Plot[edit] Rose Elliot (Miracle), a poet living alone in New York City, finds an ancient book called The Three Mothers. It tells of three evil sisters who rule the world with sorrow, tears, and darkness. The book, written by an architect named Varelli, reveals that the three dwell inside separate homes that had been built for them by the architect in Rome, Freiburg, and New York. Rose suspects that she is living in one of the buildings and writes to her brother Mark (McCloskey) in Rome, urging him to visit her. Using clues provided in the book as a guide, Rose searches the cellar of her building and discovers a hole in the floor which leads to a water-filled ballroom. She accidentally drops her keys and enters the water to find them. After she reclaims the keys, a putrid corpse suddenly rises from the depths, frightening her. In Rome, Mark attempts to read Roses letter during class. He is distracted by the intense gaze of a beautiful student (Ania Pieroni), who leaves suddenly; Mark follows, leaving the letter behind. His friend Sara (Eleonora Giorgi) picks up the letter, and later reads it. Horrified by the letters contents, she takes a taxi to a library and finds a copy of The Three Mothers. Sara is attacked by a monstrous figure who recognizes the book. She throws the book to the ground and escapes. She seeks the company of a neighbor, Carlo (Gabriele Lavia) and both are stabbed to death by a gloved killer. Mark discovers the bodies and two torn fragments from Roses letter. After the police arrive, he walks out of Saras apartment and sees a taxi slowly driving by. In the back seat of the vehicle is the music student, staring at him intently again. Mark telephones Rose but is unable to hear her clearly. He promises to visit just before the connection fails. Rose sees two shadowy figures preparing to enter her apartment. She leaves through a back door, but is followed. She is grabbed from behind by a clawed assailant and brutally guillotined across the neck with glass from a broken window. Ania Pieroni as the music student. Arriving in New York, Mark meets some residents of Roses building, including a nurse (Veronica Lazar) who cares for elderly Professor Arnold (Feodor Chaliapin, Jr.), a wheelchair-bound mute. Mark learns from sickly Countess Elise (Nicolodi) that Rose has disappeared. After the two find blood on the carpet outside Roses room, Mark follows the stains. He becomes ill and falls unconscious. Elise sees a black-robed figure dragging Mark away, but the figure suddenly stops and gives chase to Elise. The figure stabs her to death. Mark staggers to the houses foyer where the nurse and caretaker (Valli) put him to bed. Mark asks Kazanian (Sacha Pitoëff), the antique dealer who sold Rose The Three Mothers, about Rose. However, the man provides no information. That night, Kazanian drowns several cats in a Central Park pond and falls into the water. Hundreds of rats from a nearby drain crawl over him, gnawing his flesh. A hot dog vendor hears Kazanians cries and rushes over. The man kills Kazanian with a knife. Carol, the caretaker, discovers the corpse of Elises butler (Leopoldo Mastelloni) in the Countess apartment. Shocked, she drops a lit candle which starts a fire. Attempting to put out the flames, she becomes entangled in burning draperies and falls from a window to her death. Mark uses a clue from Roses letter to discover that beneath each floor is a secret crawl space. He follows hidden passages to a suite of rooms where he finds Professor Arnold who reveals, via a mechanical voice generator, that he is in fact Varelli. He tries to kill Mark with a hypodermic injection. During the struggle, Varellis neck is caught in his vocal apparatus, choking him. Mark frees him, only to be told by the dying man, Even now you are being watched. Mark follows a shadowy figure to a lavishly furnished chamber, where he finds Varellis nurse. Laughing maniacally, she reveals to him that she is Mater Tenebrarum. She suddenly transforms into Death Personified. However, the fire that has consumed much of the building enables Mark to escape from the witchs den. Debris crashes down on the fiend, destroying her. Cast[edit] Irene Miracle as Rose Elliott Leigh McCloskey as Mark Elliott Eleonora Giorgi as Sara Daria Nicolodi as Elise Stallone Van Adler Sacha Pitoëff as Kazanian Alida Valli as Carol, the caretaker Veronica Lazar as The Nurse Gabriele Lavia as Carlo Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. as Prof. Arnold/Dr. Varelli Leopoldo Mastelloni as John, the butler Ania Pieroni as The music student James Fleetwood as Cook Rosario Rigutini as Man Ryan Hilliard as Shadow Paolo Paoloni as Music teacher Fulvio Mingozzi as Taxi driver Luigi Lodoli as Bookbinder Rodolfo Lodi as Old man Production[edit] In 1977, Suspiria had been an unexpectedly big box office hit for 20th Century Fox, released in the U.S. under their International Classics banner. Capitalizing on the commercial success of the film, Argento and Daria Nicolodi, who had co-written the screenplay, announced that Suspiria was only the first of a proposed trilogy, which they referred to as The Three Mothers trilogy.[3] The basic concept of all three films is derived from Thomas de Quinceys Suspiria de Profundis, a sequel to his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. A prose poem of the book entitled Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow, details how, just as there are three Fates and three Graces, there are also three Sorrows: Mater Lachrymarum (The Lady of Tears), Mater Suspiriorum (The Lady of Sighs) and Mater Tenebrarum (The Lady of Darkness).[4] As the title suggests, Suspiria focused on Mater Suspiriorum, and the evil sister featured in Inferno is Mater Tenebrarum. The concluding chapter of Argentos trilogy, The Mother of Tears (2007), is about Mater Lachrymarum.[5] When Argento proposed Inferno as his follow-up to Suspiria, 20th Century Fox agreed to co-finance the production. The film was budgeted at USD $3,000,000, and producer Claudio Argento secured additional co-production money from Italian and German consortiums.[3] Nicolodi devised the original story concept, but received no on-screen credit for her work on the screenplay. Nicolodi explained that she did not seek credit because having fought so hard to see my humble but excellent work in Suspiria recognized (up until a few days before the première I didnt know if I would see my name in the film credits), I didnt want to live through that again, so I said, Do as you please, in any case, the story will talk for me because I wrote it.[6] Working from Nicolodis original story notes, Argento wrote the screenplay while staying in a New York hotel room with a view of Central Park.[3] Filming[edit] The filming of Inferno took place mainly on interior studio sets in Rome[7] but a short amount of time was also set aside for location shooting in New York, including Central Park.[4][7] Sacha Pitoëffs death scene was filmed on location in Central Park during the summer of 1979. William Lustig, who was credited as the films Production Coordinator, recalled: They filmed the actor carrying a bag that contained some kind of moving mechanism, to make it look like it was full of cats. He walked into the lake, pushed the bag underwater, and fell in. At that point, some phony mechanical rats were attached to him for closeups. When the guy at the hamburger stand runs over the lake... that guy was actually running on a plexiglass bridge under the water; it made it look like he was actually running across the surface of the lake. All of the stuff with the live rats was shot back in Europe.[3] During the films production, Argento became stricken with a severe case of hepatitis, and had to direct some sequences while lying on his back. At one point, the illness became so painful that he was bed-ridden for a few days; filming was then restricted to second unit work, some of which was done by Mario Bava.[3] Argento has repeatedly called Inferno one of his least favorite of all his films, as his memories of the movie are tainted by his recollection of the painful illness he suffered.[3] Design and effects[edit] Argento invited his mentor, Mario Bava, to provide some of the optical effects, matte paintings and trick shots for the film.[3] Some of the cityscape views seen in Inferno were actually tabletop skyscrapers built by Bava out of milk cartons covered with photographs.[3] The apartment building that Rose lived in was in fact only a partial set built in the studio—it was a few floors high and had to be visually augmented with a small sculpture constructed by Bava. This sculpture was set aflame toward the end of production and served as the burning building seen in the climax.[3] Bava also provided some second unit direction for the production. Maitland McDonagh has suggested that Bava had his hand in the celebrated watery ballroom scene,[4] but that sequence was shot in a water tank by Gianlorenzo Battaglia, without any optical effects work at all.[3] Bavas son, Lamberto Bava, was the films assistant director. The films fiery final sequence was shot without a stunt performer filling in for Leigh McCloskey. After the productions principal photography had been completed, the films producer, Claudio Argento, asked if McCloskey would be willing to perform the stuntwork himself, as the stuntman hired for the job had broken his leg. The producer assured the actor: Itll be absolutely safe. The actor agreed, and when he walked onto the set the following day he observed three rows of flexiglass in front of everything and everyone is wearing hard hats. Im the only guy standing on the other side of this! ...Needless to say, I did it all on instinct... I still feel that blast of the door blowing by me. When they tell you in words, its one thing, but when you feel that glass go flying past you with a sound like a Harrier jet, you never forget it![8] Music[edit] Main article: Inferno (soundtrack) Inferno CD cover Dario Argento chose progressive rocker Keith Emerson to compose Infernos soundtrack because he wanted a different sort of score [from that by Italian prog group Goblin on Suspiria], a more delicate one.[9] Argento prominently featured a selection from Giuseppe Verdis Nabucco throughout Inferno, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (Va, pensiero, sullali dorate), an operatic chestnut, from scene two of the operas third act. In two instances, a recording of the Sinphonic [sic] Orchestra and Chorus of Rome was used.[10] Argento also tasked Emerson with including the piece in his soundtrack. He re-orchestrated Va, pensiero... in five-four time to mimic a fast and bumpy taxi ride through Rome.[11] When Argento reviewed Emersons progress he did not initially recognize the remix, but was later pleased to discover it was used for Saras taxi ride.[11] A soundtrack album was originally released as an LP by the Cinevox label in 1981. In 2000, Cinevox released an expanded version of the album on CD. Emersons music met with a mixed response from critics, some of whom compared it unfavorably to Goblins score for Suspiria. Time Outs Scott Meek noted that Argentos own over-the-top score [for Suspiria] has been replaced by religioso thunderings from the keyboards of Keith Emerson.[12] A review of the 2000 Cinevox CD by AllMusic notes, The keyboard selections are rather unremarkable, except for the finale, Cigarettes, Ice, Etc., on which Emerson uses his full keyboard arsenal to excellent effect. Unfortunately, the choral segments sound rather pretentious and dated.[13
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 11:13:56 +0000
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