Inferno (1980)
Sub-Genre- Italian horror/Witches
In Attendance- Just me... That's what SOLO means...
Cast Members of Note- Long time Argento star and Asia's mom, Daria Nicolodi.
What's it about?- Witches man, witches.
Rose likes to read. When she picks a new book, The Three Mothers, she realizes that her apartment building is home to one of them, and like any normal, rational human being, starts poking around in her business. Who wouldn't go into a creepy basement looking for proof of a witches existence? And when you find a hole in the basement, filled with water and old artifacts, wouldn't you dive in and look around? Me too.
She sends a letter about it to her brother Mark, who is about as smart as a box of rocks, and he decides, "Hey, I'll go help her out. Who needs to live anyways!" He heads to New York, which oddly looks a lot like Rome, and finds a copy of The Three Mothers for himself. He too has the "I'll just snoop around this dark creepy basement" gene that his sister did, and retardation ensues.
Plenty of people die, which at least gives the witch (see what I did there?) something to do, because she does NOTHING else for the entire movie. Seriously, doesn't she have some evil plan or something? Cant she start a coven, or set out to kill everyone in Soho or the lower east side? Lazy Witch! (I did it again.)
I wont spoil the rest here, mainly because it confused me.
The Good- This is a stunning film visually; Argento has long proven himself not just filmmaker, but artist in that aspect of his career. The way he moves his camera and sets up his scenes; his angles; what he decides to and not to show us, and the way he does it all... brilliant. Everything else visual aside, his use of colors alone is outstanding. The reds, the bright blues, He pleases our eye, which inadvertently makes our brain uneasy with panic and fear, leaving us satisfied and in many cases, thoroughly creeped out.
Don't even get me started on how good his use of music is. He absolutely understands that the sonic aspect of film is as important as the visual.
Logic however, for the most part, goes out the fucking window.
It's ok though, Hollywood gives us plenty of very logical, linear movies that make us feel absolutely nothing; they follow the pattern of plot device and always wrap things up all neat and tidy for us. don't forget too, that they almost always explain everything in American film. God forbid we have to figure out or imagine some things for ourselves.
Though you could argue that his films, and many Italian horror films for that matter , are messy and ridiculous, explain to me how they always manage to be effective? Often times they make you feel dirty and creeped out, and never let go of our attention visually, sonically, or viscerally.
Poor acting, bad dubbing, plenty of "Huh?" moments, definitely some "WTF?" moments, dead on atmospheric music, methodical pacing, in your face and unrelenting violence and gore, odd camera angles, statement making use of color, an ever impending feeling of doom and dread, and genuine creepy moments...
That is the mother F'ing beauty of Italian horror; sometimes it's not very good, but it's always brilliant. If you understand that sentence, then you are a true horror fan. If you don't, keep trying.
The Bad- I can see many people being put off by Inferno; the lack of logic and loose storytelling may be enough to make people miss Argento's point, which was giving us sharp visual style and some good old fashioned horror.
The Downright Horrendous- Those poor cats! then again, they were evil... Still though, poor kitties!
The Gory- Cat violence on humans, humans drowning cats, stabbings, a knife through the neck, throat slashing... It's Argento, blood is everywhere!
The Naked- Other than some small 70's style boobies visible through a wet shirt, nada.
Best Line- "There are mysterious parts in that book, but the only true mystery is that our very lives are governed by dead people."
What did we learn?- Argento rules. Italian horror, though it often makes little sense, also rules. Witches are pretty cool too.
Rating- A For the uninitiated, and I'm guessing that's a lot of people, you need to give this one a chance. Check your logic receptors at the door, sit back, and take it all in. You wont be sorry.
Final Thoughts- "Horror is the future. And you cannot be afraid. You must push everything to the absolute limit or else life will be boring. People will be boring. Horror is like a serpent; always shedding its skin, always changing. And it will always come back. It can't be hidden away like the guilty secrets we try to keep in our subconscious."-Dario Argento.
"Horror by definition is the emotion of pure revulsion. Terror of the same standard, is that of fearful anticipation."-Also his words.
