Inferno (1980)

Second installment to Argento's "Three Mother's" trilogy that started with 1977's "Suspiria". As opposed to a dance academy in "Suspiria", witch headquarters this time around is located in an old, gothic, apartment building in New York. A young poetess and resident in the building named Rose, has caught on to the building's occult secrets and has written a letter to her brother studying in Rome to come as soon as possible. Mark, Rose's brother, shows up a tad late as unbeknownst to him his sister has been brutally murdered by one of the building's evil tenants. Mark's sleuthing starts out innocently enough in an attempt to find out what happened to his missing sister, but before long he is enwrapped in the building's evil secrets and finally comes face to face with the head witch by films end.

To mainstream moviegoers who are used to a coherent, linear plot you will no doubt be scratching your head at this one. Argento's films never have made the most sense in terms of a clear and directed plot, and "Inferno" is his most dreamlike and well, confusing picture. If you try to follow this film as one that goes from point A to point B, you'll be practically insane by the film's end. I like to compare this one to Fulci's "The Beyond", as it really is nothing more than a succession of disturbing images spliced to a very thin storyline. For example, at one point in the film Argento cuts to a series of quick images consisting of a lizard eating a moth and then a woman hanging herself. What is the point you ask? I don't know, but it does tend to play with your subconscious a bit. Characters are introduced and then never mentioned again, everyone acts like they are in a trance, and storylines are opened and then never explained or continued. Through all of this rambling, I'm basically trying to say that nothing makes a damn bit of sense here. Yet, that's not to say the film is not well made. In fact I think "Inferno" is one of Argento's most beautiful films and is atmospheric as all get out. The color scheme of "Suspiria" is well evident here, with characters faces lit up with reds, greens, and blues to represent their emotions. Plenty of artsy-fartsy camera shots and prowling camera zooms are also well abundant. If you watch this one and try not to make any sense out of it, you'll be fine. Hopefully by the time Dario gets around to completing the trilogy, he will have a script that at least includes some type of coherent storyline.