Inferno begins with a young woman (Irene Miracle) who innocently buys a book from an antique dealer in her neighborhood. The book turns out to be the diary of a man who constructed houses for the Three Mothers--three evil witches who, between them, created the dark art of witchcraft--all across the world in Rome, Germany and New York City. As she reads about the details about the house in New York City, the woman notices a lot of similarities between the witch’s abode and her very own apartment building. When she tries to discuss it with the antiques dealer, the man dismisses her ideas as being silly.
However, acting on a tip that she read from the diary, the woman decides to
investigate the basement of her apartment building. And she winds up swimming in
a room within the basement that is completely submerged in water. The entire
sequence is very dream-like, and entrancing to watch. Eventually, since this is a
horror film directed by the 'Italian Hitchcock,' Dario Argento, after all, the
underwater scene turns dark and nightmarish in tone. The story doesn’t become
any more clearer as the film goes on--if anything, it becomes even more muddled
and confused as time goes on--and some of the acting here is really very bad.
But Inferno, the second film in Argento’s Three Mothers Trilogy, feels very much like a surrealistic dream overall. The fact that Daria Nicolodi’s character spends all of her screen time dressed only in a nightgown seems to support this theory. Dreams do not normally follow logic, and neither does the script for Inferno. But Argento has created some captivating imagery here that’s oftentimes a marvel to watch. And he manages some genuinely unsettling scary moments, such as a pair of demonic eyes glaring out at the viewer in the dark, or just an overall creepy mood that builds up with the suspense. Just like a dream, you find yourself afraid, even though you may not know why.
Other than an introduction by Argento, who speaks in his native Italian
(translated into English with subtitles), there are no special features to speak
of on this DVD. In fact, there aren’t any closed captions or subtitles for the
deaf and hearing impaired, which irritates me to no end. But Argento was always
a visual stylist, and Inferno is probably one of his best, visually intriguing
films, even though it’s basic story makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Consider it as being good eye candy for horror fans. In comparision, Inferno is
still light years better than the last Three Mothers film, the odious and insipid
Mother Of Tears.
--SF
