Film Review: INFERNO (1980)

Writer/Director: Dario Argento
Running time: 107 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Horror
Italy Release date: 7^th February 1980

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 26^th May 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is one of those film titles I seem to hear a lot about and so I decided ‘Dario Argento’s Inferno’ had better go on “the list”. I’m not particularly a horror buff but I have watched and enjoyed my fair share over the years so I was quite looking forward to this one. Dubbed into English, for the American market I assume, it may have lost a little in translation, but I’m glad to have finally seen it anyway. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Young poetess Rose Elliot (Irene Miracle) buys a book from a local antique dealer, a diary in Latin of an architect, E. Varelli. She learns of the Three Mothers, and believes her apartment building is one of their houses. She pleads her brother Mark (Leigh McCloskey), who is studying musicology in Rome, to come, because she is afraid. Mark's friend Sara (Eleonora Giorgi) reads her letter, which he left behind in class, and discovers the school is run by the Mater Lacrimarum, and is killed for this knowledge. The house of Mater Suspiriorum has already been destroyed, and by the time Mark arrives in New York City, he is investigating his sister's murder.

I first have to say the film looks beautiful; the use of primary colours throughout really lifts the picture. The same cannot be said of the plot sadly; I found it all far too predictable although there was one moment that did make me jump. You could tell it was made on a budget but the effects were all well done if looking a little dated by today’s standards. The performances all seemed to lack any passion, nobody really stood out but nobody was particularly terrible either. Over all I found it was a film with a few good ideas, the underwater scene in particular, but not particularly shocking. Maybe my expectations were set a little too high, but I felt it was lacking a certain something. It does look a little dated and back when it was made it was probably more shocking given what else was around then but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED (just)

My score: 6.2/10.

IMDb Score: 6.6/10 (based on 7,983 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080923/

MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 58/100 (based on 12 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 56/100 (based on 6,968 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inferno1980/

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Trailer: