DVD of the Week - Week 5 - Inferno

[Jason25]

It's time once again to pick a new dvd of the week. This weeks pick is an under rated film by Dario Argento, Inferno.

Argento had me pulled into this story from the very first few opening scenes. I thought the pacing was nearly perfect, as well as the story and the acting. I realize this isn't a movie that everyone thinks of when they think of Dario Argento, but I do love this film, especially with repeated viewings. Every fan of Argento's should check this out.

Anchor Bay, what a fantastic company. I remember the days of bootlegs all too well. I honestly never thought we'd see Euro Horror films like we see them today. DVD has changed the way we see films and how wonderful this is. Inferno looks great on DVD. Nice transfer, above average sound, a few nice extras. What more can you ask for? I'm so glad to be able to watch a great film on a nice dvd. I think every Argento fan should check this dvd out.

Opinions?

[Dave]

Ahhh....Inferno. Just like with Deep Red DVD, it has been sitting on my shelf, unwatched, since the day it was released. I should note that I did finally watch Deep Red and enjoyed it very much, but that's discussion for another thread.

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David W. Anderson - dave@horrordvds.com
Webmaster - www.horrordvds.com

[mutleyhyde]

Inferno and the Demons dvds are the last ones I need from AB. I almost got Inferno during Christmas, but opted for Deep Red instead. I think I'll be getting it pretty soon though.

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"When I go to confession, I don't offer God small sins - petty squables, jealousies - I offer him sins worth forgiving!"

May the Hammer eternally bleed!
M. Hyde

My copy of Inferno is being held up with another two titles I have on preorder... I found it so cheap at A&B Sound though, it is worth the wait...

My copy of Deep Red just arrived today, actually - but my amp is away being fixed, so I can't watch it. Plus I am going away to Japan tomorrow for a holiday. Bad timing on my amp busting - I am on holidays for the first time in two years, and I have been unable to watch any movies. I was actually settling down on my first day of rest, to watch Cronenberg's Rabid again, and no sound... To quote Butthead "This sucks more than anything that has ever sucked before"...

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Oh no, mother! Blood!

[mutleyhyde]

Oh, yeah... going to Japan tomorrow sucks more than anything has sucked before - NOT. I think you'll get over your lost viewing time pretty quick. Enjoy your trip dude, I'd love to be in your shoes!

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"When I go to confession, I don't offer God small sins - petty squables, jealousies - I offer him sins worth forgiving!"

May the Hammer eternally bleed!
M. Hyde

[Paff]

Um, back to Inferno anyway...

What a cool movie, and what a fabulous transfer by Anchor Bay. Tell me you don't start salivating at how good Suspiria will look based on the quality of Inferno.

And the movie itself is as good as the transfer. The aim of the film is definitely to give a persona to the buildings. Sure, that's been done before, but only by adding openly human characteristics: Gaping maws in closets, bleeding walls, etc. The buildings in Inferno are just that: Buildings. They don't DO anything. But is there any doubt that they're ALIVE and evil??

Two scenes stick out, and those are the secret passages in the beginning and end sequences. I guess I can't go more into detail than that since so many people here haven't even SEEN THE FRIGGIN THING! (Shame on you AGAIN Dave!) The passages seem small and realistic, but as the scenes progress (verrrrry slowly), they grow in size to become impossibly huge, bigger than the space that contains them. ("The repositories of all their filthy secrets...") But the slow movement makes it work perfectly.

A real pretty film, and an outstanding DVD

[DVD Connoisseur]

As I commented before, Inferno was unofficially the second film in an unfinished Three Mothers trilogy. As a movie I enjoyed it but it's one of the more frustrating Argento films because it seems to end abrubtly and the plot is dislocated (adding to the dreamlike quality of the piece). You could argue that the sudden ending adds to the realism but this is dark fantasy and I would have liked more of a grand finale. Having said that, Argento is always a class act and the visuals are awesome, coupled with a superb soundtrack. I definitely need to see this film again to appreciate it fully.

Anchor Bay did a sterling job on this DVD. I cannot wait for Opera (my favourite Argento movie, funnily enough. Suspiria's good but I prefer Argento when he's not dealing with the supernatural).

I liked this one for the imagery, but I felt the plotting and pacing were weaker than Deep Red and Tenebre.

On the other hand, I found some of the sequences like the "dive" to be tremendous.

The ending was a little abrupt, I agree.

love this movie! greeeeaaat transfer! ending was abrupt, but its part of the 3 mothers trilogy. the last one will end with a bang, i'm sure

Yeah I just watched Inferno again tonight. It’s a great film and certainly one of Argento's best. His use of color especially blue and purple is brilliant. In fact Argento's use of color in Inferno is highly reminiscent of Mario Bava's films like Black Sabbath and Twitch of the Death Nerve. I wonder if Mario Bava’s participation in the film had anything to do with it .

As Paff points out the scenes in the flooded ballroom and the final confrontation stand out and are some of Argento’s best. Emerson’s score keeps getting better each time I hear it too.

I agree with the point raised about Inferno ending abruptly, but I've always felt Inferno ends in similar style to Suspiria. Both films sort of make you wonder- what happens now?

Anchor Bay’s DVD is terrific too. I did a review for it so no point in repeating myself . Needless to say my thoughts of it haven’t changed.

the last one will end with a bang, i’m sure

I wouldn't hold by breath for part 3 Traumahound. In the book Spaghetti Nightmares Argento is asked in his interview whatever happened to part three and this is what he said:

After Inferno I had the story more or less ready, but by the time I'd revised it, a whole year had gone by, and I realized that it had lost its appeal. So I decided to drop the project and instead brought forward the making of Tenebre by a year. I think I felt restricted by seeming almost under obligation to make the final chapter. I did take another look at the story after completing Phenomena, and tried to imagine the story of the "third mother" set in Rome, but, once again just as everything was ready, I gave up the idea because I simply didn't find it convincing.

Too bad... I believe that interview was done in 1996 though so maybe Argento has changed his mind since then (finger's crossed).


[This message has been edited by Styx (edited 01-24-2001).]

[mutleyhyde]

Well, look how long it took Lucas to re-open the book on Star Wars. Hopefully, Argento will have better luck revisiting previous successes than Lucas did.

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"When I go to confession, I don't offer God small sins - petty squables, jealousies - I offer him sins worth forgiving!"

May the Hammer eternally bleed!
M. Hyde

Well, I finally got to see Inferno, and frankly was a little disappointed.

Firstly, the filmwork was great but I found the audio a let down.

The part of the score that was done just with a piano sounded every bit as bad as that Vlad Felchi score from that butchered AB Night of the Living Dead. It was embarassing. And the parts of the score that sounded OK seemed to be a Goblin rip off.

The AB reworking of the sound into 5.1 was pretty lame. For example, when the lady was using the pipes to talk into the room, Mark was going "I could hear you all around", the actual sound was dead center. They should have put it out of phase on all speakers (just like the white noise from the TV at the start of "Ring" when Tomoko walks into the lounge room).

Just my thoughts.

[The Chaostar]

Wow!
We are talking about Keith Emerson here - are u sure? I mean, musically speaking the soundtrack on Inferno is my favorite from all italian horror ever - even Suspiria and Beyond. The guy did a great job - You cannot possibly compare it with that atrocity in the AB's version of NIGHT.

Yeah, Keith Emerson... The soundtrack doesn't come anywhere near the Goblin Profundo Rosso...

The comparison to the AB NOTLD soundtrack was exactly what came to mind when I was listening to it. Corny banging music that seemed out of place - the exact point was the score on AB NOTLD where you first see all those stuffed animal heads on the walls in the house, and they have some loud supposedly scary music playing (I nearly fell off my chair laughing) - now when I saw the bit in Inferno at the start where the woman is heading into the basement, that is exactly what it reminded me of. Well, it reminded me of both NOTLD and the Lost in Space TV Series actually...

[The Chaostar]

Inferno has my favorite soundtrack of all italian horror films. Funny how different are our views. Oh, well, I suppose that a world were everyone would agree on everything would be a very boring one!