Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

A woman stumbles on a diary written by an alchemist telling a tale about The Three Mothers. They happen to be three evil witches with incredible power. She unknowingly unleashes their evil.

First of all, I will go through this review without making any comparisons to Suspiria. Simply because that can effect my overall judgment of this film. Dario Argento is without a doubt an excellent director with a vision. There are very few films that I can think of with an atmosphere so imaginative yet so eerie that it has burned an image in my mind forever. The lighting and the set ups are done so well I can feel the evil. This is also supported by a very well orchestrated music score. That continues to get better as it goes along. Together they form a masterpiece of style.

Although a very good film concerning style Inferno does lack substance. Character development and plot are very shaky. I will admit that I didn't care about any of the characters. As a result the death scenes(even though brutal at times) lacked all emotional effect. I just found myself thinking,"wow, sucks to go out like that". Now excluding what is already given to you in the base narrative. Inferno is very lacking on plot. There seems to be a number of things happening just for the sake of it. There are murders happening in which they appear to be without a motive. I kind of feel this is done intentionally to leave it up to the viewer(I do have my thoughts though). But this is not exactly my kind of storytelling. I need a reason to care if the characters die. I need more plot development. And Inferno didn't provide this in a way that completely satisfied me.

I really wish that a 3.5 rating was available. I don't quite feel a 4 and definitly not a solid 3 because I liked the film. I enjoyed the outstanding atmosphere, excellent music score, and gore. Like all Argento films Inferno is not for everyone. It's pretty slow paced and aimed towards a more patient audience. If you're into that fast paced stuff with lots of cheap scares. This may not be for you.

In the city of New York, a woman named Sarah discovers a book called "The Three Mothers" which describes about an architech named Varelli whom build a trio of tombs for the Three Mothers whom are three very evil witches that were meant to be buried. She accidently unleashes unspeakable evil, her boyfriend whom just came back from Rome he finds out that Sarah is dead and must solve the mystery of these bizarre killings and weird happenings.

Very dark and bloody yet complex supernatural horror thriller shocker from Italy's greatest horror maestero Dario Argento is one of the better films of his carreer. Sure the plot is full of holes and can be a tad confusing, but the film does offer some visually stunning atmosphere and some gory murders like decapictations and bloody stabbings. It's suppose to be part of the "Three Mothers" trilogy which started with "Suspiria" as this movie is suppose to be a sequel to and finished recently with "Mother of Tears: The Third Mother" as this is worth a look for fans of the genre and Dario Argento.

This DVD which is a re-issue of the Anchor Bay release contains a very good transfer and excellent sound with some good extras like a subtitled interview with Dario Argento, trailer, Still Gallery and talent bios.

Also recommended: "Suspiria", "Tenebre", "Deep Red", "Demons 1 & 2", "Cemetery Man", "House (1986)", "Inside", "House By The Cemetery", "City of the Living Dead", "The Beyond", "Halloween (1978)", "Perfect Blue", "Stephen King's IT", "Making Contact (a.k.a. Joey)", "The New York Ripper", "Stir of Echoes", "The Orphanage", "Opera", "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage", "The Church", "Pet Semetary", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "The Shining", "Cat O'Nine Tails", "Phenomena", "Stage Fright", "Phantasm", "The Changeling", "In The Mouth of Madness", "Re-Animator" and "Silent Hill".