for the standards of the late 70's. The movie summary ended up being sort of untruthful- no one dies directly because of an attack by cats and I'm a little salty about that. Mark continues to search for clues as others die mysteriously, and eventually comes to understand all three keys to finding Mater Tenebrarum. The discovery of E. Varelli is a bit of a surprise, and to see Tenebrarum is almost like a letdown- perhaps a better term is that it's surreal. She seems to be the least extravagant thing in the building, and perhaps that's intentional in order to blend in with society. There might never be a clear reason, but the movie ends in a somewhat confusing manner. Mater Tenebrarum claims that all the Mothers have another name in the common tongue, something all living creatures quake under . . . Death. They are, all three, avatars of sorts for the final force, and due to events outside of Mark's journey, the building burns down and destroy's Tenebrarum's hold upon New York and perhaps the mortal world in totality. Mark escapes, alive and battered, left with the realization that his sister is indeed dead.

I'm not really sure what that was supposed to do for the audience. Maybe if I had watched Suspiria first that would have hit different? I don't know. In the end, what can I say about this film?

Did I enjoy it? Not really, not as a film. Oh, I enjoyed the set design and the lavish and over the top choices there. But set design is not the driving force of a movie, or shouldn't be at least. The acting was sort of bad. Even Rose who I came to enjoy seemed emotionally stilted. Mark, ugh. I can't say much about the story, because the summary I based the movie upon was dry as sun bleached bones, and I was so very confused through the movie trying to see where they were going with all this. Perhaps that's a fault of mine in that I never felt the need to try and predict future events and make expectations of it. I haven't understood yet Tenebrarum's talk of Mark changing . . . was he important to her in some fashion? The music was another, um, weird part of this picture. To be blunt the music was either a strangely energetic symphony that clashed with the scene, or a strange and unsuccessful mix of synths and . . . operatic tones? Look I just hated how it would burst out of nowhere at times when the majority of the movie had little to no sound that wasn't dialogue. It wasn't too bad at the end though, after the final confrontation.

I would not, however, say this movie was a waste of time. It's strange because it wasn't enjoyable in a storytelling sense and yet I would still tell someone to give it a chance. Watch Inferno and, maybe, watch the other three that make up the Mater trilogy for a more cohesive experience. If nothing else the surreal atmosphere of the movie will keep you occupied. Watch it for the pretty lights. The pretty lights . . .

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About the Creator

Delise Fantome

I write about Halloween, music, movies, and more! Boba tea and cheesecake are my fuel. Let's talk about our favorite haunts and movies on Twitter @ThrillandFear

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